Has it only been a week?
It seems like Donald Trump has been the U.S. president for a year, what with all the executive orders he has been signing and the accompanying photo-ops with the mainstream media he dislikes so much.
But late in the first week of the Trump era, the chief antagonist, er, strategist in the administration emerged from the shadows to mock the mainstream media, tell us to keep our mouths shut and, perhaps, to remind everyone who is really running the show in the White House, i.e. former Breitbart News executive chairman Steve Bannon.
As Erik Wemple of the Washington Post put it in a short opinion piece:
Considering that Bannon helmed (an election) campaign heavy on deceit, division and cynicism, we don’t want any praise from his likes. From this fellow, criticism equals ovation. “The media should be embarrassed and humiliated and keep its mouth shut and just listen for awhile,” Bannon told the New York Times. No chance of that, at least as long as the First Amendment remains intact.
Indeed.
There is not a chance in the hell of the Trump administration that mainstream outlets like the New York Times and Washington Post will transform themselves into Breitbart News knockoffs. Bannon surely knows that. He also knew that the mainstream media would report his comments . . . and help show everyone who’s really the boss in the White House.
The whole affair should remind everyone — except Breitbart News fans — of the need for mainstream press like the Times and the Post, and how some people would like to see them disappear.
Show your support for mainstream newspapers. Buy a subscription, so they can keep challenging government.
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What if Canada announced it was going to build a wall on its border with the United States, and bill Americans for it?
Imagine the response from President Bannon, er, Trump.
Just sayin’ . . .
— Jillian
Photo credit: Steve Bannon is seen in a 2010 photo. Source: Don Irvine/Wikimedia Commons
Jillian Page 
You said “Show your support for mainstream newspapers. Buy a subscription, so they can keep challenging government”. I have had a subscription to the Herald since moving to Calgary in 1992. This paper has declined greatly since then, with successive changes of ownership. It now sources most of its news and comment from the Telegraph, Washington Post, AP, and Canadian Press. There are still a few journalists in Calgary for local articles and news. The so-called editing is done in Hamilton and the paper is printed commercially in Calgary. I would love to support the Herald, but in the layoffs a year ago, the letters editor who was also a worthy columnist was laid off and the letters page now looks like a facsimile of the Sun. This mainstream newspaper is unable to elicit support, supposedly because of the lack of print advertising. I pay as much for my subscription to the Tyee (on-line, from Vancouver) for better journalism than the Herald produces.
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The investigative journalism at the Herald is done by its reporters. The articles are pre-edited at the Herald by its staff. The composing room is in Hamilton. I work for a Postmedia paper and know that the remaining reporters and editors are doing the best they can in a very challenging environment. We are still holding city hall accountable.
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I should also add that most print media is in the midst of transitioning to the web. So, look to their websites, and subscribe to them. As they grow in readership and gain more revenues, they will be able to hire more journalists.
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I would read on the web Jillian – but nothing compares to sitting in the sun in the window, with a cup of coffee and a Real Newspaper. And while I like the Postmedia journalists’ writing – PM keeps reducing their numbers, and we lose the personal touch. Investigative journalism – a dying art, where now PM chooses to attack the ND government while (previously) patting the Cons on the back. The bias is VERY evident.
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Sadly, the print era is all but over — much like the days of vinyl records and, now, CDs.
The cutbacks in PM are part of an industrywide trend.
As for ownership bias, well, that story has never changed since the beginning of the newspaper business.
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