Bernie Cochran: Press must stand up to ‘wannabe tyrants’

In his March 29 column “Journalists: not the fairest of them all,” J. Peder Zane is troubled that the Washington press corps’ coverage of President Trump has been “relentlessly negative.”

Is it surprising that a president who has been documentably proven to be a bigot, a racist and a liar and has chosen a cabinet containing persons possessing questionable morals and/or competence receives “negative” press? Do negative columns on his war on the environment represent political bias – or scientific fact?

Zane is also distressed that reporters “take his every word literally.” Translation: When Trump stated that “I intend to provide health care for everyone at a lower cost, immediately,” he really meant: “I will promote a plan to remove 24 million persons from Obamacare – sometime – and increase the budget deficit by billions.”

Zane’s solution to the $20 trillion debt is to “cut something,” namely, scientific research, Meals on Wheels, anything helping “the least of these.” Instead, reject Trump’s enormous tax cuts for the wealthy, which shifts more of the tax burden from those most able to pay to those least able.

The press standing up to wannabe tyrants is hardly “hyper-partisanship.”

This story was originally published April 5, 2017 at 7:31 PM with the headline "Bernie Cochran: Press must stand up to ‘wannabe tyrants’."