OUTSIDE PERSPECTIVES

The first interview I ever did was with a man named Marlin Fitzwater.

For those who don’t know who he is, Fitzwater is the longest serving presidential press secretary in the history of the country, and the only person to ever be appointed to the role by two different presidents: George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan.

In 2002, Fitzwater helped to build the Marlin Fitzwater Center for Communication at my college.

I was a bit nervous. I had never done an interview before and was essentially in a boot camp to see whether a political science major like me had the chops to be able to cover the 2016 Presidential Election with my college in partnership with the Boston Herald.

Fitzwater answered our questions honestly. His portrait stood behind him, and we were in a building named after him, but he didn’t expect any softball questions.

He expected us to ask tough questions – like journalists ought to do – because his reasoning for allowing his name on the building was for young people like me to be the next generation of journalists.

Fitzwater shared stories about standing behind a podium, in front of the world, informing the public about some of the biggest events that ever happened in the country. 

The relationship between press secretaries and journalists are complicated at any level of government, whether a local school district or someone who speaks on the behalf of the President of the United States of America.

Our job as journalists is to uncover the truth, and a lot of the time, it can be things that sources would rather not have reported.

But at no point during the interview with Fitzwater, or the numerous times he spoke on campus, did he ever speak about how the presidents he worked for went to great lengths to silence the press by revoking their press passes.

That is exactly what happened last Friday – when President Donald Trump revoked the press credentials from CNN, Politico, and MS Now (formerly MSNBC).

Now keep in mind, holding a press credential for the White House is an absolute honor that most journalists can only ever dream of.

It should be taken seriously – and if someone does something to be considered a security risk, then absolutely suspend their passes.

But that's not what is happening here. The president of the United States, the president of a country which was founded on freedom of religion and speech, decided it was not convenient to have reporters tell stories he doesn’t like all that much, and that they shouldn’t be allowed to have press credentials.

This is absolutely shameful and should be a cause for concern for every single one of us. 

But don’t take my word for it.

On Friday night Ari Fleischer took to X, the site formerly known as Twitter, to express his thoughts. 

“I agree with POTUS that several media outlets covering the WH are biased and unfair,” he wrote.” Banning them from the WH is not the solution. Open the pool and the briefing room to conservatives. Challenge liberal reporters. Argue and defeat them. Don’t ban them. Or one day they’ll ban us.”

Fleischer served as press secretary during the early days of George W. Bush's first term.

While I don’t agree fully with what he said, his point is spot on.

Journalists should not be fearful of being allowed to cover the White House based on what party they belong to or whether reporting will hurt the President’s feelings or not.

And if we get to a point where it becomes “normal” for Presidents to ban reporters because of stories they don’t like, he is absolutely right, who is next?

Someone else who was part of my college days was a man named Andy Card. 

He became my university’s president during my sophomore year of college, when the university was struggling financially.

Card served with Fleischer in George W. Bush’s administration.

For those who don’t know, he was the man who whispered in the President’s ear in the iconic moment in a classroom in Florida, when the country learned we were under attack on Sept. 11, 2001.

He was instrumental in the country’s response that day, and for years after, as Chief of Staff. He only ever served at the pleasure of Republican presidents.

But he didn’t stop free speech from happening on campus.

He would allow Democratic presidential candidates to speak on campus, even allowing Bernie Sanders to speak.

He also was instrumental in helping young people like me who were considering a career in journalism.

Card was one of the first people I ever interviewed. It was 2015, around the same time Trump came down the escalator in the famous moment to announce he would be running for president.

He answered our questions about what he thought about Trump’s presidential bid and didn’t shy away. Didn’t tell our camera crews to turn off the camera or scold us or our college advisors.

This is what free speech is. This is what a free press is.

I owe a lot to people like Card and Fitzwater, who used their influence for good – not to try to silence the press. If anything, they used their influence to help grow young journalists like me. 

When young people can interview two people who were for a long time the most powerful people in the world, it provides them with confidence to ask tough questions of anyone. 

When you can cover rally after rally for then-candidate Donald Trump, where he would bash reporters, you get the guts to challenge anyone.

On a local level, I am fearful that what is happening in Washington, D.C., is becoming something our local elected officials and leaders are prescribing to. 

Increasingly often, journalists are facing people who expect only positive stories, and when we don’t deliver, tell the truth or hold the powerful accountable, they will use different tactics to try to force our hand. 

In the past couple of years alone, I have been personally attacked for doing a data request. We have had elected officials talk about taking away our legal ads because we wrote stories they find unflattering; have had our reporters taken off press lists, and so on. 

We even recently had a sitting state appeals court judge approach a reporter at a local fair because of a factual story written seven months prior.

At one time, if powerful people had a problem with a story, they would have cordial conversations about why they felt we got the story wrong, or what they had an issue with. 

Though there are still people who are cordial, for the most part, that attitude has been substituted with personal attacks or retribution.

I am proud to say we will not be intimated here at this newspaper, because we have a publisher who doesn’t do this to become rich.

He does it because he believes in the First Amendment and believes in holding the powerful accountable, no matter the personal cost.

I am concerned that a lot of younger journalists did not have the opportunities early on – as I did – to see the best of what this country has to offer in terms of powerful people like Card and Fitzwater, who believe in a free press and will help encourage it.

I believe this, and a few other factors, are leading to more younger people leaving the profession altogether.

Admittedly, there are times when personal attacks can wear me down.

But then I think back to my college days, realize that this is a glimpse into society, and that we can eventually get back on track.