Press Tharkts News Today

Bit historical. how would you characterize this presidents relationship with the press as compared to other presidents youve covered and watched? >> first of all, im one of those who has said that this is unique in the history of the american presidency. the closest weve had was presidency of richard nixon and, of course, during the period of quote, watergate, widespread criminal conspiracy led by the president himself, president nixon disliked the press, he hated the press, he was very hostile ...

Fake news. he knows the value of repeating propaganda and lies. it needs to be noted. and you have noted it, one fountain of fake lies is the president of the united states himself. time and time again. but hes made some headway with this and those of us in the press who make mistakes, we all do, ive made my share, every time we make a mistake it fuels his ability to convince some of the people that all of the press is not worth a damn and quote, enemies of the people. >> you mentioned the mista...

Sense within the body politic that the press is vulnerable, that the public can be convinced that the press is not what it sets out to be. what i will say, chris, when we talk about these things, i think its very important to know, what everyone thinks of the press tharkts press is absolutely essentially to our system of checks and balances, it is the red beating heart of freedom and democracy and if you dont have the press as a watch dog youre unlikely to have the kind of government we have. >>...

January 12th story, i would not have published that allegation unless i was confident that it was true. >> right. >> you talk in detail about sourcing. but when i was an editor i used to say that my reporters would say, i have six sources, my response as editor would say, i want to know how you know its true? theres a difference. and i was confident this was true. >> do you think -- what has it been like with the mueller investigation which my sense has been incredibly tight lipped? >> yeah. for...

Discredit the media. >> i dont want to go over the whole thing but let me say that the documents that we used to support the story -- we reported a true story about president bushs george w. bushs service was a true story. the process by which we arrived at that truth was the only vulnerability he had with in the document. the documents to this day have never been proven anything other than authentic but i agree that the burden is on the press to prove the authenticity. your point is very -- >> ...

Better in year one of the administration than it was during the campaign? >> oh, its by several orders of magnitude better in many respects. the deference has more or less evaporated and the press willingness to be his tool and his platform has diminished and now theyre confronting him. their being the adversarial press that the founders envisioned. i would say that the so called print press, what is the print press, is doing a spectacular job of reporting on the administration and all of the di...

Thats an interesting distinction. he at least tipped his cap toward some basic appreciation of the first amendment and free press in a way this president never does. >> thats the reason i say its unprecedented. for all he did and didnt do, the president nixon never tried to say, look, this institution is worthless and never used the kind of language that the press, everybody in the press and media, enemies of the people, which echos through awe theyre tearion regime. president nixon, i dont thin...

Surrogates or he quietly had assistants do things with the press but in terms of the president without exception, i dont think theres ever been a president who right from the opening has so unrelentingly and forcefully personally attacked individual reporters, present institutions and he has threatened to use the full force and power of the presidency against such institutions as "the washington post," "the new york times" and others. now, when i say president nixon was the closest we came, i do...

Had wire tapped him in trump tower and that generated news cycle after news cycle and derailed from the administrations priorities and you mentioned how they always seem to be talking, theyre on television quite a lot. in the previous administration you didnt see the chief-of-staff or even the national security advisers on television as much as were seeing now. were getting direct information from senior white house officials in that form that we did not before. of course, behind the scenes they...

Information thats -- >> i was given that information. >> when all in starts right now. good evening, from york im chris hayes. at the very start of the trump administration on day one, sean spicer made clear what posture the white house would take towards the press. >> this was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period. both in person and around the globe. these attempts to lessen the enthusiasm of the inauguration are shameful and wrong. >> that moment, that remarkable mome...