It is not unprecedented for a White House to view the media as the enemy - the “opposition party,” as presidential adviser Stephen Bannon labeled us last week.

But it is vital that we not become that party.

After an exhausting, often alarming first week of the Trump administration, many people were telling journalists that we can no longer conduct business as usual.

“You’re bringing a spoon to a knife fight,” one acquaintance told me.

We need to stop covering the president’s tweets, we were advised. We need to label his false statements as lies. If White House counselors are dis...