President Donald Trump has been consistently undermining and discrediting the news media in the United States since the start of his campaign back in 2016. The president, who has famously popularized the term “fake news”, called the media “the enemy of the people”, and has constantly sought to discredit them on platforms such as Twitter, has created a hostile environment for media outlets and journalists that has reached unprecedented levels in the past few years. Journalists have also been constantly singled out, barreted, threatened, and even attacked at his rallies and over Twitter. Just look at what happened to Michelle Fields and Katy Tur.
With this environment of hostility and undermining of the news media by President Trump and his supporters, what does this mean for our American democracy? The Founding Fathers put the freedom of the press in the Bill of Rights for a reason. That reason being that many believed that free press and free speech were essential for the protection of our democracy. For it can be argued that the news media are the “watchdogs” of our government, and of our democracy. They are the ones that report to the people what is going on amongst legislation, national events, emergencies, and other events deeming national attention. But the climate that Donald Trump and his administration have created has been purposely working against countless national media sources telling people (his rural voter base) that they do not represent their interests. And his supporters are inclined to believe him.
They are inclined to believe him because long gone are the days of local newspapers and tv stations. In fact, a study conducted by UNC Chapel Hill shows that since 2004, about 1,800 local newspapers have closed their doors for good. Further, the study shows that rural counties with poorer and older populations are most likely to suffer due to lack of access to digital news and services creating what has been called “news deserts.” Once these local papers have shut down, the reporters either find new jobs or move to the larger cities where there are still newspaper journalism positions. Any news that is received by people located in these rural, poor areas is coming from the big cities and in their eyes does not represent their interests or concerns. They no longer know their journalists which used to live in the same town or county as them anymore. And if you combine this issue with Donald Trump’s rhetoric on the media, it is no wonder how people have come to view the news as their “enemy” or not representing their interests.
One of the characteristics of a populist discussed in the book What is Populism by Jan-Werner Muller is their claim to be a direct representative of the people and be their voice in a system and society that has ignored or forgotten them. We have seen Donald Trump support this characteristic by often times bypassing the news media and going straight to the people himself. One of his more famous ways of doing this is through his Twitter account where he is constantly expressing his direct opinion and thoughts to the public without the filtering of it through the news media. Further, throughout his campaign and presidency, he has constantly visited rural, poor, or industry deprived areas where most of his voter base is at and consistently spouts rhetoric of what is really happening in Washington and how they are not being represented in the big city. In Donald Trump taking on tactics like these, he is purposely bypassing the news media and giving people reason to not believe the big city, liberal media and how it is not representing them in daily reporting and rhetoric.
Overall, Donald Trump has constantly been undermining and discrediting the national news media outlets today. This is a problem facing the American people and our democracy today. This is a problem because media like The Washington Post, The New York Times, etc. have been doing an excellent job at covering and reporting on this administration and the threats being posed to American democracy by it. There is a lot of good journalism happening by national media sources, regardless of how difficult and dangerous Donald Trump has made it to be a journalist today. Donald Trump has constantly attacked the validity of national news media and its journalists whether it be online, in public, or at his rallies. Further, he has made it very clear how important it is to him to be able to serve as the direct representative of the people. He has also shown that he has constantly gone around the news media and undermined it to make sure this image holds. Does this mean that our American democracy is on the brink of collapse? No. But, it is important for us to recognize what Donald Trump and his supporters have been, and are, doing to the news media today. And how their actions are creating a political climate that is hostile to journalists and the overall health of our democracy.
Photo Credit: Samuel Reeder 3/31/2019
Samuel, I think you bring up excellent points about how divisive and polarized Donald Trump’s rhetoric has been in regard to the media and the news. In fact, I think one of the largest reasons his supporters in the rural voter base believe him and are inclined to believe him is due to the point you later bring up about direct representation of the people. More specifically, the characteristics of a populist you quote from Jan-Werner Mueller that appeal to his voters as they get “their voice in a system or society that has ignored or forgotten them” is crucially important in understanding how his rhetoric and statements are absorbed by his supporters.
In my opinion, I believe these absorptions of opinion on media, the blind and staunch following that Donald Trump has are rooted in two different things: morality and personal experiences. As this populist driven rhetoric hits rural America, I think these people fall to what Greene discusses in “Moral Tribes: Emotion, Reason, and the Gap between Us and Them” as their moral tribe, or their morality, is akin to this type of defense that Donald Trump promises on their behalf. Similar to this concept, is the personal experiences or “deep stories” internalized In Hochschild’s “Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right” that discusses along the same lines the ideas of Jan-Werner Mueller. However, I do not think this polarization or difference in opinion is a threat to democracy, but do agree with you that it is, in fact, hostile to the opposition.
The post provides detail information on how President Trump and his allies creating a hostile environment towards the media. Not only he seeks for direct representation with the people, but Trump also takes advantages of social media to create a wave of supporters. Some might believe that the way our President uses Twitter is to make the people feel closer to him, but not the media nor democracy promoters. The words that President Trump in the presidential election or after he was elected president was provocative and made most of the American people show hostility towards the press. Say no wrong if the media says Mr. Trump embodies populism. He did not care and ignored all the opinions of those who wanted to remind him. Populism is a major wound of the world. It is worrisome because the common characteristic of populist forces is that they defy moral values, despite human rights and despite the world, the reasons for conflict, impasse, and war.
Within a year and a half Donald Trump has made an achievement that the communist movement could not do for more than 70 years of its existence: making the United States isolated and hateful, even scorned, like never before see now. He succeeded in drawing electorate skin on his side, according to David Kuhn’s article: “Sorry, Liberals. Bigotry Didn’t Elect Donald Trump”. The article pointed out that “Donald J. Trump has won the White Labor class vote for Hillary Clinton with a greater proportion than any major party candidate since World War II”. On the same issue, Thomas Wood’s study in the Washington Post also points out that racism is the driving force for Trump’s voters.
In the United States, with the world’s leading law, journalism has always been an independent voice, absolutely not a tool of the rulers, and when needed immediately becomes opposition to the government. The media has the right to condemn the leader of the country as well as the leader of the ruling party based on the US Constitution, Amendment I. They do not do so to defame any individual but to awaken the leader that he needs to do the right thing, behave properly in the framework of the law.
Great summary on Donald Trump Samuel. I like how your report wasn’t biased but it stated facts. Donald Trump uses his media powers when it’s convenient to him. He uses twitter to share his personal feelings and also his plans. As the President of the United States, I believe this is a terrible idea because of how the big the internet is and how other countries are able to view and know the plans of Americans. I believe that the newspapers shouldn’t go out of business because the internet is far more dangerous than a newspaper where the information and language is limited. I agree with you that Donald Trump critiques of the press is a threat to democracy. Freedom of speech is one of America’s biggest policies and the President violating this act by calling out reporters for only speaking the truth is not a good sign of democracy
I wanted to focus on one aspect of your blog: the consolidation of media under the Trump administration. As you mentioned already, so-called “news deserts” are slowly becoming the norm in the US. While it’s true that 1,800 newspapers have closed their doors in the last 15 years, what’s more startling is that we have half as many newspaper journalists as we did in 2008. This loss in local journalists is being referred to as “the rise of the ghost newspaper” and it may be even more threatening to the availability of information in the US. Without as many journalists, the amount of news the remaining newspapers can cover is limited. And as you’ve already said, as local coverage diminishes, people will turn to social media for their news and will consequently be less informed of local politics and may be more easily polarized. I’m not sure if there’s an easy solution to this, but as a potential second wave of media consolidation looms around the corner, we should all be concerned.
I think you make fair points on how attacking the media is inherently anti-democratic. Müller makes clear that populist strategies often including bypassing alternative sources of information to speak directly to the people. The free press is incredibly important to a healthy democracy. That said, the criticism the media faces is not unfounded. Shoddy reporting and, suspiciously, largely one-sided errors are not the friend to democracy. I have taken the liberty to provide you with a link of a rather large list of media errors – its likely not comprehensive. When criticism is justified, we cannot aid crony journalism by playing defense for them.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/mainstream-media-errors-in-the-trump-era-your-catalogue-of-the-medias-bias-fueled-failure-fest-in-2017
Your blog was great! You provided great information that was very informative. You had very excellent key points that were spot on and very detailed information that covered your claims that were listed in the blog. I do agree with your points about Trump. Trump is really taking advantage of this “media” crisis and creating his supporters by doing it. It’s sad how Trump goes straight to social media to post his reactions, thoughts, threats, and etc. Trump seems to think about what you see as best but not for the outcome for everyone else. Overall, your blog was great!
Hi, Samuel! Your blog brings up some really interesting points about the way in which the current president and his administration are undermining the mainstream news media and making it increasingly difficult for journalists to carry out their duty of acting as a watchdog for the government and other powerful people. Something that came to mind while reading your post was that in addition to his Twitter account, which you rightly pointed out seems to be his preferred method of reaching the public while cutting out any middlemen, President Trump has also managed to sell his narrative through certain mainstream news networks – namely, Fox News. As you pointed out, Trump has been relentless in his attacks on media outlets which tend to be critical of him, such as CNN, The New York Times, and The Washington Post. At the same time, he as been just as adulatory of channels which give him positive coverage. He rewards Fox, for example, with exclusive interviews, while high-ranking members appear on the channel on a frequent basis. This allows Trump to control his narrative – by cutting off any access that critics might have to him and putting out a positive image of himself on what is likely the preferred source of news for a large portion of his base.
Samuel,
President Donald Trump has continuously undermined and challenged many of America’s fundamental institutions, including the media, and his presidency has been affecting the normal equilibrium of the United States government. American media has also become very polarized and lack transparency. How can we overcome polarization in our news sources?