When the Press Loses Credibility

When is the press no longer the watchdog America’s founders intended to keep government accountable?When it reports and publishes unverified smears.

America’s founders believed that a free press was of such significance they granted it constitutional protection.Thomas Jefferson said, “Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.” The press was an integral ingredient to a free nation which Jefferson believed could be an unbiased watchdog to keep the government honest.

What happens, though, when the watchdogcannot be trusted?

On January 10, notably excited CNN journalists delivered“breaking news”that classified documents presented to the current and incoming presidents included allegations that Russians had compromising information about Donald Trump. Not long after, BuzzFeed apparently heard CNN’s dog whistle and published a 35-page dossier, which was really nothing more than a compilation of uncorroborated hogwash, obviously created to delegitimize Trump’s presidency.

The following day, NBC News reported a senior U.S. intelligence official disputed CNN’s claims. The official said Trump was not briefed on the dossier and claims “no investigations found any conclusive or direct link between Trump and the Russian government.” Later, Trump tweeted that National Intelligence director James Clapper “called me yesterday to denounce the false and fictitious report that was illegally circulated.”

More