In the two weeks since the inauguration, President Trump and his administration have already demonstrated an alarming willingness to test the boundaries of constitutionality while simultaneously attempting to discredit large swaths of the news media, or as Trump calls them, the opposition party. Such tactics, though equally pervasive during the campaign cycle, now carry the full weight of the presidency. As a result, the mainstream media is grappling with how to best cover an administration so openly hostile toward it. Still, many news organizations, particularly in broadcast media, self-inflict damage to the integrity of their reporting by continuing to offer platforms for political surrogates.

Cable news has always featured a great deal of biased punditry, and these organizations, by virtue of being run by human beings, are bound to lean one way or another on the political spectrum. However, there is a world of difference between featuring insiders to offer expert opinions and allotting air time for paid political operatives whose sole objectives are to serve the interests of those they represent such as Kellyanne Conway who spoke extensively on behalf of President Trump during the campaign. If the role of a free press is to empower the public with accurate, contextualized information, the role of political surrogates is the opposite. Where journalists ostensibly seek to inform, surrogates aim to persuade, often at the expense of the facts. This has always been the case, but rings especially true in a Trump presidency.

A pattern that emerged during the Trump campaign has persisted through his first weeks in office. He floats something either substantively false or potentially dangerous into the ravenous media ether, then his loyal surrogates deploy to the cable news programs in an attempt at damage control. The surrogates’ obvious lying is especially painful to watch given the lunacy of many of the things they are tasked with defending.  Last week, when the president made the false claim to congressional leaders that millions of illegal votes were cast against him in the election, his surrogates got to work. Kayleigh McEnany appeared on CNN and argued that “there is no evidence to the contrary,” despite a mountain of evidence to the contrary. On the Today Show, Kellyanne Conway, counselor to the president, put on yet another master class in question-dodging and gaslighting.

Presumably, networks continue to allot Trump surrogates air time as a way of appearing unbiased, and yet it has become clear that this is a fruitless strategy. Capitulation has not and will not exempt them from the president’s inevitable fury should they criticize him, nor will it win back those who have already written these networks off as elitist or purveyors of fake news. The stakes are too high. Truth, above all else, must be championed.

Opinions expressed on the editorial pages are not necessarily those of WSN, and our publication of opinions is not an endorsement of them. Email Nate Torto at [email protected].