Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s, D-Calif., attack on the press this weekend has provoked little outrage from reporters, which is curious considering the industry’s near-obsession with anti-media messages coming from the White House.
The House minority leader accused the press of acting as an accomplice in Russia’s reported undermining of the 2016 presidential election.
This is no small accusation.
“I do think, with all due respect in the world for the press, that the press could have done a better job [highlighting Russia’s alleged meddling in the election],” Pelosi told CNN’s Jake Tapper.
Russian hackers broke into the private email accounts of Democratic National Committee staffers and Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, John Podesta. The hacking group WikiLeaks published the electronic communications in installments during the presidential election, which were then covered by the nation’s largest newsrooms.
Pelosi said this weekend that journalists were wrong to report on the content of the stolen emails. She also said reporters were wrong to ignore that Russian hackers were responsible for the leaks (nearly every story published during the election was careful to note that the emails had reportedly come from Russian sources).
“[I]nstead of printing every email that came out, and saying this comes to you from Vladimir Putin, they were, hah, hah, hah, John Podesta said this or that,” the House minority leader griped this weekend.
Reporting on the leaked emails was worse than just wasted time, Pelosi continued. It actually benefited Russia’s attempts to interfere in the election, meaning reporters acted as accomplices, she added.
“I think the press were accomplices in the undermining of our election by the Russians by not pointing out this stuff is worthless because it comes from an undermining of our election, or at least reminding the public where this – these emails, the leaking of these e-mails came from,” she said.
“A lot of things have an impact on the election. This certainly was one of them,” she added.
It looks like President Trump and Pelosi have something in common: They both think the press is bad at its job, and that it has done great harm.
There have been a handful of reports noting the seriousness of the congresswoman’s charge, but there has been no great outcry from national media in response to being accused of acting as Russia’s accomplice.
There have been no reporter hashtag campaigns, no brave editorials denouncing Pelosi’s attacks on the press and there have been no demands for an apology.
At best, the congresswoman’s charge has been brushed aside as an unpleasant criticism. That’s about it.
For an industry that has spent the last few months loudly proclaiming that it will not be cowed by Trump’s threats and insults, the mild-mannered media response to Pelosi’s not-so-insignificant charge is perplexing.
Perhaps reporters assumed Pelosi meant to say “unwitting accomplice,” and they’re letting it go at that. That would mean, however, that they’re giving her comments a charitable reading, which is a courtesy they’ve yet to extend to the White House. Perhaps Pelosi’s comments this weekend have gone unnoticed by media because this isn’t the first time she has accused reporters of helping Russia. Then again, reporters also ignored it the first time she leveled this charge.
Trump and Pelosi don’t have the same anti-media track record. There’s also a difference between whether attacks on journalists come from the Oval Office and whether they come from the House minority leader.
Still, if the issue is about those in power attacking the free press, then we should at least try to be consistent.
