Earlier today the new White House Press Secretary, Sean Spicer, had a few words for the journalists in the Press Corps. He accused them of misrepresenting the size of the crowd attending President Trump’s inauguration.
Stung perhaps by this set of photos that went viral the day of the Inauguration, Mr. Spicer seemed to think that the size of the crowd could be determined by decree, since no official count is available.
What I found most interesting was the way the press conference was reported by major news media.
- Fox News: Spicer accuses media of ‘false reporting’ in fiery briefing
Fox News was content to report Spicer’s words without exploring their accuracy. The article presents the part of the briefing that it covers clearly and succinctly, but it does nothing to corroborate, contradict, or even explore Mr. Spicer’s words. The reader has no way of knowing whether Mr. Spicer’s criticisms were warranted, only that he voiced them. A video clip of the conference runs 4:17. - CNN: White House press secretary attacks media for accurately reporting inauguration crowds
The headline language displays bias on the part of CNN, who understandably has a vested interest in public perception. The statistics and quotations included in the story, however, make Mr. Spicer look even worse. CNN defended the media reports with supporting information from Nielsen ratings, the Secret Service, and the D.C. Metro public transit. They dismantled some of Spicer’s assertions, making him look at best, ill-informed, and at worst, like a liar. A video clip of the conference runs 5:48. - BBC: Trump inauguration: President attacks ‘dishonest’ media over crowd photos
The BBC summarized Mr. Spicer’s words, digressed briefly to discuss the Women’s March on Saturday, returned to Spicer to mention that data from Nielsen and the DC Metro system contradicted his statements, then discussed Trump’s self-aggrandizing behavior when he visited the CIA headquarters. The article read like a mélange of 3 or 4 articles, as though the reporting were heavily dependent on the work of colleagues. A video clip of the conference runs 0:55. - Washington Post: Trump’s press secretary lashes out at press, calling crowd coverage ‘shameful and wrong’
The Washington Post summarized Mr. Spicer’s remarks using language like “used his first media briefing to angrily lambaste the press” and “In a highly unusual move, Spicer left the briefing without taking questions, ignoring reporters who shouted questions …” The Post included Spicer’s numbers without commenting on their accuracy, except to note that his estimate of the number of people who rode the subway was much higher than the numbers provided by D. C. Metro. An annotated video clip of the conference runs 2:01 and includes a brief statement from President Trump speaking to the CIA and saying that “it looked, honestly, it looked like a million and a half people” were present on the Mall for his inauguration. - New York Times: With False Claims, Trump Attacks Media on Turnout and Intelligence Rift
The Times comes out swinging with its headline and calls the press conference “a remarkably bitter attack on the news media.” The article says Spicer “delivered an irate scolding to reporters and made a series of false statements” and added, “The statements from the new president and his spokesman were a striking display of invective and grievance at the dawn of a presidency.” The article goes on to discuss Mr. Trump’s visit to CIA headquarters, his remarks there, described as “meandering,” and the rocky relationship he has established with the intelligence community. A video clip of the conference runs 3:00. - The Wall Street Journal: White House Disputes Inauguration Attendance Estimates, Despite Evidence to Contrary Contradicting available evidence, President Donald Trump’s press secretary says ‘attempts to lessen the enthusiasm of the inauguration are shameful and wrong’
The language in this account was more moderate than in other media accounts, but the numbers presented were just as damning. WSJ did go one step further, reporting that Nielsen indicated that the record for “the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration” — on television, at least — still belongs to Ronald Reagan’s inauguration in 1981. A video clip of the conference runs 3:03.
Conclusions?
It’s time for us all to re-read George Orwell’s 1984.
All of us are responsible for our own fact-checking. Good journalism helps us do that.
The media (except for Fox News) will stand up to bullies. It won’t be pretty. It shouldn’t be.
The original version of this post did not include the Wall Street Journal’s account. The blog has been updated to include WSJ, to include the length of video clips, and to do some minor edits.