1/ While the #FakeNewsAwards fervor continues, let me highlight the horribleness of Trump's anti-press nonsense by telling you about what the reporters I work with here in Chicago do. Unlike columnists like myself who get to spout opinions, the remarkable and dedicated...
2/ ...women and men at the Chicago Tribune report the news of the day, chronicle the deaths of people who've made differences in the community, kneel down and take to grieving parents at crime scenes, stand and observe while meetings are held, ask powerful people questions...
3/ ...that they don't want to be asked. They stand in the rain or snow for hours, they follow protest marchers across the city, the go places where most people would be too afraid to go. They investigate, they hold people accountable. Without our reporters doing what they...
4/ ...do, we wouldn't know about the unfair water rates that gouge poor Chicagoans while wealthy suburban families pay less. We wouldn't know about the state's failure to screen babies for a deadly disease. We wouldn't know about corrupt practices that shield police from...
5/ ...scrutiny. I have and have had the pleasure of working alongside people who have quite literally risked their lives to make sure a story is told. And not one person, not one journalist I've known has ever produced "fake news." It's a bullshit term used by a bullshit...
6/ ...con artist who is degrading one of the most important parts of our democracy - the free press. Every shout of "FAKE NEWS!", every non-specific and snide reference to "the mainstream media" or "the liberal media" is a smack in the face to people who bust their asses...
7/ ...while actually doing something that makes this country better. And that's a hell of a lot more than Donald Trump has ever done. My colleagues wouldn't say this. They're too professional and they know the boundaries of their jobs. But I'll say it. This Fake News garbage....
8/ ...is a disgrace, and this president is a disgrace for peddling it so often. It shouldn't be tolerated. Journalism matters, and it will matter long after this ugly chapter of American history is over. END
