Will the Legacy Media Ever Learn?
A Saturday Prompt
Donald Trump is attending the White House Correspondents Association dinner tonight. He was invited by the journalist group and its president—Weijia Jiang, a CBS News White House correspondent—said last month, “We’re happy the president has accepted our invitation and look forward to hosting him.” This will be the first time Trump has attended in either term, and there will be no comedian performing.
The event has always been unseemly—the hobnobbing with high-profile sources rather than maintaining journalistic detachment. But this year? After the onslaught of hostile, aggressive attacks by Trump and his regime against the free press?
Do the attendees really believe that their stated purpose to celebrate journalism and the First Amendment will not be made into a mockery by allowing its enemy to join them for an evening of presumed camaraderie? Do they honestly believe that some among them wearing lapel pins or pocket handkerchiefs with the words of the First Amendment is sufficient protest to the most anti-press presidency in the history of the country? And what of the once-honorable CBS News and its owner Paramount inviting Pete Hegseth and Stephen Miller to the dinner?
Hundreds of journalists who will not be attending the event summarized their opposition in a detailed petition, citing “the most systematic and comprehensive assault on freedom of the press by a sitting American president.” Their list includes:
[R]etaliatory access bans, coercive regulatory investigations, frivolous lawsuits against the press, defunding of public broadcasting, dismantling of international broadcasting, physical restrictions on journalists, personal verbal attacks on reporters, assaults on the media in official White House press releases and social media posts, the arrest of journalists, and the pardoning of those who committed violence against the press.
Each of us can note particularly disgraceful behavior and actions, including calling a female reporter “piggy,” banning Associated Press reporters because they refused to go along with Trump’s name change of the Gulf of Mexico, pushing major media out of the Pentagon, accusing news organizations to be “the enemy of the people,” suing various outlets in response to coverage that displeased Trump, the endless effort to degrade the public’s trust by constantly discussing “the fake news media.”
In the two months before the 2024 election, Reporters Without Borders chronicled more than 100 attacks on the media by Trump. The free speech advocacy group that supports journalists globally also noted these numbers from just the first 100 days of the second term:
427 million: Weekly worldwide audience of the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) news outlets silenced by Trump.
3,500+: Journalists and media workers at risk of losing their jobs because of the USAGM shutdown, including people from Voice of America, Radio Free Asia and Radio Free Europe.
8,000+: US government web pages taken down.
180: Public radio stations at risk of closing because of public media funding eliminated.
The group also noted the rising number of lawsuits against media companies and politically motivated investigations and threats by the Federal Communications Commission and its pro-Trump chair, Brendan Carr. (Carr has also been invited to the dinner by CBS.) Taken together, it’s impossible to miss the systematic assault on freedom of the press.
Yes, some media outlets will not be attending. Journalists from The New York Times and The Atlantic, for example, haven’t attended the awkward event labeled “nerd prom” for many years. But—in my view—so many others in the legacy media will be putting their remaining credibility into jeopardy by failing to abandon an event that invites Trump to join them in a “celebration” of journalism and the First Amendment.
What do you think? Will the legacy media ever learn? Should Trump have been invited? Is there a way that his presence at the dinner can be used to properly express the gravity of his assault on press freedom and free speech? Or will it be another opportunity for him to degrade the public’s trust in the media? Lastly, how does this affect your view of legacy media—and does it strengthen your support for independent media?
As always I look forward to reading your observations and the opportunity for this community to learn from each other. Please do be respectful in your remarks. Trolling will not be tolerated.
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Invite Trump to a journalism dinner is a big mistake. It doesn't show camaraderie, it just shows that they don't take his attacks on free press seriously enough. We need independent media more than ever
This is a disgrace but not a surprise.The billionaires have bought most of the media outlets.They provide the fuel forTrump’s agenda via huge donations to make oil king, make the planet toxic for us all and destroy an America where once everyone had at least a fighting chance to succeed. Trump and his billionaire buddies in it for the money . It’s all about them; they have no concern for the welfare of America or its people.