Dear President Trump
As 70 organizations petition the president to grant the media more government access, this is a letter of a different kind.
Feb. 7, 2017
Dear President Trump,
By now, you’ve heard from 70 organizations urging you to give the news media more government access. Those letters are primarily from journalism organizations.
This is not another one of those letters.
America First
This is, first and foremost, about America. And, the truth of the matter is, Mr. President, this country is only as strong as the state of our news media.
You have taken America’s news media to task, for ‘fake news’ and ‘dishonesty.’
Well, several recent Administrations before you have worked, back-to-back, in curtailing the news media’s access to the decision makers, as well as to the very documentation that contains the data the news media needs for fact checking, in order to file accurate stories.
Noting that, it seems the only way to get things back on track, and the quickest, most surest way to ‘Make America Great Again,’ is to enable the news media to do its job.
To Everyone’s Benefit
In the end, it’s to everyone’s benefit.
The American people have a right and a need to know what’s happening inside their government but, just as importantly, the government needs eyes and ears on its own inner workings, to spotlight where it’s failing, so correction may take place. Consider Flint, Michigan: A public tragedy due to failure across local, state and federal lines.
The truth of the matter is, Mr. President, you need a strong media in place, just as much as the rest of America does.
Remember, too, Wall Street reacts to the news of the day. Let the news media do its job well and, in turn, strengthen our free enterprise system.
Mr. President, the way things stand now is akin to Twitter deciding which of your tweets see the light of day, and which ones disappear without a trace.
We need to be better than this.
Sincerely,
Jaci Clement
CEO & Executive Director
