Fourth Estate

On “60 Minutes” this week Scott Pelley interviewed Speaker of the House Paul Ryan about his relationship with Donald Trump, and what he hopes to accomplished now that Republicans control the government. Ryan initially refused to endorse Trump during the campaign, and said he wouldn’t campaign with or for him. His most damning condemnation of Trump came over Trump’s comment about a federal judge who was presiding over a lawsuit brought against Trump. Trump said the judge couldn’t be fair because of his Mexican heritage. Remember, Trump wants to build that wall to keep the Mexican “rapists and murderers” out. Pelley asked Ryan, “You called Trump a racist”. Ryan responded by saying, “No, I didn’t, I said his comment was.” Pelley said, “I’m not sure there’s a lot of daylight between those definitions.” He then let Ryan say his disagreements with Trump are over. Ryan said, “Yeah, we’re fine. We’re not looking back.”…”Let bygones be bygones.” I was shocked that Pelley just let him off the hook. No follow up about all the other bigoted and racist comments. Pelley didn’t ask Ryan for his reaction to Trump’s appointment of Steve Bannon, Executive Chair of Breitbart News, as Special Counselor to the President. Breitbart is the extreme right wing, some would say racist, news website. Pelley also didn’t ask about Trump’s comments about sexually assaulting women. How about asking Ryan how he explains those things to his teenage daughter?

Lesley Stahl of “60 Minutes” got the first television interview with Trump after the election. Trump said he was proud of his campaign. There was no follow up about rhetoric that incited his campaign crowds to violence, and chants of “Lock her up” about Hillary Clinton. Trump said he won the election easily. Stahl didn’t challenge him with the fact that he lost the popular vote by two and a half million votes. Trump said he was now agreeable to just building a fence in some sections along the Mexican border where he promised a wall. Stahl didn’t press him on how he was going to make such a ridiculous idea a reality, and get Mexico to pay for it.

Pelley and Stahl are among the leading broadcast journalists in the country. To be fair, they did press Ryan and Trump in other parts of their interviews. But, I’m thinking about how Mike Wallace would have conducted those interviews. No one seems to be able to pin Trump down, and get specifics about his vague plans on everything from healthcare to immigration. Reporters haven’t had a chance to question him about his phone call with the president of Taiwan, and how that can undermine future relations with China which Trump has accused manipulating currency, and basically ripping us off. Reporters haven’t had that chance because Trump hasn’t had a news conference in months.

Marty Baron, the Executive Editor of the Washington Post, was recently awarded the Hitchens Prize in memory of the late Vanity Fair contributing editor Christopher Hitchens. The prize is given for a commitment to free expression, intellect, and pursuit of the truth. Baron was also editor of the Boston Globe when it uncovered institutional child sexual abuse by Catholic priests in Boston. Actor Live Schreiber played him in the Academy Award winning movie “Spotlight”. In his acceptance speech, Baron talked about the challenges of covering a Trump presidency. He said, “He (Trump) was elected after waging an outright assault on the press…He described the press as “disgusting,” “scam,” “lowlifes”…It is no wonder that some members of our staff at The Washington Post and other news organizations received vile insults and threats of personal harm so worrisome that extra security was required…The ultimate defense of press freedom lies in our daily work…Just do our job. Do it as it’s suppose to be done.” That means demanding answers, and not letting presidents and politicians lie and not answer questions that citizens have the right to ask.

A responsible press has been called the Fourth Estate. Author Thomas Carlyle attributed the term to Irish statesmen and political philosopher Edmund Burke. In 1787, the British Parliament was debating allowing press coverage of the House of Commons. Burke, a member of the house said, “There are three estates in Parliament: but, in the Reporters’ Gallery yonder, there sit a Fourth Estate more important… than… all.” Burke is also the man who said, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”