I am not a journalist. I'm blessed to be able to write a weekly column offering viewpoints shaped by my 30-plus years of experience in politics, policy and business. As a columnist, my opinions are my own.
Journalists have my respect for their gift of effective questioning, active listening, clear writing - often on tight deadlines - and accurate reporting of information to the public. It's so important to have the profession of journalism that our nation's founders included in the Bill of Rights the First Amendment, which states, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press ..."
Last week, President Donald Trump issued his 2017 fake news awards amid recent studies showing that 90 percent of the media's coverage of his first year in office was negative. Rather than focus on his award "winners," let's instead focus on the need for a free press and accuracy in reporting versus shock media or "clickbait" that is nothing more than sensationalism dressed up as journalism.
Robin SmithDonald J. Trump is an easy target with his untamed tongue and rejection of the decorum expected of an elected official. However, the same guy who beat a field of 16 in the GOP primary and then pulled off the electoral upset of the century by defeating Hillary Clinton is the same guy now living in the White House. He can sometimes be a jerk. Yet, he's keeping his word and appears to be keeping his base of support.
So, if a promised agenda is being implemented - as evidenced by a stock market reaching unprecedented levels, unemployment at a low (including an all-time low since 1972 for black Americans at 6.8 percent), an iconic company, Apple, announcing its repatriation of $252 billion and the creation of 20,000 new jobs, a plunge in illegal crossings at the Southern border, a new emphasis on legal immigration to eliminate cheap, illegal labor and to honor the value of citizenship, why is most of the "media coverage" negative?
Why are there nationally syndicated headlines blaring, "Trump claims credit for what is still mostly Obama's economy" despite canceling more than "1,500 planned regulatory actions" and eliminating 22 existing regulations for every one new one established in the first 11 months of the 45th president's administration, not to mention the rejuvenated economy based on the tax reforms, as captured in contrast by the Washington Free Beacon just a month ago?
Media outlets, large and small, have repeated suggestions of mental illness and dementia, apparently in an effort to argue not so subtlety that Trump is unfit to serve. Yet the facts about the 71-year-old president's physical and mental exam didn't come close to the expectations floated by hysterical members of the national media. Trump doesn't feign to be some fitness guru, and the same White House physician for Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama declared him as having "excellent" health despite his struggles over a love of fast-food and lack of exercise.
Navy Rear Adm. Ronny L. Jackson, M.D., answered every question fired by the White House press pool, which was clearly in disbelief after Trump aced the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, a well-known assessment given to detect even "mild cognitive dysfunction," according to the Washington Post.
America needs a free press and accurate information. Let's demand it.
Robin Smith, a former chairwoman of the Tennessee Republican Party, owns Rivers Edge Alliance.