Journalism’s highest calling to people it serves is accuracy and efficiency. News services strive to report segments on relevant events happening in a timely manner. Fact checking and accuracy are religious practices in the business. How can there be trust between the public and the organization if what is being reported is not fact? None, which is why a variety of news networks fact check the other to keep everyone honest. It’s a real shame there’s concern on how to keep the White House honest.
The White House’s newly appointed Press Secretary was mistaken about several things in his press conference. The most attention was on when he went into detail about the inauguration crowd comparisons between the swearing in of President Obama and President Trump. If you’d like to read more about the press conference, check here. This press conference has gotten national scrutiny as the “facts” Press Secretary Sean Spicer said are incorrect.
Instead of another part of Trump’s cabinet fact checking each other, we have the justification of falsities. Kellyanne Conway, the counselor to President Trump justified the press secretary’s statements by calling them “alternative facts”. What happened to the idea of the whole truth and nothing but the truth? Are we pretending that anything less than truth is still 100% factual? Alternative facts is in itself a contradiction. Anything alternative, other to fact is in opposition to truth itself.
It’s one thing to argue about crowd sizes like in heated twitter fan exchanges, but presenting blatantly false material is a dangerous precedent for a new president in the first few days in a term. Accuracy from the White House is an expectation Americans have. Accuracy is in apart of the professionalism Americans expect in their leadership. Facts are not only expected for the citizens in the country, but it sets a precedent for the other countries we have diplomatic relationships with.
We the people deserve transparency and truth. It is not up for negotiation. We the people deserve facts, not “alternative facts” to hide party embarrassment. Truth is a right to every citizen. It’s not too much to ask and we demand it or the press will continue to make the White House honest.
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