Only a few days after the inaguration, Counselor to the President, Kellyanne Conway, made a statement to NBC journalist, Chuck Todd, that left many Americans dumbfounded. She stated that Press Secretary, Sean Spicer, gave “alternative facts” regarding the crowd size at Donald Trump’s inauguration. Now as a journalist, I have a few issues with that statement, the biggest one being the phrase “alternative facts”. Based on their definitions, those two words do not logically belong together. Facts are simply truths, whether they are laws of physics, pieces of data, laws of nature, etc. The word, alternative, indicates another option of something. There is no possible way to have another version of something that is known to be true. It’s similar to saying that the notion of the earth being flat was an alternative truth… either the earth is flat or it is not flat.

So in regards to the reported crowd size at Trump’s inauguration, there is the correct number of people who were in attendance and there is an incorrect number. From the data I have seen so far there are discrepancies in exact figures, which is understandable. It would be unreasonable to think that the crowd size would be the same from the beginning of the day to the end of the day. Like most events, peak attendance is likely around the middle because the majority of attendees have arrived and people who leave early to beat traffic have not left yet. Of course, this is simply an observation that can be made at a variety of events and has the potential to be different for something as important as the inauguration.

When reporting, journalists occasionally will make a mistake, it is part of the job. That being said, when they do make a mistake, they work quickly to retract the mistake and often apologize for it. Being able to admit when they’re wrong allows them to maintain credibility more so than a journalist who does not do this. When I heard Conway use “alternative facts” in an attempt to mask incorrect information being reported, I questioned her credibility and her professionalism. As Counselor to the President, it’s not unreasonable to expect her to be a reputable source who is also polished enough to recognize when a mistake has been made and needs to be addressed. This was not a strong start for the President’s press, so the world will be watching to see if redemption is happening anytime soon.