Even when they controlled Congress and the White House, even when they dominated the air waves, even when they built their own alternative sources for media of every form, the Republican position continued to be that journalists worked against them. And from this decades long efforts, the GOP gained an unspoken agreement. The press would be... fair. It wouldn't question Republican statements. It wouldn't challenge conservative economics no matter how unsupported, or dissect anti-scientific statements no matter how ridiculous, or go after not so veiled instances of misogyny or racism in the GOP. Instead, traditional journalism would be placed in the closet where the rules of round ball and Olympic pigeon shooting are stored, and a new journalism based more around the role of debate moderator would be instituted.