Will no one consider the feelings of the press?
But what happens when the press isn't interested in speaking truth to power, but is merely an adjunct of our entertainment industry? Is it then betraying its role in our Republic?
During the Trump regime, the press pursued damaging stories against it. But despite that, it also didn't rise to the occasion of the unique peril posed by it. It carried every Trump press conference, no matter how unhinged, until near the end, when it was safe to ignore the insane ramblings of a diseased and lunatic mind. Meanwhile, in the Age of Biden, it stopped carrying Jen Psaki's daily briefings after about a month. Of course, Ms. Psaki is boring; she's not attacking enemies of the state, or giving the press juicy soundbites out of which they can spin scandal and drama.
The latest mishegas is over President Joe Biden not having given a press conference more than fifty days into his administration. "Even Donald Trump had given a press conference by this time!"
Pres. Biden is a bit busy fixing the existential crises engendered or worsened by the previous guy. His spokespeople, up and down all federal departments, are freely available, and have much more detail. But, of course, no journalist has ever made his or her bones by, as David Frum tweeted, tripping up the IRS Commissioner. Journalists are careerists, in a profession which suffers from that careerism. A degree of careerism is unavoidable; but the remit of a free press, and its highest profile practitioners, should be as far from climbing the ladder and stepping over the bodies of the mangled as possible.
This fixation on Pres. Biden not catering to the vanities of the DC press corps, as well as ignoring its gnashing of teeth because he dares travel from time to time to his home in Delaware to visit his grandchildren and the grave of his son Beau, is an indication that the press is feeling put upon in a way it may not even have felt to be so when the previous guy called them "enemies of the people" as often as he farted. Hatred and vitriol they know what to do with; neglect is something with which no one deals well, especially those who consider themselves unelected tribunes.
Trump was the best thing that could have happened to the press; for four years, they could present themselves as down-low members of the Resistance. (Just don't let Dean Baquet know.) They felt they were doing work which was important to the survival of the Republic.
But even in that, there was a bit of pantomime. They played the part of truth-tellers, and the regime played the villain. But it never went beyond that. No editorials calling for Trump's resignation, no matter what he did, even after inciting the January 6th Insurrection. The press as an institution took no real side, for or against Trump. It maintained the farce of "objectivity", acting as if it were a neutral umpire reporting on regular politics, when the caged children at the border told a different tale. And now it's gone back to its normal operating procedure, holding a Democratic administration and Congress to a standard which doesn't adhere to Republicans.
However, it's not working. The times are too dire, and most Americans know where the blame lies, and who's helping. Carping on press briefings and visits to home seem a bit jejune during these times. In the era of plague and economic collapse, such concerns are not the concerns of the majority of Americans. It's the ultimate "inside baseball", of interest only to a fraction of a fraction of the well-heeled.
Press behavior during the previous guy's four years, although there were some high points, is nothing to brag about much when seen in totality. As always, it will learn the wrong lessons and make the same mistakes. In this media economy landscape, these are missteps it can ill afford.