The press v. the President

The press v. the President
By Terry A. Hurlbut
Michael Shellenberger, of Twitter Files fame, has been busy lately, and not merely with the disgusting spectacle of pre-Musk Twitter. His latest thread, begun on January 31, 2023, extolled and excerpted a damning series in the Columbia Journalism Review. That series, The Press v. the President, discussed the love-hate relationship between the legacy press and President Donald J. Trump. It comes from a veteran journalist, and expresses his disgust at what the legacy media has made of itself. But that expression of disgust comes late – because the legacy press has done this sort of thing before. Perhaps not to the extent this series reveals, but bad enough – and indeed that’s why such a thing as Conservative News and Views came to exist.
The Press v. the President – the series
Jeff Gerth, Pulitzer prize winner and former reporter for The New York Times (1976-2005), wrote the series. It appears in CJR in four parts (one, two, three, four) with editor’s notes by Kyle Pope, editor-in-chief and publisher.
Mr. Shellenberger quotes Mr. Gerth extensively. CNAV would like to quote Mr. Pope:
No narrative did more to shape Trump’s relations with the press than Russiagate. The story, which included the Steele dossier and the Mueller report among other totemic moments, resulted in Pulitzer Prizes as well as embarrassing retractions and damaged careers. For Trump, the press’s pursuit of the Russia story convinced him that any sort of normal relationship with the press was impossible.
And it ought to convince anyone who values his liberty that the legacy press is worse than unreliable. CNAV has known this for years. To see a hint of insight from people who worked with and in that press is nothing short of remarkable. (Insight, in psychiatric parlance, is that inkling that a mentally disturbed person has that he is disturbed.)
Shellenberger’s colleague Matt Taibbi has covered Twitter’s role in the Russiagate affair already. Now Jeff Gerth has covered the role of the legacy press.
The thread
Herewith the thread from Mike Shellenberger, based on The Press v. the President by Jeff Gerth. This thread has 51 tweets; therefore CNAV presents the odd numbers, each (after the first) including the tweet before it.
https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1620533994373943298
https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1620534705862094848
https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1620535506059816960
https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1620536108441571328
https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1620537532462297089
https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1620546422658711553
https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1620547790316408833
https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1620549623332081664
https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1620554765834022913
https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1620556135135866883
https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1620557689364570112
https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1620558272192446464
https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1620562601238499328
https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1620564263743131648
https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1620565152168030210
https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1620565916563173377
https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1620566491384119298
https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1620567157049552898
https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1620569128699572224
https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1620569569571254276
https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1620570590003494913
https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1620573568496197632
https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1620573812483043330
https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1620574013411176448
https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1620574700056481793
https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1620587628272951301
Reaction
Judge Alex Ferrer, host of a show called Whistleblower, had this to say yesterday about The Press v. the President:
https://twitter.com/judgealexferrer/status/1620828246488285184
But someone left a very bitter reply citing four news organs he said were “in the tank” for Trump.
https://twitter.com/FourWideOnes/status/1620863217160589312
Those four have relatively low market share, and censorship against them gets worse every day.
Another user cited a term the press used to describe themselves, that CNAV heard often:
https://twitter.com/jockohomo_lives/status/1620796103976427522
But shortly after Mr. Shellenberger finished his thread, one user pointed this out:
https://twitter.com/vallete_la/status/1620596438702104576
CNAV has known this for a very long time.
Sadly, this thread shows that some people will always believe what they want to believe.
https://twitter.com/Chug_A_Lugg/status/1620580438837280768
https://twitter.com/ScruggsDJ/status/1620868444769112064
The Press v. the President – and the people
Your editor lost his trust in the legacy press (and radio and television) while watching two seminal events. First came the Watergate Affair, in which the press implied that all who had any property to guard from the sticky fingers of government, were just as guilty as were Richard M. Nixon and his team. Then came American defeat in Vietnam. We now know positively that Walter Cronkite, anchorman and Managing Editor of the CBS Evening News, literally mischaracterized American victory in the Tet Offensive as an American defeat.
Your editor then watched the legacy media prop up President James Earl Carter, Jr. for four long years. This applied to The New York Times nine months out of the year, and Walter Cronkite in the summertime.
The election of Ronald Reagan turned into The Press v. the President for eight years. To paraphrase the CEO of Google,
Many people apparently don’t share the values that we have.
Accordingly your editor coined the term Fishwrap Axis for the legacy media. The American Spectator used that metaphor themselves.
All that to say that the legacy media destroyed their credibility decades ago. If Jeff Gerth didn’t see it before, that made him a frog in a stewpot. If he climbed out in 2005 and looked at the boiling water eighteen years later, that explains his shock. He’s correct – but he should have noticed it much earlier. It now remains for us to find, and build, alternative media.
Link to:
The article:
https://cnav.news/2023/02/02/accountability/news-media/press-v-the-president/

The Press v. the President – Jeff Gerth’s series and Kyle Pope’s editor’s note:
https://www.cjr.org/special_report/trumped-up-press-versus-president-part-1.php
https://www.cjr.org/special_report/trumped-up-press-versus-president-part-2.php
https://www.cjr.org/special_report/trumped-up-press-versus-president-part-3.php
https://www.cjr.org/special_report/trumped-up-press-versus-president-part-4.php
https://www.cjr.org/special_report/trumped-up-press-versus-president-ed-note.php

The thread:
https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1620533994373943298
https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1620534705862094848
https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1620535506059816960
https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1620536108441571328
https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1620537532462297089
https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1620546422658711553
https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1620547790316408833
https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1620549623332081664
https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1620554765834022913
https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1620556135135866883
https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1620557689364570112
https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1620558272192446464
https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1620562601238499328
https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1620564263743131648
https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1620565152168030210
https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1620565916563173377
https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1620566491384119298
https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1620567157049552898
https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1620569128699572224
https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1620569569571254276
https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1620570590003494913
https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1620573568496197632
https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1620573812483043330
https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1620574013411176448
https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1620574700056481793
https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1620587628272951301

The reaction:
https://twitter.com/judgealexferrer/status/1620828246488285184
https://twitter.com/FourWideOnes/status/1620863217160589312
https://twitter.com/jockohomo_lives/status/1620796103976427522
https://twitter.com/vallete_la/status/1620596438702104576
https://twitter.com/Chug_A_Lugg/status/1620580438837280768
https://twitter.com/ScruggsDJ/status/1620868444769112064

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