An open letter to Trump from the US press corps

[Arkansas Granny]

In these final days before your inauguration, we thought it might be helpful to clarify how we see the relationship between your administration and the American press corps.

It will come as no surprise to you that we see the relationship as strained. Reports over the last few days that your press secretary is considering pulling news media offices out of the White House are the latest in a pattern of behavior that has persisted throughout the campaign: You’ve banned news organizations from covering you. You’ve taken to Twitter to taunt and threaten individual reporters and encouraged your supporters to do the same. You’ve advocated for looser libel laws and threatened numerous lawsuits of your own, none of which has materialized. You’ve avoided the press when you could and flaunted the norms of pool reporting and regular press conferences. You’ve ridiculed a reporter who wrote something you didn’t like because he has a disability.

All of this, of course, is your choice and, in a way, your right. While the Constitution protects the freedom of the press, it doesn’t dictate how the president must honor that; regular press conferences aren’t enshrined in the document.

But while you have every right to decide your ground rules for engaging with the press, we have some, too. It is, after all, our airtime and column inches that you are seeking to influence. We, not you, decide how best to serve our readers, listeners, and viewers. So think of what follows as a backgrounder on what to expect from us over the next four years.

http://www.cjr.org/covering_trump/trump_white_house_press_corps.php

[pangaia]

1. Good letter.

But as far as I can tell it is NOT from the "press corp" but rather from the Columbia Journalism Review.

I will eat the buttons on my shirt if the "press corp" does much of this, if at all.

[Arkansas Granny]

3. I used the headline as it was written.

I would like to see the press stand up to DT, but that is unlikely to happen.

[pangaia]

5. I know you did..and I agree with you...about the cowardly press

[marybourg]

2. Well, it purports to be from

"The Press Corps", but it seems to be actually an opinion piece from one, albeit prestigious, journal. I would have liked to see the bold signatures of the real members of the press corps, a la John Hancock, affixed to this missive.

[CanonRay]

4. Nice letter. Too bad the dumbfuck doesn't read.

[stuffmatters]

7. Yep