I may have never gone to journalism school, but it wasn’t necessary to learn to appreciate, through common sense and practice in the field, that no so-called journalist worth a damn would ever, under any circumstances, pressure the government to keep its secrets more secret, to be more bureaucratically opaque — an utter betrayal of the original ethos of their trade.
Related: White House Revises Press Rules, Shields Karine Jean-Pierre From Hard Questions
Although ideologically I lean heavily toward maximum transparency regarding what the government does in the name of the people whose money it confiscates through taxes, I can at least appreciate the argument that there is some information that, for national security or other reasons, should remain out of the public domain.
Fine, whatever. Granted.
But keeping that information out of the public domain is the government’s job; journalists’ job is literally the exact inverse. Hence the term “muckraker.”
Journalists are supposed to be bloodhounds for state secrets; sniffing them out and reporting them to the public is their entire raison d'etre.
The details of the alleged classified documents leak referred to below at a recent press briefing with DEI bobblehead Karine are not the subject at hand and frankly don’t matter — what I’d like to point to is the implicit demand from a journalist covering the White House that the White House do a better job of not letting anything leak that their own audience, whom they purportedly serve by bringing them newsworthy information, might find of interest.
Via Whitehouse.gov, Oct. 21 (emphasis added):
Q And then on the leak of information — classified information about Israel’s plans toward Iran. There was a leak of classified information last year in April. A member of the National Guard had posted a bunch of documents and whatnot online.
Has the Pentagon and the intelligence community done enough since then to —
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: So —
Q — protect —
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: What I can say is —
Q — this material?
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: — certainly we are aware of — of the reporting. Certainly, we are concerned — very concerned by them. Anything about — about the process and this — and — and how it’s being investigated by the U.S. government, I would have to refer you to the IC, the DOJ, and certainly DOD. I’m not going to get into particulars or specifics from here.
But we are aware of the reports, and we are definitely, and we are definitely very concerned about them.
Q Can you speak to any changes the president might have in mind that he might want to see going forward?
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: So, I’m not going to get ahead of it*. As I just mentioned, the U.S. government is investigating this and — through the appropriate authorities. So, I’m going to let them d- — move through their process, see exactly what happened. I’m not going to get into it from here.
*“I’m not going to get ahead of it” is what Karine’s handlers have taught her to say when she isn’t supposed to answer a question — which basically applies to every question she receives and is the reason she repeats this nonsense phrase at least ten times every briefing.
Any of the press corps who dare ask any real questions, like Simon Ateba, get run out on a rail, Karine gets indignant, her giant binder with all of her talking points smashes closed thunderously, and the propaganda sessions ends as punishment so the media whores learn to act right next time.
Related: WATCH: KJP Tussles With Heroic African Reporter, Abruptly Ends Press Briefing
And this, ladies and gentlemen, is the Sacred Democracy™ we are enjoined to protect from the Orange Fascist.
