Himalayauk himalaya Gaurav Uttarakhand
Donald Trump’s “running war” on the media is continuing into his presidency, with statements over the weekend calling into question the extent to which information from the White House can be trusted.
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer on Monday will hold his first daily press briefing at which he could face questions about a statement Saturday night that included demonstrably false assertions about the crowd size at Friday’s inauguration and a promise by the new administration that “we’re going to hold the press accountable.”
Some Trump supporters will no doubt cheer the continued antagonism toward the media that was central to the Republican’s campaign for president. Now the stakes are higher.
“I hope that people will stop, pull back for what we in television call a wide shot and see what is happening,” Rather said. “This is a deliberate propaganda campaign.”
Spicer made two unprovable statements in his briefing: that photographs of the audience at Trump’s inaugural were intentionally framed to minimize the appearance of support, and that Trump drew the largest audience ever to witness an inauguration.
Press secretaries have been lied to by their bosses, or misled reporters through the omission of information, but veteran journalist Dan Rather said Sunday it was the first time he could recall false material being delivered in this way.
Longtime Republican operative Spicer, who most recently was the spokesman for the Republican National Committee and also worked for President George W. Bush, is known for fighting tenaciously for his employers. His briefing on Saturday followed a Trump appearance at the CIA where the president criticized the media for its reporting his criticisms of the intelligence community and took exception to stories saying the crowd for his inauguration was smaller than those for predecessor Barack Obama. Trump declared that journalists are “the most dishonest human beings on Earth,” saying “I have a running war with the media.”
