White House press secretary Sean Spicer astonished journalists when at his very first briefing he launched into an attack on the media for reporting that less people had attended Donald Trump's inauguration than Barack Obama's. Spicer said that the comparative figures given by the media were "falsehoods" and "lies." Jaws dropped at this claim which TV footage had shown to be plain wrong. There is much that can be done by Hollywood technicians to doctor moving images, but Spicer did not suggest that such manipulation had happened. Instead he doggedly echoed his master's voice - the president had earlier protested over the numbers reports that journalists were «among the most dishonest human beings on Earth." It appears, however, that later Trump's people reassessed the press conference. Top aide Kellyanne Conway sought to calm the row by insisting that the press secretary had been presenting "alternative facts". But this statement in itself merely added to the sensation that had been created by Spicer's original remarks. Trump went to war with the press and media during his election campaign and won the White House. It appears that he has no intention of letting up in the battle now that he is president. His strategy seems clear. He has worked out that thanks to social media, he no longer needs journalistic coverage. He reckons he can reach the world in 140 characters or less in a Tweet message. For the president and his advisers, professional journalists demonstrated their contempt and opposition to his candidacy from the outset. It should not be forgotten how much Trump the businessman was mocked and ridiculed when he first threw his hat into the ring. As his pitch for the Republican nomination became ever more successful, the muckraking attacks from the liberal press often bordered on the vitriolic. And once he had beaten the Establishment darling Hillary Clinton, the US press and media went into deep disbelieving shock, from which they are still struggling to recover. The president's decision to cut out journalists as the intermediaries of what occurs in his White House and tweet his way directly to the public has an icy logic. He has been busy tearing up the rulebook from the minute he decided to run. Past presidents have gone out of their way to schmooze the Washington press pack. These political reporters and analysts constituted a pampered elite long used to gossipy Georgetown dinners and private briefings in a secluded corner of the White House. Administration Trump is no longer playing this game. If they want to know what is going on in the Oval office, the press pack should turn on their Twitter feed, like everyone else. But perhaps what is most worrying about this opening salvo in the new president's press relations is this business of "alternative facts". By and large, facts are facts and what is not a fact is a lie. There can be alternative explanations for something, but these are not of themselves necessarily facts. Perhaps the new administration is merely mangling language in the finest tradition of president George W. Bush. But then perhaps it is not. Trump won the White House his way and is also intent on presiding over the fate of his country entirely his way. "Alternative facts" could become the new normal in the administration of this startlingly alternative president.
