Gnawing Anonymice: This is no way to run a newspaper

Beyond Lotter’s vague statement to the Washington Post, it’s remarkable to consider that when Flynn resigned there had yet to be a single named source making a verifiable accusation of his doing anything illicit. This has in no way dampened the media frenzy. NBC’s Chuck Todd called Flynn’s resignation “arguably the biggest presidential scandal involving a foreign government since Iran-contra.” Dan Rather, who, in spite of his journalistic disgrace, is building a steady following for his liberal news analysis on Facebook, wrote that “Watergate is the biggest political scandal of my lifetime, until maybe now.” Rather’s remarks made headlines at the BBC, Vox, Huffington Post, and many other outlets.

The New York Times, for its part, headlined a February 14 report “Trump Campaign Aides Had Repeated Contacts With Russian Intelligence.” The story was sourced entirely to “current and former officials” who “spoke on the condition of anonymity because the continuing investigation is classified.” And beyond the eyebrow-raising headline, it was thin gruel. Intelligence agencies “sought to learn whether the Trump campaign was colluding with the Russians on the hacking or other efforts to influence the election,” reported the Times. But “the officials interviewed” by the paper “said that, so far, they had seen no evidence of such cooperation.” Further, they “would not disclose many details, including what was discussed on the calls, the identity of the Russian intelligence officials who participated, and how many of Mr. Trump’s advisers were talking to the Russians.”…

Flynn is just the most prominent and recent example of this media phenomenon. Anonymous sources have dominated media coverage of the Trump presidency, on topics ranging from the president’s private conversations with the president of Mexico to the White House reaction to Saturday Night Live sketches. It’s been the defining characteristic of Trump coverage so far. Some of this is par for the course for any new administration. But with Trump, the anonymity dial has been turned up to 11. And this for an administration doing plenty of radical or questionable things in plain sight that can be reported on with pungent on-the-record interviews.

The media may protest that the Trump presidency is uniquely threatening and dishonest, and thus merits uniquely aggressive coverage, outside of the usual journalistic norms. But in so doing, they may paradoxically help him. Trump already won an election campaign in which his ostentatious denunciations of the dishonest media were a prominent theme. And in the wake of Flynn’s departure, Trump is once again ramping up the rhetoric on leakers and the media.