"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." 1st Amendment to the US constitution - 1791
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Brian Stelter is 31? Who knew?
The section of the 1st Amendment quoted above speaks of actions prohibited to the Congress of the United States. It does not regulate press relations between the Executive Branch of the federal government and the developing media.
It should be intuitively obvious to the casual observer that CNN, MSNBC, The New York Times, The Washington Post and many other media outlets are deeply committed to hostility to the Trump Administration on each and every issue that may arise no matter how trivial and if there are no trivialities available, they seem quite willing to be creative.
If I were the Trump Administration I would reciprocate in terms of access to government officials now serving. Active Civil Servants and Soldiers in the US Service have no (zero) right of access to the press other than to read printed material or listen to broadcast media. They all take an oath to safeguard government information provided to them in the course of their work. There are criminal penalties involved for "unauthorized disclosure" if the government chooses to prosecute. At the same time the government may choose to release (openly or covertly) whatever information it pleases using these same employees or service members. The information belongs to the government.
So, while the federal government has no right or real ability to regulate or censor the media in the US, it has every right to selectively decline to cooperate with some media based on unrelenting prosecutorial attitudes and behavior. Under such "rules" there would be no on-screen interviews or behind the scenes "backgrounders" for the "hostiles."
Under such process the government would continue to refrain from attempting to prosecute people like James Risen, author of "State of War," while continuing to be free to prosecute people like Jeffrey sterling, the ex-CIA man who was Risen's supposed source for Chapter 9 of the book. I was a defense consultant in the case. pl
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution
Sir
The media today is much broader than the traditional print, broadcast and cable media. The MSM is clearly at war with Trump and likely will be during his entire term. They are most upset with his unPC behavior and attitude as well as the fact of their own impotence in destroying him during the election campaign. The Trump administration, IMO, should provide access to those not in the MSM and live stream those interviews. Why not bloggers, and tweeters and those knowledgeable about topics interviewing administration officials instead of pompous celebrity spokesmodels more focused on their groupthink opinions rather than reporting?
Posted by: Jack | 06 February 2017 at 11:09 AM
that's a great idea.
the TV media might start doing actual investigative journalism - maybe even quality work. stop attending Executive Branch PR events too... redirect the budget for makeup.
Posted by: ked | 06 February 2017 at 11:15 AM
The problem is that many of those civil servants and military members are also at war with Trump. The Republican Party Establishment can also be included. Quite honestly Trump only has his base as support and even they can get a bit pissed at his rants on Twitter. I'm not saying that he needs to change but definitely needs to get himself a bit under control and realize that there are long knives after him from all sides. I just wonder who his "Brutus" will be.
Posted by: Sol | 06 February 2017 at 11:28 AM
The POTUS is taking so much flak that i'm pretty much given up on believing any of the major outlets. Some of it are obvious plants and are followed by retractions that I just wait a few days to hear that the said incident never even happened.
After the first few public humiliations of the press and some gov folks, things will settle down. As it is anywhere in the world. And Trump seems like the man who's going to set fire to someone(figuratively speaking)to get the message across
Posted by: shanks | 06 February 2017 at 11:37 AM
"Everywhere cunning, everywhere small feuds and hatreds, distrusts, dishonesties, timidities, feebleness of purpose, dwarfish imaginations, swarm over the great and simple issues [as well as confusion of purposes that wastes the hope and strength of humanity]."
Mr. Britling Sees it Through,
by H.G. Wells
(posted by "2/1 Doc RVN 68-69" @ http://www.unz.com/freed/many-storms-gathering-reflections-on-trump/ )
Posted by: YT | 06 February 2017 at 01:23 PM
Sol,
Give it time.Trump's only been in office 3 weeks. When a bunch of civil servants lose their jobs over releasing government information without approval the rest will get the message. There's only so much "go fund me I got fired by Trump" money to go around. Military members? I guess they can all hope to get a pardon like Bradley Manning. They will have to wait for Obama 2.0 to get elected though.
Posted by: Fred | 06 February 2017 at 01:48 PM
Gypsy Diversions can only last so long before the kids/parents get nabbed. Alas what they are carting off ain't chump change. Immigration/Supreme Court this week, Obamacare next week.. Your call on what's on the take-home-in-the-meantime (Diversion) list .
Get real. US Gov't/POTUS persona non grataing the MSM will sink the Lady. Risk players gotta be smarter than that. Hey, but your call not mine. Punt.
Posted by: Hood Canal Gardner | 06 February 2017 at 02:58 PM
HCG
How about giving us that in English? pl
Posted by: turcopolier | 06 February 2017 at 03:06 PM
I would be very careful with an idea like that. We all know our Col Lang's. (although truly, there ain't many like him). But we, especially those of us who have long trawled what was once called the netroots, know there are a lot of questionable characters online. THeir very strength, lack of editors (censurers and apple polishers), allows new and often insightful ideas and opinions to flow much more freely than the MSM PC Decorum can tolerate. But the anonymity, and lack of gatekeepers, can hide other matters, away from political questions at hand. And that can make for nasty surprises about who one is granting interviews with. (i.e. seen as in bed with). I would expand my outlets if I were the Trump Admin, but I would be very careful about it. Whoever the Admin speaks to...will be gone over with fine tooth comb the day after speaking with them. I would keep that in mind. There may be a lot of well hidden skeletons out there, that can't take light of day.
Posted by: jonst | 06 February 2017 at 03:12 PM
Likewise. Why is the press obligated to give airtime or devote a column to liars like Kellyanne Conway?
http://www.politifact.com/personalities/kellyanne-conway/
Then again, the president and his press secretary have the same problem.
http://www.politifact.com/personalities/donald-trump/
http://www.politifact.com/personalities/sean-spicer/
With that in mind, the right to selectively decline ought to be a two way street.
Posted by: Edward Amame | 06 February 2017 at 03:48 PM
jonst,
Very good point considering the MSM is desperately pitching the meme of Trump is the new Hitler. No doubt it will have nothing to do with the interview and everything to do with the "unsavoriness" of the interviewer. Not disimilar to the "reporting " on Trump's phone call with the Australian prime minister, where there was only obfuscated reporting on Australia conveniently trying to palm of their illegals being held in detention centers.
BTW, what is this "netroots"?
Posted by: Jack | 06 February 2017 at 04:09 PM
EA
You are sounding incredibly partisan. You are not allowed to call her a "liar" here. Do you understand or do you want to be banned again? They are not "obliged" to put her on their air. They never were, but they IMO want her for a punching bag. pl
Posted by: turcopolier | 06 February 2017 at 04:17 PM
Col Lang
Sorry, I didn't realize I was crossing a line. Politifact is not partisan. What to call a spinner like Conway, with a Politifact page like hers. Or the president for that matter. "...Any negative polls are fake news..." Seriously?
Perhaps the press' distrust of (or hostility towards) the Trump team the press is well earned. The strategy out of the WH seems intended to further the partisan divide and turn the press into a right wing punching bag.
Posted by: Edward Amame | 06 February 2017 at 04:37 PM
"The information belongs to the government."
Well strictly speaking it belongs to the people, and government is merely a legal entity that functions as a custodian.
Regarding military secrets that have strategic or tactical importance there's a case to be made that these are most valuable when NOT available to the public. That is to say the people benefit from a strong defence and some secrets are necessary for that defence.
It would be difficult to make a similar case with regards to information about day to day operational governance. The people have a right to know what goes on in Washington, and they have a duty to oversee the running of government. Now the bar has been set quite low by Obama's "Most Transparent Administration" ever, which turned out to be a total fraud. Trump should at the very least be aiming higher than his predecessor.
Posted by: Tel | 06 February 2017 at 04:49 PM
EA
Don't give me that propagandist crap! you will be civil here or you will be gone. pl
Posted by: turcopolier | 06 February 2017 at 04:55 PM
tel
"strictly speaking it belongs to the people, and government is merely a legal entity that functions as a custodian." That is untrue. By US law all US government classified information is the statutorily controlled property of the federal government, exclusively under its control by law. You may want to foster some notion that "the people" own all classified information but that is sophistic nonsense. pl
Posted by: turcopolier | 06 February 2017 at 04:59 PM
Important to take the large view. There is nothing like a reputable source of information anymore. Newspapers have rarely been reputable, as history of 19th century "yellow journalism" shows. There was competition -- many dailies in each city, often with several editions morning afternoon & evening. Economists might argue that competition leads to the truth here, although I doubt it. In any case, there is no advertising base to finance it any more.
In broadcast, there was an unusual situation lasting about 100 years when there were only 3 networks and they had the money for large news organizations and the sense of public service to try to tell the truth (although they frequently went with the gov't line). You may remember when Walter Cronkite was "the most trusted man in journalism". Those days are long gone: with the coming of the cable stations, and then the internet, the big networks lost their captured audience and they don't have the money to have foreign bureaus, to do in-depth story reportage, to triple-check their facts, etc.
Right now, very few people are paying attention. Largest print dailies (WallSt.Journal, NYTimes) have 2-3 million subscribers each, maybe twice as many readers. This is only around 1% of U.S. population! Largest cable viewership is Fox (at least it was during Obama, as I recall) and also stable or falling. Trump has been outrageous enough to increase readers & viewership, I imagine: but I haven't seen any figures, other than that NYTimes subscriptions may have increased a little in the last few weeks.
It's a new world and nobody understands it yet.
What we really need are news "aggregators" that have good editorial sense.
What we are getting --instead-- is balkanization, where people only read or listen to those whom they are comfortable with, to people who already support their own intellectual view or emotional attitude. This is a recipe for disaster, and all are guilty. Every one of us, all!
Posted by: Lee A. Arnold | 06 February 2017 at 05:20 PM
Col Lang
Are you talking here about my second comment? If so, I'm gonna take a time out. I was trying to be civil. I'm not clear where the line is.
Posted by: Edward Amame | 06 February 2017 at 05:22 PM
I suspect that the more the powers-to-be tries to control info, the more it will be leaked. Currently, the White House resembles a colander. I wonder how long it will take until somebody takes away Mr. Trump's twitter account?
Posted by: Lars | 06 February 2017 at 05:54 PM
I think all politicians lie at times. Their paid representatives who go on talk shows mostly get paid to lie and cover up for them. Has always been that way. Trump certainly has the right to not participate with media he doesn't like (Obama did this to a certain extent), and as you point out, he can also forbid a lot of the government to participate with them. In return, I think the media can also just refuse to work with the most egregious of the paid spinners. However, where does this end up?
Steve
Posted by: steve | 06 February 2017 at 05:57 PM
Same reason they're obligated to give airtime or devote a column to liars like this clown:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/us-spokesperson-loses-temper-with-rt-journalist-over-syria-bombing-questions-a7423146.html
Posted by: Thirdeye | 06 February 2017 at 06:02 PM
I have no idea what you do, but I presume you would fight against release of your intermediate products, idle musings, and mistakes before you could correct and finalize them? particularly if political hacks in the media took them out of context for character assassination?
Sunshine laws and FOIA do not apply to draft documents. There can be a lengthy time lag before something is finalized.
The information collected by the govt belongs to the govt until it (or a judge) releases it, or new laws are written. Some reports are by agency charter released upon final version. It depends on the agency's charter. Additionally, some agencies deal with proprietary data to conduct business, which is never released and no court would agree with releasing it as it was acquired under NDA agreements. Other legal restrictions exist for other kinds of (unclassified) data.
Posted by: ISL | 06 February 2017 at 06:19 PM
"Politifact is not partisan"
LMAO.
Politifact is another loyal member of Team Democrat-media.
Since the press is a collection of far left Democrat activists, why would they NOT be a punching bag for the right?
Posted by: TV | 06 February 2017 at 06:55 PM
All
A fascinating interview with Nassim Taleb.
http://www.thehindu.com/books/‘Trump-makes-sense-to-a-grocery-store-owner’/article17109351.ece
Posted by: Jack | 06 February 2017 at 06:57 PM
Colonel,
Next to kids are pets.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/animalia/wp/2017/02/03/the-usda-abruptly-removes-animal-welfare-information-from-its-website/
Yes, corporate media is out to get the Trump Administration. For no other reason than he is anti-globalist. If you think there is distrust of government now, just wait till it goes dark.
For all intents and purposes a pink revolt has been kicked off in the USA. The vampire squids think they can squeeze the Middle Class dry. To quote political economist Mark Blyth “The Hamptons are not defensible”. The Masters of the Universe are so short sighted that they can’t conceive that they’re killing the golden goose; the US dollar and the Middle Class that supported it.
Posted by: VietnamVet | 06 February 2017 at 07:11 PM