How to Properly React to the Press?

First, a disclaimer — I don’t like modern journalists, they are too aggressive, impudent, pushy, brazen and lying…

They pass off all these “wonderful” qualities as “reporter’s courage, integrity and desire to get to the truth.” Don’t believe it — there is none of that there, no courage, no integrity, and especially no desire to get to the truth. There is insufficient education, disgusting internal culture, impudence and vile manners, when they get in your face with a microphone, don’t give you a break, ask you provocative questions, and then don’t let you answer them, interrupting and shutting you up wherever possible.

In general, as you understand, I don’t like modern journalists and I don’t feel any sympathy for the modern Western press corps…

And yet… Yesterday, the chief of our God-saved British police, on the way out of a meeting about the ethnic unrest that has been going on for several days, “took” the microphone out of the hands of a Sky News journalist and “dropped” it on the ground… In general, he knocked the microphone out of the journalist’s hands and went on about his business, refusing to answer questions… I repeat, I don’t feel any sympathy for the journalist… But…

But if the same thing had been done, say, by the chief of the Moscow police, imagine what an outcry would have arisen… But here — nothing, quiet and gracious, and the Sky News journalist “decided” not to even complain about the fact that his company-owned equipment had been smashed… It happens to everyone, well, he broke the microphone, oh well, we’ll buy a new one, and what about the chief the police broke it (which in itself should be an oxymoron in the eyes of the press), then that’s also okay, why quarrel with the police?

They won’t give interviews later, they’ll stop inviting you to their press conferences, they’ll stop leaking information “secretly” if you’re too spread out with your broken microphone… so everyone shuts up and sits quietly… the entire press corps… no one is outraged… What’s wrong with that?

And so here we have, of course, freedom of the press, the press is all so independent (not counting the editorial policy of a publication belonging to one or another media conglomerate, which orders this editorial policy, for one simple reason — it pays for it… in cash…