Covering Trump

President Donald Trump’s executive branch has taken a dislike of the media to a new level. Three media experts, including two OHIO alumni, weigh in for ohiotoday.org on the relationship between the Trump administration and the media.

Ray Locker, MSJ ’84, editor at USA Today

On Trump’s relationship with the media:  Trump’s displeasure with the media is “off the charts,” he says.

The day Locker was interviewed Trump held a televised press conference where he said the traditional American press was being “dishonest,” “out of control,” and producing “fake news.”

“You don’t often get called out in public by the president of the United States,” says Locker, who oversees USA Today’s White House reporters and the paper’s Washington bureau for investigative reporting. “Richard Nixon used to do it. But not much anymore. [President Barack] Obama had some testy moments, but nothing on this scale,” he said.

On journalists staying the course: As a veteran newsman, Locker has had his share of government officials expressing a distaste for news, he says. However, he says, the job of a reporter remains the same.

“[Whether] you’re covering [the] Athens County Commission[ers], or you’re covering the president of the United States, people try the same games, and the same principles apply here as they do elsewhere: fairness, diligence, enterprise. All those things work” (to get the story right), Locker said.

Gregory Korte, BSJ ’94 and AB 94, White House correspondent for USA Today

(Korte was awarded the 30th Annual Gerald R. Ford Journalism Prize for Distinguished Reporting on the Presidency in May. The award recognizes reportorial excellence and the fostering of better public understanding of the presidency. –Ed.)

On reporting from the White House press room: Korte reported from the press briefing room in the White House West Wing during the end of the Obama administration. It was “ghost town,” he said. With the Trump administration, it’s a full house. As of March (when he was interviewed for this story) Korte said he had not experienced any stonewalling or obstruction of information by the Trump administration. Yet reporters were trying to find the correct contact person for various pieces of information they sought, he said.

On Press Secretary Sean Spicer: He’s more accessible off-camera than his on-camera persona, Korte says. The “theater that goes on in the press room is part of a bigger communication strategy” that appeals to Trump’s base who are suspicious of media, he said.

On Trump’s communication team’s style: They prefer person-to-person contact, rather than email, which was preferred by the previous administration, Korte said.

“That was something that was in [Trump’s book] The Art of the Deal,” he said. “When you negotiate, you negotiate face-to-face. That ethic pervades the White House and I think it’s constructive, because when you meet people face-to-face, you start to understand each other a little better than how most of Washington operates, which is by email and canned statements,” he said.

Korte agreed there is irony in Trump’s relationship with the media: he at once consumes it and discredits it.

“He’s [one of] the most avid consumers. Obama read a lot,” he said, and noted that for Obama to credit the news source was rare. “Whereas Trump will mention specific stories, but even if he's not mentioning specific stories, you can tell, you'll see his tweets and if you're watching, you know, ‘Fox & Friends’ or ‘Morning Joe’ or whatever it is, that he was watching.”

Stephen Koff, Washington Bureau Chief for Cleveland.com

On White House message control: Koff says every White House likes to keep tight control of information. For example, Obama was known for sidestepping the media while harnessing the power of new media. According to a 2014 Rolling Stone article, his vice-presidential announcement was strategically made via text. The article also cited that he also criticized the press in off-the-record meetings. And, in 2013, the Associated Press and The New York Times reported that in an effort to crackdown and prosecute leaks, the Obama administration secretly gathered phone records from Associated Press reporters in 2012.

On navigating heady headlines: In the media storm that followed the firing of former FBI Director James Comey, Fox News reported Trump threatened to end press briefings, and CNN.com and other national media outlets reported he wanted journalists jailed.

On presidents and social media: Koff said that Obama understood social media, and the Trump campaign took advantage of it like no other campaign.

I bet [for] most people in Washington, D.C., the first thing they look at is ‘What’s he tweeting.’ And he knows that,” he said. But Trump’s tweets don’t bother him unless Trump announces something Koff wanted to report on first, which hasn’t happened yet, he says.

On reporting: Besides the style of the presidency making headlines, Koff said the public should be aware of some very serious issues.

“We’re talking about Russia. We’re talking about Michael Flynn [national security advisor from January 20 to February 13, 2017]; We’re talking about incredibly important and serious things. And leaks are coming out of his administration. … It’s serious stuff and to attack it as, ‘Oh, it’s just the lying media.’”

To report fairly on his assignments, Koff says he reminds himself, “there is perhaps another viewpoint. There are people who have grievances with the government and don’t believe the government is the answer to all our problems.” He noted that some people had reasons for voting for Trump and it’s not because the voters were “evil,” “racist,” or “misogynist.”

Trump and journalism ethics

The Trump Presidency may have ignited a rebirth in public affairs reporting. E.W. Scripps School of Journalism Director Robert Stewart and Cleveland.com writer and journalism school Professor Thomas Suddes weigh in on how the school is using today’s media landscape as a teaching tool for journalism ethics classes.

Bob Stewart

On White House pushback: OHIO’s E.W. Scripps School of Journalism teaches a comprehensive curriculum that informs tomorrow’s reporters on media issues, including government pushback.  

“At this moment, it is much easier for us to underscore the consequences of not pushing back and...of just rolling over. We are seeing a lot of journalists standing up and saying ‘solidarity, solidarity, solidarity,’” said.

Thomas Suddes

On Trump’s view of democracy and the media: Trump’s characterizing the media as dishonest and fake does not necessarily erode at our democratic ways.

“All officeholders are defensive to some extent about criticism. I don’t think the president is not unusual in that respect,” he said.

On Trump’s relationship with the media: The press’s treatment of Trump is fair and natural considering the office he holds and when you look at Trump’s relationship with the media over time.

“The president is a remarkable officeholder in terms of the presidency. [There hasn’t been] anybody quite like him for a long, long time, if ever. He has been in the public arena all his life as a developer and a business person and so forth,” he says. “The kind of attention he’s getting I think is not only inevitable but natural. I will say that I think it is arguable that media had been more aggressive and more persistent in looking at presidential administration actions.”

On media and the internet: The internet and “universality of the web” means more people are in a position to challenge and debate ideas. That’s a good thing, Suddes says. “That’s part of the American process.”

On reporting to benefit the reader: When teaching students how to cover public policy, it’s important to teach how legislation can affect people and families.

“How will cutting taxes affect a family in Medina, in Nelsonville, or in Columbus? Because when we talk in generalities, it’s just too easy not to look at the individual impact of things. Sometimes the impacts [of the policy or legislation] are good,” he said.