5/24/18
One of the foremost broadcast journalists in the country said this week that President Donald Trump admitted to her that his relentless attacks on the press was a strategy to discredit reporters and news media organizations to shield himself from negative coverage. Lesley Stahl, the 13-time Emmy award-winning “60 Minutes” correspondent whose work has spanned decades, made the disclosure Monday during an interview with Judy Woodruff of “PBS NewsHour” at a journalism award presentation in New York. At the Deadline Club Awards presentation, Woodruff asked Stahl about her November 2016 interview with Trump – his first after the election victory. Stahl described going to meet with him at Trump Tower in the months before the interview, along with one of her bosses, whom she did not name. After Trump began to unload on the news media, she said, she asked him whether he planned to stop attacking the press, which was a hallmark of his campaign. “I said, you know that is getting tired, why are you doing this – you’re doing it over and over and it’s boring,” Stahl said. “He said you know why I do it? I do it to discredit you all and demean you all, so when you write negative stories about me no one will believe you.” Stahl’s striking anecdote fell into a silent moment in the room. Woodruff shook her head. “He said that,” Stahl said, raising her eyebrows. “So put that in your head for a minute.”
The White House did not respond to a request for comment. Trump’s belligerence toward the news media, which he lambastes as “fake news,” and journalists, whom he often calls “dishonest,” have continued to be an integral part of his presidency, part of a habit of attacking critics and other institutions that act as potential checks on his power.
