Bad press

Often the press makes statements that Trump is against the press and this can threaten our government and I am all for the press getting after the president but let’s keep things in prospective. A trip down memory lane can be enlightening. President John Adams passed the 1798 Sedition Act, which made publishing anything critical of the government illegal. Consider Theodore Roosevelt. He despised the press and called them a bunch of muckrakers for their sensationalism and false reporting. “The liar,” Roosevelt said of the media, “is no whit better than the thief, and if his mendacity take the form of slander he may be worse than most thieves.” Like many presidents who had their favorite media, Kennedy was friendly to some members of the press, but hostile to others. While his presidency began as a love affair with the press (or rather the press with him), that degenerated over time. This was especially true during the crisis with Cuba in 1961 and 1962. To the dismay of journalists, even friendly ones, Kennedy shut off access to foreign policy information. This wasn’t anything new to the press, since their relationship with Kennedy’s predecessor Dwight Eisenhower was turbulent. He restricted media access and caused many to believe the country was facing a crisis of liberty. Government secrecy seemed to be growing, but many thought this would improve with Kennedy. It didn’t. Here is a quote from President Nixon. “I want it clearly understood from now on, ever no reporter from the Washington Post is ever to be in the White House. Is that clear?” Nixon said. Here are just a few of the anti-press incidence from the Obama administration. The Obama administration's Justice Department spied on Fox News reporter James Rosen. The DOJ, led by Eric Holder, somehow labeled Rosen an unindicted co-conspirator in a criminal case, even went so far as to call him a flight risk. He thereby avoided the pesky need to inform him he was under surveillance. Of course, he was guilty of absolutely nothing. Holder would much later acknowledge regret over the Rosen subpoena. Thanks for playing. The same DOJ seized two months of phone records from the Associated Press. Close your eyes for a moment and picture the reaction if Attorney General Jeff Sessions had been found to order the same action against the New York Times. If anything but the apocalypse comes to mind, you're in a small minority. The Obama administration rejected more Freedom of Information Act requests than any administration in history. That was after Obama promised the "most transparent" administration in history. Note that much of what Trump does is talk but others have resorted to action.