Many mainstream media outlets are minimizing or trivializing the Trump administration’s leak of highly sensitive war plans, and in doing so, they are echoing President Donald Trump’s spin on the scandal.
After The Atlantic reported on Monday that top Trump officials had mistakenly included the outlet’s top editor in an unsecured group chat, Trump told reporters that the breach was merely a “glitch.” And Trump’s allies struck the same tone in appearances in right-wing media.
On Tuesday, USA Today described the incident as a “relatable fail.” In the story, reporters Jessica Guynn and Bailey Schulz likened the leak of war plans to ill-timed responses in family group texts.
Needless to say, most family texts do not involve fighter jets bombing apartment buildings and the hunt for terrorists, unlike the leaked chat.
The Washington Post called the episode a “blunder.” (Post owner Jeff Bezos has been molding the outlet in a pro-MAGA direction lately.) And The New York Times discussed the scandal under the headline “How Well Do You Know Your Own Group Chats?” Though it published other articles with a more appropriate tone, this article discussed the leak in the context of chat faux pas. And neither Tuesday nor Wednesday’s print editions featured the leak as the lead story.
On Wednesday, ABC News referred to the incident as a “mishap” in a piece recapping the timeline of the story as it continued to unfold. Coincidentally, also on Wednesday, The Atlantic published a follow-up article featuring the full transcript of the chat, showing just how deeply serious the leak was.
The Trump administration has limited press access to White House operations, barring outlets like the Associated Press for not using phony administration terminology like the “Gulf of America” instead of the more widely used (and historically accurate) Gulf of Mexico. However, rather than rebel, the press has largely been compliant.
For years, the mainstream media has practiced the art of “sanewashing,” sanding down the sharp edges on Trump and his acolytes. Despite the importance of his current position, the practice has continued even in the face of his attacks on the First Amendment.
Now that a major breach has occurred—with the likelihood that other breaches have happened behind closed doors—it’s important to hold the Trump administration to account for its reckless disregard for national security and human life.
The breezy tone of the coverage by multiple mainstream outlets fails to provide the public with the information they vitally need on how their country is being run.
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