Loyal to a fault: Review of ‘Independent’ by Karine Jean

In modern America, most people would agree that the job of the White House press secretary is to lie to the press. That was not always the case. Certainly, all members of a president’s administration would be partial to their boss’s side of things, but the job was created to inform, not to obfuscate.

That original purpose faded long ago. While there were problems with the chummy relations with the press that characterized the Kennedy administration, the fully adversarial relations that now prevail — even for Democratic presidents — are also unhealthy for a republic. The main qualification for the job in the 21st century is loyalty , not clarity. The press secretary’s job now is spin , which, depending on your point of view, can include everything from favorable framing to outright