Don’t blame the messengers

In response to the Spokesman-Review’s August 16 editorial, “The S-R isn’t ‘the enemy of the people,’” three letter-writers have effectively retorted, “Yes it is, because its coverage of Trump is unfairly negative.”

To state what should be obvious: part of a newspaper’s charge is to report on all of a president’s significant words and actions. The S-R and other mainstream news sources have done that. On the one hand, they’ve amply covered the rising stock market and falling unemployment. On the other, they’ve covered Trump’s daily lies, bluster and bullying, his appalling attacks on America’s foundational institutions and international relationships, the mounting evidence of criminal wrongdoing on his part, and the confirmed criminal wrongdoing of many in his inner circle.

Trump’s agency in the (so far) good economic outcomes is debatable; his centrality in a nexus of toxic, often dangerous words and actions is undeniable. Of course he gets mainly negative coverage from responsible newspapers – including those, like the S-R, that have a center-right history!

Don’t blame the messengers. Doing so will only embolden Trump to shoot them.

Brian Keeling

Spokane