Just a couple of short weeks ago, President Trump’s adviser, Steve Bannon, labeled the press as the “opposition party.” A few were offended, mostly those who are in the media or those who reflexively go anti-Trump at the drop of a hat, but he media has made it very clear that the see themselves as the only force able to stop Trump. To make it very clear to everyone what kind of coverage you can expect to find in its pages, the Washington Post has adopted a new slogan:
“Democracy Dies in Darkness,” a phrase used by Bob Woodward only this past Sunday, refers to excessive government secrecy. While the Post claims it has been considering adding a “values” statement to its web presence for some time, one can’t escape the clear implication that somehow Trump is threatening to kill democracy, presumably by giving the media
I missed this earlier, via @brianstelter. "Democracy dies in darkness" is the new Washington Post slogan. pic.twitter.com/QzuwXyWsjL
— Jay Rosen (@jayrosen_nyu) February 22, 2017
The irony is that a) Woodward is right and b) absolutely no one in the media cared about this fact for the past eight years and c) Woodward doesn’t mention that democracies also die when their press becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of one of the political parties. In particular, the Washington Post fits the description of a highly partisan media outlet masquerading as a news organization. Since Trump has been in the White House the Washington Post has run one story after another than have proven totally false (for example, he story that senior State officials had resigned en masse when they had been fired and that alleged confrontation between Steve Bannon and John Kelly).
Totally Awesome
If by awesome you mean
Painfully & obtusely ironicDemocracy dies when propaganda overcomes information
Well done https://t.co/MrEUUN4wZm
— Jim Hanson (@JimHansonDC) February 22, 2017
I thought people were joking about this new WP motto: "democracy dies in darkness." They were not. I shouldn't be laughing so hard.
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) February 22, 2017
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