Trump On the Offensive Against Freedom of the Press
Now the news is rising from Donald Trump’s raucous interactions with the news industry itself.
The ever-angry Trump, who has a wide choice among half the country in finding political opponents, is following through on threats to “go after” those in the news media and elsewhere who write, speak or do research that puts what he says and does in poor light.
What puts this adopted Trump aggressiveness into a dangerous category is the speed with which other sources of accountability — Congress, courts, the law itself, business — are caving to the reality that Team Trump has the reins. By comparison, a news industry that just does its normal job of holding a mirror to Trump actions and speeches is looking more to him as a source of opposition than a first attempt to capture current history.
Clearly emboldened by a settlement with ABC last week over a lawsuit alleging defamation for a star host referring to Trump having been found “liable for rape” rather than “liable for sexual abuse,” Trump is creating headlines by suing The Des Moines Register over a pre-election poll he found objectionable.
Trump’s lawsuit calls the poll results — which turned out to be wrong when the votes were counted in Iowa — consumer fraud. Ann Seltzer, the pollster in question has since retired but insists that the pro-Kamala Harris tilt of her results is what she got from her polling. This case looks to be a relatively weak lawsuit, but that seems secondary to its filing in the first place.
Anyone believing this will be the last news industry challenge should re-check the MAGA retribution scorecard. Trump and members of his inner circle like Kash Patel, tapped to take over the FBI, have threatened to de-license major television networks, and to pursue both civil and criminal charges whenever the fancy strikes him, or a publication takes a position involving him that he hates.
This is about intimidation.
An Air of Withdrawal
The worst effects may not even be from the warning note from Trump for the news media to back off. With few exceptions, the worst may be in news industry moves to withdraw in aggressiveness in covering an incoming administration, whether for fear, greed, or some kind of appeal for audience from those turning away. The Guardian, among others, calls it “The Great Capitulation.”
Just last week, Patrick Shoo-Shiong, biomed technology billionaire owner of The Los Angeles Times killed an editorial that questioned qualifications of some of Trump’s Cabinet choices unless the editorial staff could produce — on deadline — an intelligible column or editorial that presented the opposite point of view, that Trump’s choices are good ones. That, of course, obviates the need or purpose of an editorial.
Shoo-Shiong has been pursuing a campaign at the newspaper to present “balanced” views that would allow readers to choose which is more “true.” He wants an AI-written “bias meter” attached to articles — he now says he will use it in the opinion section rather than the news sections — to allow readers better editorial orientation to what they are reading. But it comes across as protecting Trump from public criticism.
At The Washington Post, owner Jeff Bezos, who had ordered an editorial endorsing Kamala Harris for president, held back, now has joined the Big Tech billionaires visiting with Trump at Mar-a-Lago — meetings that seem aimed at “normalizing” relations with a president who repeatedly shows disdain for the role of journalism in our society or any protocols involving respect of law that do not serve him.
The Morning Joe crew that went to meet with Trump at Mar-a-Lago off the record is still trying to salvage any perception of independence — for a news commentary show.
The right-leaning media are having a field day ridiculing any efforts to question Trump’s appointments, for example, as opposition rather than discovery about who they are, what they stand for, and what conflicts of interest they may be bringing to a government post.
The inside reports on why ABC News and its owner, the Disney corporation, reached a settlement with Trump suggest that the error or overstatement of charges by anchor George Stephanopoulos about “rape” rather than “sexual assault” came about more out of worry about the jury pool in Florida and comments from the judge about the legal shakiness of their defense than over a commitment to journalism. Nevertheless, ABC News has now made itself a target for constant examination of whether they are holding back in rigorous pursuit of journalism involving the president.
And they have provided Trump with $15 million to go after other news organizations.
The Point: Back Off
It is that withdrawal that is the Trump point, after all.
These shots across the journalistic bow are meant to tell reporters and editors that even normal journalistic practices that end up with articles that Trump may see as unsupportive will generate retribution, whether through lawsuits, tax filings, unwarranted FBI investigations, Congressional subpoenas and more.
With corporate ownership of news organizations increasingly mightily, an audience of readers who prefer social media over-simplifications to articles that can survive rigorous editing, and an attitude that may favor access over the appearance of opposition, we’re heading into turbulent waters for journalism.
The clear media trend is that audiences are turning to podcasts and their own social media postings to follow the news rather than tuning in to professional news outlets. The weekend’s messy government shutdown dance reflected the power of an Elon Musk to send hundreds of tweets in a day to rile up a MAGA base towards a legislative defeat of a bipartisan budget deal.
What reporters must do is follow through on policies and appointments, to detail the effects of Team Trump actions and statements on the full range of policies being proposed. Where are the stories from Ohio about pet-eating immigrants — did the pet-eating just go away with a 1% “landslide” vote margin in the election? Where are the stories analyzing how egg prices are continuing to rise after the election rather than fall or how housing is no more available now than two months ago?
Trump is in war mode against the people who cover his administration with anything but flattery. News organizations trying curry even the appearance of favor in preemptive legal defense are in appeasement mode.
The alternative is aggressive, rigorous journalism that measures results, holds behavior against what was said and that exposes misstatements and hypocrisy.
