On the media's push back against Trump

by

James E Staudt

copyright 2018, all rights reserved

Across the United States the media is pushing back against President Trump's attacks on them as being "Fake News" and "the enemy of the people".  There is always a grain of truth to any great lie.

A free and independent press is one of the critical pillars necessary for a democracy to survive.  In this respect, the president's attacks on the media are wrong.  While the media doesn't always get it right (more on this later) it is necessary to have a free press to preserve democracy and prevent a government from becoming a tyranny.  This is why freedom of speech and freedom of the press are preserved in the first amendment to the constitution.  The colonies wanted the ten amendments in the Bill of Rights to prevent the federal government that had been established in the constitution from turning into a tyranny.  That is why so many of these ten amendments relate to prohibition of certain practices that were used by the British during colonial rule - such as housing soldiers or preventing assemblies.  So, President Trump is clearly wrong in calling many of the press outlets "enemies of the people".  

On the other hand, a loss in confidence in the media as an independent and trusted source of information is well justified.  An important theme discussed in my book Grand Collusion is that the two political parties and the media have a vested interest in keeping Americans misinformed and fighting one another.  The media is the chief benefactor of political spending and the political parties are able to use controversy as a means to motivate political donations.  This symbiotic relationship has made the commercial media too close to the two major parties.  Over time, the for-profit media outlets have become more of a mouthpiece of the government, large corporations or other influential groups that provide "information" (or, propaganda) at no charge. With this model, the media outlets don't need the expense of investigative journalism to examine information and question it..  For example, the media acted as a mouthpiece for the Bush administration in promoting the Iraq War.  It did not critically evaluate the evidence presented by the George W. Bush Administration in its argument for invading Iraq, which led to destabilization of most of the Middle East.  In fact, Judith Miller (then at the New York Times and later Fox News) was criticized for her role at the New York Times in promoting the Bush administration's arguments for the war.  In effect, Ms. Miller and the New York Times acted as a political agent for the Bush administration.  Unfortunately, she was not alone.  Many news outlets, Fox News for example, are not truly independent and act almost as an agent of a political party.

The media must be free to critically examine the information from the government, regardless of who is president.  But, they should do so thoughtfully, thoroughly and without bias.  Unfortunately, in today's media, which focuses more on entertaining rather than informing and also has close ties to political parties, there is no room for a trusted reporter such as Walter Cronkite to calmly report the news of the day without drama or injection of bias. When issues are discussed on today's news stations, they are often sensationalized in a contentious battle between talking heads with a banner across the bottom saying "Such and Such Fiasco".  This may make for entertaining television, but it does not inform.  If we are to preserve the United States as a democratic republic, the media must step up to its responsibility of informing the citizenry rather than attempting to use every opportunity to create controversy.