Trump's Catfish

Whatever the journalistic medium, there are two distinct types of reporting. While they are designed for distinct purposes, these days the line between them is often often muddy, or even missing.

1. The first objective of news outlets, whether you are talking about print or electronic systems including radio. Television, or the internet, is to accurately report what I going on. There are some well-defined guidelines governing this role. News reporters need to be clear about their sources. Normally there must be at least two. All materials need to be validated before hitting the public. There are no “alternate facts.” While the public has a right to know, every precaution must be taken before someone’s character or institution is defamed. Following these simple journalistic principles should eliminate what has been called “fake news.”
2. The parallel journalistic role is commentary and analysis involving the opinion of the author. Sometimes opinion pieces come directly from editors or editorial staffs as well as in-house columnists. Sometimes commentaries come from letters to the editor, opinion pieces or columnists from outside the news organization. There are also rules or guidelines governing these offerings. Every article or column should be accompanied by the author’s name. Opinion pieces must appear separated from the “news” and must be identified as such, preferably in clearly defined sections. Since these opinion pieces do not qualify as “news,” the guidelines are often less well defined. Thus the confusion.

It is no secret that President Trump from the earliest days of his administration. has been at war with the press. His “alternate facts” are at odds with the researched facts used as the basis in the media for the news. His arguments with columnist and other peddlers of opinions in often a “he said’,
she said” debate.

Now let me get to the title at the head of this column. So I’ll tell a story. A century or so ago the cod fishermen out of Gloucester, Massachusetts had a serious problem. While their catch brought in from the sea was abundant, after being caught the fish were held in the large tanks below the deck. After a while these lethargic cod would give up swimming and slowly sink to the bottom. When they finally arrived at the port, they had been smothered, and dead fish brought less than half of those brought back alive.

One old fisherman continually brought back tanks with very vigorous live cod, and none of the other fishermen had the foggiest clue as to how he did it. Well, the old successful cod fisherman died, his son took over his boat with the same success his father enjoyed;being in possession of the same secret. However, some years later, after a long night in a dockside bar he finally revealed his father’s secret. Before heading to the fishing grounds he would put in his tank a quantity of catfish, bottom feeders, who never ran out of energy and who spent their time scurrying around the tank. These energetic catfish came equipped with a sharp spine on their dorsal fins. If you have had a finger jabbed by one of the spines, you know how nasty, sharp and painful their attack can be. So when the cod got tired and sank to the tank’ s bottom, jab, jab,jab, they would be goosed by the lively catfish, and would arrived at port very much alive.
So while straight newshounds are committed to report what is happening, columnists are paid to use their sharp spines, and the more pompous their victims the more painful the jabs. These days several of the nation’s columnists are Trump’s catfish, and whenever Donald sinks to the bottom of his self-created swamp of untruths, bitter put-downs and self-glorification, the columnists
are dashing about somewhere below the surface with ever-sharpened dorsal spines. When Trump howls in pain we know that the media’s catfish have made solid hits.