Wolff book brings up issues of how elected officials relate to reporters

Date: 1/11/2018

It’s time for a little inside baseball this week.

Have you bought the new book “Fire and Fury?” Have you read any excerpts? I’ve read the lengthy piece the New Yorker magazine ran and intend to buy it.

My initial reaction was how did this reporter get this access? Is this all on background? Off the record?
Amazingly much of it was not.

The Trump White House gave him the clearance because reportedly the president didn’t say “no” to his request.

Wow. I can’t think of many times when an in-coming president would consent to allowing a reporter with whom he has no relationship to just sit around with a notebook – for months.

It just isn’t the normal way the press and the White House works. It’s not the way any reporter and any elected official works.

Let me backtrack a bit. Reporters always have had a curious relationship with elected officials. No matter how friendly you might become with them, there is always an understanding a reporter will be bound to write something at some point with which they disagree either in a column or in a story.

There are elected officials who I cover for which I have much respect, while there are others not so much. My personal feelings aside I try very hard to treat everyone fairly as does my team.

We all work very hard in interviews to make sure if someone says something is “off record,” to properly define the statement and what can be reported. Here’s a tip to elected officials who stonewall us, but then comment on Facebook or Twitter: those two social mediums are not protected speech and we will use those quotes.

And stonewalling us is like throwing red meat to a hungry carnivore.

There is an acknowledgment that elected officials all want to position the news to best serve their legislative purposes. There is always an element of control – much with some, while not so much with others. It depends on the person and the subject.

Again, this is to be expected and my observation is not a criticism. This is the reality.

For instance, on the local level most of our elected officials are open to answering questions and being available. I can’t always say that for state officials, although many are good as well.
I can’t imagine, though, my saying to let’s say Sen. Elizabeth Warren,I’d like to write a book about you and your office and I need to basically hang out for a year listening in on meetings and asking folks questions.

I’m sure Warren would be advised to say no.

The fact the leader of the free world – as the office of the presidency is often called – would not say no speaks to his judgment and his ego.

The fact that Trump allowed reporter Michael Wolff to be there, observing and asking questions is pretty damning. I realize his supporters are going to disagree, but what it says about Trump is that either he doesn’t understand how the press works – considering his history that would be odd indeed – or that his sense of self is so towering, he welcomes any press, no matter how perilous it may be for him or his ability to do his job.

Either one doesn’t say much for the man who described himself on Jan. 6 in this way: “Actually, throughout my life, my two greatest assets have been mental stability and being, like, really smart. Crooked Hillary Clinton also played these cards very hard and, as everyone knows, went down in flames. I went from VERY successful businessman, to top T.V. Star to President of the United States (on my first try). I think that would qualify as not smart, but genius and a very stable genius at that!”

I would think a genius would understand how to use capital letters. By the way, Barack Obama, George Bush and Bill Clinton all became president on their “first try.”

Otto van Bismarck is quoted as saying “Laws are like sausages; it is better not to see them being made.” That is the push and pull of freedom of the press and government. Government frequently does not want the public to know how exactly things are done – they might be horrified – while the press wants to show the process. Reporters such as Wolff are trying to bring us into the kitchen and watch the cooking staff at work,- and that is his job.