In mid-July, President Donald Trump met with Russian President Vladimir Putin for a meeting that was live broadcasted through The New York Times, The Washington Post and many other news outlets. Much was discussed, but the press suffered the brunt of the consequences.
Regardless of what was discussed that day, one thing was for certain — Trump couldn’t possibly be misquoted over a livestreamed broadcast. The fact that he thinks journalists did, is very disappointing.
“I had a GREAT meeting with Putin and the Fake News used every bit of their energy to try and disparage it. So bad for our country!” Trump wrote on Twitter.
As a young journalist I want nothing more than to provide the public with facts. All the events that happen around the world each day are meant to be shared quickly and factually. I bet my fellow journalists feel exactly the same.
I did not decide to pursue this field in the hope my writing would be classified as “fake news.” I decided to pursue journalism, because I love it.
It’s no secret most newsprint companies aren’t having the best time. News companies toe a fine line between business and service to the public. The one thing readers should not have to question is the validity of the journalists they follow. Readers should never have had to hear the term “fake news” in the first place.
This term has only grown since Trump took office. He continues to use fake news with more and more prevalence each week.
Lindsay Trombly | Argonaut
In my opinion news isn’t fake unless you don’t like the information. I think this goes for Trump.
After the summit with Putin, Trump made sure to tweet about the press in a negative way. This is because he didn’t like how the media covered the event.
“The summit with Russia was a great success, except with the real enemy of the people, the Fake News Media.”
This tweet offends me. It offends many other journalists. And it should offend those who look to the press for accurate news.
Not all pieces of journalism are going to be 100 percent accurate. There are places where the values journalists hold dear slip through the cracks. But, I’m willing to bet most all journalists are not truly “enemies of the people.”
The way Trump talks about journalists dehumanizes them. You might not meet a journalist every day, but it’s easy to see they aren’t enemies.
The president of the United States should support everyone.
One tweet wasn’t enough for him to dehumanize journalists. He decided to post this one and many others containing the words fake news.
Seeing these kinds of negative connotations from the president is very discouraging.
I’m excited to dive deeper into my journalism education. But, this stigma of news sources producing “fake news” means every step young journalists take forward are brought three steps back. It breaks my heart.
If you think what your reading might be fake news, conduct some research before tossing these words around. Research the journalist and the information through various reliable news sources. They’re all different.
We can no longer simply trust the president. His news might just be fake, too.
Lindsay Trombly can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @lindsay_trombly