Attention: The Mainstream Media is Not Fake News

As a journalist, I am becoming more and more enraged at the Fake Media accusations by an individual who has told more than 6,000 lies and disparages anyone who does not bend to kiss his ring.

My experience is small potatoes compared to those being targeted. They are literally on the front lines of the news – reporting on wars, crime, elections, and politics, even to the point of being sequestered in a room for 18 months conducting an investigation that culminated in a 14,000-word story.

I’ve covered more than my share of town meetings, elections, storms, police and fire incidents. I’ve answered emails and edited copy at all hours.

Journalists are supposed to be objective, but this is a strange new world. The more they dig for facts, the more they are attacked. As much as the cable panels strive for objectivity, it’s a losing battle. The outrage grows each and every day, stoked by the hateful rhetoric of a president, onslaughts of breaking news consisting of shootings, accusations of election fraud, political malfeasance, and domestic terrorism, and a political atmosphere that is growing more and more divisive.

The far right has become emboldened. They have been given permission to spew hate on social media, carry torches in the street, keep (and use) their guns. The Republican-majority Congress has demonstrated its spinelessness by promoting policies that seek to undermine social safety nets, add to the coffers of the 1 percent, erode the rights of women, LGBQs, and seniors, and prevent lawful immigration. And bowing to the altar of tRump.

But every time, reporters call them out and investigate their motives, it’s called Fake News.

Meanwhile, the measured criticism of the administration by Democrats has generally fallen on deaf ears. In the Congress, that is. A few have consistently expressed their outrage, but the Republican control of Congress has stifled any real action.

The howls of indignation are occurring among concerned citizens – often women – who are organizing, marching, and channeling their outrage into running for office.

Thus, it has fallen on the media to hold the president, congress, and government officials accountable and it’s something they can’t handle… as evidenced in the White House press conference Oct. 29 where Sara Huckabee Sanders where she concluded her comments by whining that the media coverage is always so negative and doesn’t give him credit for his accomplishments. She admitted that some journalists are “the enemy of the people.”

The job of the media is to uncover the facts, and facts are what this administration finds most threatening.