The White House unveiled a new website page dedicated to exposing biases, lies and other offenses the Trump Administration claims journalists and media organizations have made.
The page, titled “Media Offenders,” began weekly claims Nov. 28 and details the outlet, reporter, claim and category of offense committed. Possible offenses include bias, malpractice, lie, left-wing lunacy, omission of context, failure to report misrepresentation, mischaracterization and clickbait.
Since its publication, the site has garnered disapproval from many journalists who argue it is an unnecessary and dangerous utilization of the White House’s power.
The Society of Professional Journalists sent a formal letter to Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, urging the administration to remove the page and engage in calmer dialogue with the media.
Caroline Hendrie, the Headquarters executive director of the Society of Professional Journalists and the SPJ Foundation, called the new page inappropriate and dangerous.
“There are established professional ways to challenge reporting, but that's not name-calling and public shaming from the White House website,” Hendrie said. “It feels to us like this kind of government-backed targeting resembles online harassment, and that's especially dangerous at a moment when journalists already face widespread abuse and threats.”
The site’s purpose is to combat the “baseless lies, purposely omitted context and outright left-wing lunacy of the Fake News Media,” according to a press release from the White House.
The White House also called for help from the general public by creating a “Media Offender Tipline,” where anyone can report biased or false articles they may find.
“This is government use of official resources to attack journalists, and that undermines public confidence, and frankly, not just journalism, but also democratic institutions, the very government that's frankly misusing resources,” Hendrie said. “I think this is a part of a broader campaign to undermine public trust in ethical journalism.”
Many have argued this is not a role the White House has.
Lucy Riley, alumni relations coordinator of Ohio University SPJ and a senior studying journalism and political science, said journalists understand the importance of accountability.
“Journalism is still as much as it is the fourth estate,” Riley said. “It is not a political opponent. You cannot address it as if it is a political opponent when it's still just the press, it's still just a freedom we have with this First Amendment to use our freedom of speech and to use our freedom of press to investigate and to look further into the truth.”
Hendrie echoed these statements and used one of the most recent offenses listed on the site as an example. The White House exposed a mistake where CNN lead Washington anchor Jake Tapper mistakenly referred to a Department of Justice suspect as a “white man,” even though he was a Black man.
The mistake is displayed on the Media Offenders page, with CNN and Jake Tapper being identified as the offender of the week.
“He was doing exactly what the SPJ Code of Ethics says that ethical journalists do, and we are very explicit about that,” Hendrie said. “When journalists correct mistakes transparently, they are following the rules, and government officials should not weaponize ethical behavior as evidence of wrongdoing. If corrections are punished, like with this kind of mistreatment, journalists are incentivized not to correct errors.”
SPJ has urged the White House to take down the page and engage in proper dialogue with media organizations and journalists.
“SPJ has offered to meet with the White House to discuss a healthier democracy, strengthening path forward. It’s really needed, this is not coming out of nowhere,” Hendrie said. “It's not happening in a vacuum, but it's an example of a worsening denigration of democratic norms and historical context. We see that this is the way that authoritarian governments treat the media, and the United States should not model its treatment of journalists on that approach.”
