Register editor
Ive always been of the opinion that the more one denies something an element of guilt exists.
We will seek no wider war, said President Lyndon B. Johnson, on the eve of escalating conflict in North Vietnam in 1964. The war lasted another 11 years.
I am not a crook, said President Richard M. Nixon, before being found guilty of implicitness in the Watergate scandal.
I did not have sexual relations with that woman, said President Bill Clinton, in denying his affair with Monica Lewinsky.
SO WHEN the Boston Globe issued a call to arms to the nations news organizations earlier this week to defend the accusations by President Donald Trump that journalists are the enemy of the people, I hesitated. There should be no need to say youre doing an honest days work.
But one image from the presidents 2016 campaign continues to haunt me. Hes at a rally in Cincinnati and upon his urging the crowd of 15,000 turns to the press corps, cordoned off by ropes, and hurls hate speech such as CNN sucks, and fake news.
Unfortunately, it was not a one-time affair.
Some say the answer to Mr. Trumps trolling is to stop covering him. Suck the oxygen out of his hate.
If he were not president, that would be possible. And the Register does take that approach to those who view our pages as their personal soapbox.
For more than 150 years the Registers primary purpose has been to foster community by telling the news of its citizens, organizations and governing bodies. We dont fabricate headlines for the sake of selling more copies, though sometimes while covering lengthy city or county meetings our imaginations do wander to such things. Appealing headlines would include, Mayor Wells declares a 50 percent decrease in utility charges! Retailers surround Iolas square; declare need for more space! Highway 169 to be four lanes!
But no, we stick to the truth, admit when we make mistakes, believing thats what keeps and builds our credibility with readers.
If the presidents goal is to shutter the free press, then hes on a path of undermining democracy and the inherent right of free speech. Perhaps he looks longingly at the voice boxes of state-run media such as that of Russia and China where criticisms of their leaders can land a person in prison. If thats the case, hes got an uphill battle. We will not go quietly.
Those who try to suppress the truth are the enemy of the people.
Perhaps the biggest harm of President Trumps continued tirade against the media is that it lowers the level of civility. When we turn on each other and chant hateful slurs we become sub-human. We are better than that.
