Letters to the Editor: Adversarial Pentagon press conference spurs nostalgia for a more polite time

To the editor: “[Defense Secretary Pete] Hegseth … spent the bulk of his time slamming the media coverage and personally insulting reporters who questioned him” (“Pentagon leaders cite military tactics to show destruction from U.S. attacks on Iran,” June 26).

Perhaps, at 84, I am getting old, and perhaps I am simply not keeping pace with the times, but I really long for those distant days when press conferences provided actual information through civil and polite questions and answers.

Why is it not possible for President Trump, his press secretary or his Cabinet heads to simply answer questions, even ones they do not like, without attacking the questioner? Every president has occasional adversarial relationships with the press and with Congress, simply because each group is doing their job. It is worth remembering that “polite adversaries” is not an oxymoron in this context.

I actually get nostalgic thinking of those times as opposed to now, when “alternative facts” are the answers to difficult questions, presented with confidence in the audience’s inability, or lack of desire, to fact-check.

Laurie Pane, Burbank