By the CBJ Editorial Board
Journalism has never been an easy or popular pursuit, but it can feel especially tough these days. Fewer journalists are out there, thanks to a stream of layoffs and mergers. Those who remain are stretched thin and asked to do more with less. Add to that a steady drumbeat of attacks from the partisan ends of the political spectrum, and you have a profession that can feel downright besieged.
None of this is necessarily new. Journalists have always been overworked and underappreciated, and their willingness to speak truth to power has always drawn the ire of the establishment. For most, the work is more of a calling than a job – one that requires sacrifice and toil.
What is new and alarming, however, is the growing impulse to villainize the press in terms that would be more at home in an autocratic state than a democracy.
The shift has largely come from the top down. President Donald Trump, never one to pull his punches, has intensified his attacks against the news media, recently describing journalists as “fake newsers,” “dangerous and sick” and the “enemy of the people” – a particularly blood-soaked phrase favored by Soviet leaders, but found throughout history whenever a group in power seeks to destroy those who threaten it.
His words have emboldened those who would prefer to shut down debate, and have pushed some national news outfits to beef up their security protocols, lest the sanctioned hatred turns to violence.
“Just remember: what you’re seeing and what you’re reading is not what’s happening,” President Trump told the audience at a July 24 rally in Missouri. “Don’t believe the crap you see from these people, the fake news.”
For many of us in the industry, the need to push back on this type of rhetoric is becoming more apparent. A fair and free press is so essential to our democracy that our founders enshrined its protection in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. While Americans are free to criticize the press for its work – an imperative that is sometimes richly deserved – the impulse to discredit and impugn the institution as a whole is a sad precedent and an attack on one of the pillars of a truly democratic society.
On Aug. 16, hundreds of U.S. news organizations, led by the Boston Globe, published editorials denouncing the administration’s approach and emphasizing the importance of a free and independent press. It is important that we join this show of solidarity.
Granted, the Corridor Business Journal is in many ways insulated from the nasty environment many journalists now find themselves in. As a trade publication, we talk with business owners and entrepreneurs who are usually happy to tell their story. We rarely encounter people who are outwardly hostile or suspicious of our motives (although they do exist).
In other ways, we retain our solidarity with our colleagues in the mainstream press. Our journalists have a responsibility to ask tough questions of those in power and to refuse to take “no” for an answer. We strive to put our readers and the public first in everything that we publish, understanding that accuracy and trustworthiness is paramount. When we make mistakes, we admit and correct them.
It’s not an easy job, but it’s one that we do because of its importance to our way of life. As the Washington Post now notes in its tagline, “democracy dies in darkness.” Here’s hoping it’s not too late to reverse this rhetorical trend.
