I was heartened when CNN opted not to air White House press secretary Sean Spicer’s first-day press conference live. As you likely know by now, that press conference was full of ludicrous lies (and let’s be clear, there’s no such thing as “alternative facts”, Kellyanne) about the inconsequential matter of inauguration attendance. It’s frightening to have a President whose ego is so fragile that he needs to fight publicly with the media about this trivial matter, and worse that his underlings are so willing to lie loudly on his behalf.

Fortunately, the press is working on how to handle this, and the Columbia Journalism Review has issued a fiery open letter. This too is encouraging, and I hope the press continues to challenge and confront Trump and his spokespeople on each of their deliberate lies. We badly need them to do so.