MONDAY, MARCH 6, 2017 ANALYSIS

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Factbox Media struggles for balance in covering hostile Trump admin

acing a White House which has been unrelent- ing in its attacks on the media, news organiza- Ftions are struggling to find the right balance in covering President ’s administration. Reporters and media groups are increasingly finding they are part of the story, after Trump’s denunciation of “fake news” and his branding of media groups as “the enemy of the people.” Most news organizations have promised to fulfill their responsibility to report aggressively, without being vindictive. “The goal is to be tough, but to be fair. The fairness part is an important part of the equation,” said Richard Benedetto, an adjunct profes- sor of journalism at American University who was a White House correspondent for USA Today. The White House may have some justification for claim- ing the press is unfair: an NBC survey last month found 53 percent of Americans believed the media was exaggerating problems in the Trump administra- Turkey, US on collision course over YPG tion. “There seems to be a lack of concern about being fair,” Benedetto said. “It’s become kind of per- urkey is ruling out compromise with the United testy relationship with President Barack Obama, has wel- agree,” said one Turkish official familiar with the talks. “They sonal.” Before Trump’s inauguration, Politico writer States over the involvement of Kurdish militia fighters comed Trump’s election as a chance for a fresh start. But said ‘we understand your sensitivities, we don’t recognise Jack Shafer said the press “ought to start thinking of Tin an assault in Syria, an obstacle for Washington’s the two NATO allies appear to be on a collision course over their (YPG) territorial ambitions’.” Turkey and its Syrian rebel covering Trump’s Washington like a war zone, where plan to deploy its strongest allies on the ground in a deci- strategy in Syria. force was “ready at any time to do Raqqa, after clearing al- conflict follows conflict, where the fog prevents the sive showdown with Islamic State. Donald Trump has made US Army Lieutenant General Stephen Townsend, who Bab,” the official said. A second senior Turkish official, exas- collection of reliable information directly from the defeating Islamic State one of the key goals of his presiden- commands the US-led coalition effort against Islamic State perated at US willingness to work with a NATO ally’s ene- combatants, where the assignment is a matter of life cy, and his new administration received a draft Pentagon in Iraq and Syria, told a Pentagon news briefing on Tuesday my, said some in Washington argued they had already or death.” plan on Monday to accelerate the campaign. a role for the Kurds was still in Washington’s plan. “There invested too much in the YPG to pull out. But he said mili- Raqqa in Syria, one of Islamic State’s two de facto capi- are going to be Kurds assaulting Raqqa for sure,” he said. tary planning was still under way and US generals had “tak- Dogged, and Impartial tals along with Mosul in Iraq, is expected to be the scene of “The number, the size of them, and how many Kurdish en all this (Turkish) feedback back to Washington.” Reuters editor-in-chief Steve Adler said the news the final battle to crush the jihadists’ self-proclaimed units are participating... I can’t really say right now.” agency planned to do its job in Washington as it does Caliphate sometime this year, after a US-backed Iraqi gov- He said he had seen no evidence linking Washington’s Local Control in other countries where governments are hostile to ernment assault on Mosul already under way since October. Kurdish allies to attacks on Turkey. He did not specifically Turkey says it has another 7,000 trained Syrian rebels the press. The agency responds to difficult conditions But putting together a united ground force to take Raqqa name the YPG, which fights as part of a US-backed alliance ready on top of the 3,000-strong force active in Euphrates “by doing our best to protect our journalists, by has so far proven a confounding task in Syria, where the called the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) that also Shield, to which Arab fighters from the US-backed SDF recommitting ourselves to reporting fairly and hon- , Turkey, Russia, Iran and Arab states have all includes Arabs. Turkish officials say the links between the would be welcome. “We told them we have enough forces, estly, by doggedly gathering hard-to-get information backed local forces in a multi-sided civil war since 2011. All YPG and PKK are beyond dispute and that the group’s enough Free Syrian Army. Your generals can see them with - and by remaining impartial,” Adler said in a January the foreign powers oppose Islamic State, but their Syrian advances will fuel anti-Kurdish sentiment in predominantly their own eyes,” the first Turkish official said of the discus- memo to staff. proxies have mainly fought against one another. Arab parts of Syria such as Raqqa, and threaten Syria’s terri- sions with US counterparts. “Everything needed militarily Karen North, a professor at the University of Turkey, with the second largest army in NATO, is torial integrity. was concretely explained. They were briefed on the num- Southern California’s Annenberg School, said adamant that Washington should switch support for the bers, the strategy and the map.” objectivity has become complicated as more jour- planned Raqqa offensive from the Kurdish YPG militia to Many Alternatives One possible compromise solution may be that the nalists feel a need to connect with readers by offer- Syrian rebels Turkey has trained and led against Islamic Turkey entered Syria last August in support of a 3,000- force that assaults Raqqa, potentially including the YPG, ing personal thoughts on social media. North said State for the past year. For the US administration, nervous strong force of Free Syrian Army (FSA) rebels, in an opera- quickly withdraws and turns the city over to local control, some reporters feel a need to rebut the president about whether the Turkish-backed force is large enough tion called Euphrates Shield. It took Jarablus on the including the largely Arab forces backed by Turkey. “I’m not on his favorite platform, Twitter. “We have the pres- and sufficiently trained, the decision sets Trump’s wish for Euphrates river, cleared Islamic State fighters from a rough- really sure it really matters what the composition is of the quick battlefield victories against the need to maintain its ly 100 km stretch of the border, then moved south to Al- force that goes there to liberate it,” said Townsend, the US ident speaking directly to the people through strategic alliance with Turkey. Bab, a strategic town now all but secured after three commander. “What matters really in my mind is the com- Twitter,” North said. In the fast-paced Twittersphere, Ankara views the YPG as the Syrian extension of the months of fighting against Islamic State. position of the force that stays there and governs and she said, reporters are not just churning out facts but Kurdish PKK militant group, which has fought an insur- Turkey’s aim was also to stop the YPG from crossing the secures Raqqa after it’s liberated from ISIS.” A similar agree- “they’re also putting out their opinion through social gency in Turkey’s southeast since 1984 and is considered a Euphrates westwards and linking three mainly Kurdish can- ment in Manbij, some 120 km northwest of Raqqa, quickly media”. North noted that news organizations are also terrorist group by both the United States and European tons it holds in northern Syria, preventing it from carving broke down. The YPG helped capture the city from Islamic struggling for ways to keep the attention of their Union. “Our soldiers will not be fighting together with peo- out a self-governing territory analogous to Iraq’s State last year in a US-backed campaign operating under viewers and readers. “Especially with the internet, ple who shot us and killed our soldiers and are trying to kill autonomous Kurdish region. Turkey fears that would the SDF umbrella, on the understanding with Turkey that it with digital media, news has to compete with enter- us,” one senior Turkish security official, briefed on recent embolden its own large Kurdish minority to try to forge a would then withdraw. Turkey says the YPG remains in the tainment,” she said. “So there’s a huge mandate now meetings between Turkish and US strategists, told Reuters. similar territory inside Turkey. One plan Ankara has pre- city, and the Turkish army and allied Syrian rebels attacked for news to be entertaining or at least to be engaging “This message was delivered to the Americans.” sented to Washington would have a Turkish-led FSA force nearby villages held by the Kurdish militia on Wednesday, a in a way that draws attention.” President Tayyip Erdogan reinforced the point on of around 10,000 push south to Raqqa from the YPG-held spokesman for the local authorities in the city said. Turkish Tuesday, saying Turkey “cannot accept” any alliance with border town of Tal Abyad. That would roll back YPG gains officials fear their increasingly warm ties with Russia, one of Crossing a Line the YPG. Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told the ruling AK and separate two of the Kurdish-dominated cantons. the main sponsors of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, New York Times public editor Liz Spayd acknowl- Party that “working side by side with any terrorist group” Washington has so far been non-committal. “We told them could also complicate their efforts to deepen battlefield edged that some reporters in their Twitter messages was out of the question. Erdogan, who had an increasingly there are many alternatives for Raqqa and they didn’t dis- alliances with the United States. — Reuters during the campaign may have gone “over the line” and cast doubt on their objectivity. Trump has tested the limits of the media meanwhile not only by attacking the press as “dishonest,” but by stretching or ignoring facts about the economy, crime, and the Trump hotel political capital of US capital probe into his own circle’s contacts with Russia dur- ing the campaign. Some newspapers, notably the t a circular booth in the middle of Then there’s also the access. Although husband, Trump adviser . On through the lobby and bar. Mnuchin waved New York Times, have decided to brand Trump’s the Trump International Hotel’s bal- Trump says he is not involved in the day-to- other nights, the posh hotel is the kind of to admirers gathered in the bar as he statements “lies”. Acony restaurant, President Donald day operations of his businesses, he retains place where on a mid-February evening, strolled through after Trump’s speech. The Wall Street Journal has ordered a more Trump dined on his steak - well-done, with a financial interest in them. A stay at the you could bump into Trump television per- Mnuchin is one of the New Yorkers working restrained interpretation of Trump’s conduct, draw- ketchup - while chatting up British Brexit hotel gives someone trying to win over sonality Katrina Pierson having cocktails in Washington who call it home during the ing protests from the editorial staff against chief edi- politician Nigel Farage. A few days later, Trump on a policy issue or political decision with Lynne Patton, a former Trump week. White House economic adviser Gary tor Gerry Baker. There are no shortage of opinions on major Republican donors Doug Deason a potential chit. That’s what concerns ethics Organization executive who’s now working Cohn is another. Linda McMahon, who how the press should deal with the Trump problem. and Doug Manchester, in town for the pres- lawyers who had wanted Trump to sell off at the Department of Housing and Urban heads the Small Business Administration, Some analysts say the media should turn the other ident’s address to Congress, sipped coffee his companies as previous presidents have Development. Trump campaign and inau- also has been staying there. Administration cheek, others say they should boycott or ignore at the hotel with Rep Darrell Issa. After done. “President Trump is in effect inviting guration hands Tom Barrack, Boris officials “have been personally paying a fair Trump’s efforts. Some news organizations are step- Trump’s speech, Treasury Secretary Steven people and companies and countries to Epshteyn, Nick Ayers and Rick Gates are market rate” for their accommodations, ping up their investigative efforts. Mnuchin returned to his Washington resi- channel money to him through the hotel,” among the many who have stayed there in White House spokeswoman Lindsay Nic Dawes, a former journalist who now works dence - the hotel - and strode past the said Kathleen Clark, a former ethics lawyer recent weeks. Walters said. for Human Rights Watch, says the news industry has gigantic American flag in the soaring lobby. for the District of Columbia and a law pro- Rooms start at above $500 most nights, Even Trump’s closest friends pay to stay. a difficult task in dealing with an administration With his tiny terrier tucked under an arm, fessor at Washington University in St. Louis. according to the hotel’s website and a Billionaire Phil Ruffin, Trump’s partner for hostile to the press. Trump is seeking “to undermine Mnuchin stepped into an elevator with She said the “pay to play” danger is even receptionist. That’s up hundreds of dollars his Las Vegas residential tower, said he the basic information infrastructure of democracy. reality TV star and hotel guest Dog the greater than it would be if people wanted from when the hotel first opened, not long shelled out $18,000 per night while he was His ultimate target is accountability in the largest Bounty Hunter, who particularly enjoyed to donate to a campaign to influence a before Election Day. Patricia Tang, the in town for the inauguration, which he said sense,” Dawes said in a blog for the Columbia the Trump-stamped chocolates in his room. politician’s thinking. Spending money at a hotel’s director of sales and marketing, surprised him since he’d given $1 million to Journalism Review. “The war for freedom of the It’s just another week at the new politi- Trump property “is about personally enrich- declined to answer questions about how Trump’s inauguration committee. Ruffin press in the Trump era must be fought on many cal capital of the nation’s capital. The $200 ing Donald Trump, who happens to be the business is going. The hotel has become a says he lightly complained about the high fronts,” Dawes wrote. “If journalists insist on appear- million hotel inside the federally owned president of the United States.” The White staging area for big political events. Eric rate to the president. “He said, ‘Well, I’m ing neutral, they will avoid asking hard-edged ques- Old Post Office building has become the House strongly disputes there’s any ethical and Donald Trump Jr posed for dozens of kind of out of it.’ So I didn’t get anywhere, tions or calling a lie a lie.” — AFP place to see, be seen, drink, network - even danger in Trump’s business arrangements. selfies with admirers at the hotel that bears didn’t get my discount,” Ruffin recalled. live - for the still-emerging Trump set. It’s a their name before attending their father’s Trump’s continued ownership of his rich environment for lobbyists and anyone ‘Beautiful’ White House ceremony in late January to hotel and other businesses has spawned hoping to rub elbows with Trump-related Trump can see his hotel from the White announce Judge Neil Gorsuch as the presi- lawsuits and ethics complaints, but so far All articles appearing on these pages politicos - despite a veil of ethics questions House. When a interviewer men- dent’s pick for the Supreme Court. no action on any of them. One accommo- are the personal opinion of the writers. that hangs overhead. “I’ve never come tioned that to him recently, Trump Deason ran into the Trumps and fellow dation Trump says he is making on the through this lobby and not seen someone I responded, “Isn’t that beautiful?” But while Texas donor Gentry Beach while at a meeting ethics front is to donate profits from for- Kuwait Times takes no responsibility know,” says Deason, a Dallas-based the interviewer pointed out that he can see at the hotel that day with Trump’s campaign eign governments that spend money at his for views expressed therein. Kuwait fundraiser for Trump’s election campaign. the property from his desk in the Oval adviser . During inauguration hotels. Last week, Kuwait’s ambassador For Republican Party players, it’s the Office, Trump said, “I’m so focused on what week, when Trump himself repeatedly visited, Sheikh Salem Al-Sabah and his wife hosted Times invites readers to voice their only place to stay. “I can tell you this hotel I’m doing here that I don’t even think about the hotel was “literally the center of the uni- a reception in the hotel’s presidential ball- opinions. Please send submissions via will be the most successful hotel in it.” Still, Trump couldn’t resist the short trip verse”, Deason said. Last Tuesday, as Trump room, in what was one of the first known Washington, DC,” says Manchester, adding over there for dinner on his only weekend gave his first address to Congress, lobbyists instances of foreign money changing email to: [email protected] or that he would know because he has devel- night out in Washington since becoming and politicos watched the four large flat- hands with the hotel division of the Trump via snail mail to PO Box 1301 Safat, oped the second-largest Marriott and sec- president. A reporter for the website screens above the bar, two tuned to Fox news Organization since he became president. A ond-largest Hyatt in the world. Manchester Independent Journal Review was tipped off and two to CNN. In what hotel staff said was spokeswoman for the Trump Organization Kuwait. The editor reserves the right to says Trump’s hotel will attract people based about Trump’s dining plans and sat at a an effort to avoid some of the obvious poli- did not respond to questions about edit any submission as necessary. on its location near the White House and table near him. He noted the president’s tics of the place, the TVs were muted, so peo- whether the money from the Kuwait Congress, the quality renovation and the dinner fare and companions, who also ple followed along on their own devices. Embassy has been or will be donated. management team. included daughter and her As Trump wrapped up, applause rose Mnuchin attended. — AP