Is there not one real journalist in the room?
That room is filled with journalists. The Fourth Estate is a Myth. Belief in the journalistic profession as guardians of truth, the watchdogs of power, the foundation of democracy... is the stuff of Rupert Murdoch's P&L and the NYT stock price. Within the First Amendment we find freedom of the press tucked between freedom of religion and the freedom of assembly. “Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.” Journalists yak on about it as if it were about them. It is not. It is about the free flow of ideas between people. All people. Such a flow is the very thing that journalists spend want to squelch, or even destroy.
The Bill of Rights and the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen both stand on the principle of natural rights. They protect individual freedoms. From the French Declaration - adopted in 1789, the same year that the Bill of Rights was submitted for ratification...
“The free communication of ideas and opinions is one of the most precious of the rights of man. Every citizen may, accordingly, speak, write, and print with freedom, but shall be responsible for such abuses of this freedom as shall be defined by law.” These foundational statements are the same. The use of "we" is not coincidental. This freedom is not a privilege accorded solely to a special class of citizenry who self-identify as journalists.
Journalists do not want a free flow of anything. Journalists were horrified when Trump suggested that the White House press conferences should come to an end as he is more than able to speak directly to the people. Journalists want to ask the question and provide the answer. Their questions are the only testimony they need. Jefferson held that the basis of our government is the opinion of the people.
Depending on whose ass is sitting in the oval office, the press corps is either genuflecting before a high priest of leftist policy and offering their publications as alms to the cause, or assailing an interloper who, just three years ago, interrupted the proper inheritance of power by a black hole of wretchedness masquerading as a human being.
I am enjoying watching journalists swarm like methed-out ants around the well thought words of our new press secretary. The spectacle is like bleach poured on a undulating black cloud of NPCs who have for years swarmed the landscape murmuring the same worn tropes, no matter the topic.
It feels like a warm sun rising on a chilly morning.
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