This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

The White House has declared war, but not on any foreign government or terrorist organization.

This week, Donald Trump and his minions escalated their attacks on an American institution: the free press.

Specifically, Trump & Co. went after CNN, a news outlet whose saturation coverage last year of then-candidate Trump helped secure his nomination.

The setting was Tuesday's White House press briefing, which was carried live on TV — something the White House has been reluctant to do lately, preferring the cameras shut off for fear the American people actually see what their elected leaders and their spokespeople are doing.

As CNN's Chris Cillizza noted in an analysis piece, the action was telegraphed in advance, with a writer for the D.C. news website Axios advising folks tune in to the briefing for "must see TV."

When spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders took the podium, she first called on someone from the far-right website Breitbart.com. The question was exactly what Sanders and her boss wanted to talk about: CNN's retraction of a story involving the Trump/Russia investigation and the subsequent resignation of three CNN journalists involved in it.

Sanders decried "the constant barrage of fake news that is directed at this president" and accused CNN of being "repeatedly wrong" in its coverage of Trump. (This assault brought a spirited defense from Brian Karem, a columnist for Playboy, who called Sanders' attack "inflammatory" and defended the press corps for "only trying to do their job.")

In her attack, Sanders recommended Americans watch a video that circulated in the right-wing media sphere on Monday. The video purported to show John Bonifield, a medical producer at CNN, talking about the network's coverage of the Russia story, which Bonifield said was being pushed to boost CNN's ratings.

(Journalists complaining about editors' decisions is a tradition that probably dates back to Gutenberg. Grousing fuels reporters more than stale coffee does.)

The video was released by Project Veritas, the conservative outlet started by James O'Keefe — whose tactics have been criticized for deceptive editing, presenting quotes out of context and misrepresenting the people they capture on tape.

According to USA Today, the unnamed person who taped Bonifield "represented himself as an aspiring journalist who wanted career guidance and mentoring." So, in other words, the person lied to get close to a CNN staffer with a recorder rolling.

Sanders hedged her bets on the first Veritas CNN video — "whether it's accurate or not, I don't know," she said — but still endorsed it from the podium of the White House briefing room.

Trump followed up his tweet tirade against CNN by decrying the "fake news" at The New York Times and The Washington Post. There was also a swipe at the Post's owner, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, for "not paying internet taxes (which they should)." Gee, a leader threatening a citizen's livelihood because he's mad at the citizen — that's not authoritarian or creepy or anything. (As Vanity Fair points out, there's no such thing as an "internet tax." There are sales taxes on internet purchases, state by state, but not federally.)

Both papers had scoops Wednesday that might have riled up The Donald. The Times reported Wednesday that at least one Republican senator worries Trump doesn't understand the details of the GOP's health-care bills. Meanwhile, the Post's David Farenthold found that Time magazine covers of Trump on display at several of his golf clubs were phony. Yup, the guy who complains about "fake news" was faking it himself.

What can or should CNN do, now that war has been declared? Here are a few logical steps:

1. Armor up • The best armor for a news organization is to eliminate mistakes. Make sure every story is watertight.

2. Bag the surrogates • In wartime, one of the first moves is to expel the other side's ambassadors. For CNN, that means getting that bloviating mass that calls itself Jeffrey Lord off the air, like yesterday. Jeff Zucker, CNN's president, put him on TV for the drama — but the news now has real drama aplenty without having to manufacture it.

3. Don't play by the other side's rules • The courtroom sketch artist trick was cute once (though it made Sean Spicer look taller than he really is). When the White House declares briefings won't be on camera, flip the switch anyway. Use cameraphones and Facebook Live if necessary. Dare Sanders or Spicer to force the issue or scurry away like cockroaches.

4. Watch for spies • CNN employees should be on guard against "aspiring journalists" or anyone making unsolicited advances. At the very least, get them on camera, too. Turnabout is fair play.

5. Never surrender • The louder Trump complains about "fake news," the more obvious it is that the news media are on the right track. When he starts ignoring you, then it's time to worry.

Sean P. Means writes The Cricket in daily blog form at http://www.sltrib.com/blogs/moviecricket. Follow him on Twitter @moviecricket. Email him at spmeans@sltrib.com.