Wednesday on CNN’s “AC 360,” veteran journalist Carl Bernstein discussed the relationship between President-elect Donald Trump and his transition team, and the press.
Bernstein weighed in on the latest chapter in this relationship involving an unsubstantiated dossier being reported by BuzzFeed and CNN and suggested it was reporting “the best obtainable version of the truth.” However, he also mentioned Trump aide Kellyanne Conway, who was a guest on the show earlier and described her to be a “propaganda minister” because she has acted as an anonymous source in her dealings with the press.
“Let’s talk about what reporting is,” Bernstein said. “It’s the best obtainable version of the truth. That’s what that story is — the best obtainable version of the truth is that the chief intelligence officials of the United States of America saw this material, thought that it deserved investigation, thought that it ought to be brought to the attention of the president of the United States and to the president-elect. That is the best obtainable version of the truth.”
“And another thing about anonymous sources — one of the great anonymous sources of our era is Kellyanne Conway,” he continued. “She does it every day. She has been an anonymous source for the last 10 months particularly during this campaign when it suits her. And it’s time to talk about what we do as journalists, and what propaganda ministers do, and that is what she is, is a propaganda minister. And what we’ve seen here tonight is a deconstruction of the journalistic process. And we did our work and you can deconstruct it, and it comes down to, look, the chief officials of the United States intelligence community believed they had something urgent enough to bring to the attention of the president, and the president-elect of the United States. That is a story.”
(h/t RCP Video)
Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor
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