Is Trump Ushering In An Era Of Responsible Journalism, Too?

In his inaugural speech, President Donald Trump talked about ushering in a new golden age for America. Is he also ushering in a new era of responsible journalism?

Yes, that’s harder to believe than any of the other promises Trump made, such as the one about how he’d “keep our children … disease-free.” But we thought we saw a faint glimmer of what honest journalism could look like on Monday.

For years, journalists had decided to label anything Trump said with which they disagreed a lie. That was especially true when it came to any Trump claim about the integrity of the 2020 election.

For example, here’s a headline from the New York Times in October.

This wasn’t about correcting the record. It was about attacking Trump every which way they could. When Joe Biden told an outright lie, the press routinely dismissed it as a “gaffe,” or an “exaggeration,” or just Joe being Joe.

But anytime Trump made a boast, the press would scream “Liar!” If he exaggerated for effect. Liar! It got to the point where if Trump said the sky was blue, the press would call him a liar because, in fact, the sky isn’t blue, it only appears blue because of the way the light interacts with the atmosphere.

But look at the “fact check” the New York Times ran on the day of Trump’s second inauguration.

The “inaccurate claims” to which the Times is referring include statements by Trump that the 2020 election was rigged – the very thing the Times was calling an outright lie not long ago.

We’re trying not to read too much into this. But it is a hint of what a return to responsible journalism would look like – report the facts, without fear or favor, and stop acting like the propaganda arm of the Democratic Party.

Yes, we know, this is an impossible dream. But one can hope, can’t one?

— Written by the I&I Editorial Board

Postscript: After this posted, we learned that the press has already abandoned any pretense of honest journalism, in their attempt to turn a heartfelt gesture by Elon Musk into some sort of Nazi salute, with the New York Times reporting about “internet speculation” as to what it actually meant. (Libs of Tik Tok posted pictures of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton caught with the same “straight arm solute,” which somehow did not result in gallons of ink being spilled.)