As an industry, the press is on deadline.
Before Trump takes office, the media must decide whether to fact-check and analyze the most colorful and controversial president in modern history, ushering in a golden era of journalism. Or they can opt for self-righteousness and steep in persnickety indignation for four years.
Terry Moran provides a good example of the latter. The chief foreign correspondent for ABC News demanded on Twitter that Trump’s former campaign manager “cite specific evidence” of how “President Obama censored Americans from saying ‘Merry Christmas.'” It was painful example of overreaction and mischaracterization.
The correspondent’s call for strict journalistic scrutiny stems from Corey Lewandowski’s offhand comment about the advent greeting coming back in vogue. “You can say again, ‘Merry Christmas,’ because Donald Trump is now the president,” he told a chuckling Sean Hannity on Tuesday night. “You can say it again, it’s OK to say, it’s not a pejorative word anymore.”
Cue media outrage and overwrought coverage. Early out of the gate, Moran’s hard hitting tweet was quickly followed by Huffington Post and Washington Post stories setting the record straight. The Fourth Estate reminded the nation that, no, Obama really didn’t wage a war on Christmas.
And that’s fine. But Lewandowski never made that claim. Instead the pundit pontificated about Trump’s vow to stem the uptick of political correctness that occured during the Obama administration.
No one can argue that Middle America has been forced to tiptoe on cultural eggshells in the last eight years. Since the advent of microaggressions, the country has endured a steady lecture about inbred racism, homophobia and oppression. Trump promised to smash that political correctness. And with Merry Christmas as a placeholder, Lewandowski now argues that the incoming executive has delivered.
The media rightly bristled at the directive to take Trump seriously rather than literally. Even scrutiny has its limits, though. Yes, when the rookie executive talks about killing families to win the war on the Islamic State, the press should report him at his word. But no, the exaggerations of a disgraced ex-Trump staffer don’t deserve wall-to-wall coverage.
There are more important stories to cover and Moran knows this better than most. Winner of the prestigious Peabody Award, he’s embedded with American troops in the Middle East and cross-examined presidents from the Rose Garden. Now more than ever the public needs that type of news from reporters, not baseless exasperation.
When Trump comes to Washington, the press corps will enter a target rich environment. His past business records and future policy decisions will provide more than enough to cover. That reporting is undercut each time the press assigns significance to passing statements.
Philip Wegmann is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
