In his first press conference since the election, President-elect Donald Trump vowed to “straighten out” the “corrupt” American press.
Even before taking office, he has made efforts to sway the media to his favor – harnessing loyalties to publicly funded outlets and launching unprecedented lawsuits against newspapers and pollsters, leading observers to worry that this could There are signs of increasing intimidation and censorship tactics.
On Monday, the billionaire sued pollster Ann Selzer, the Des Moines Register newspaper and its parent company Gannett over a pre-election survey that inaccurately showed him trailing in the state on Election Day.
The lawsuit comes after broadcaster ABC paid $15 million plus legal fees to settle a defamation suit after one of its journalists repeatedly said Trump was liable for “rape” — literally. , he was responsible for sexual abuse.
Several legal scholars argued that the outlet would likely prevail in court against Trump.
ABC staffers have complained to the US media that the channel is setting a precedent that the media should bow to Trump – a potentially troubling sign, as the broadcaster is hardly the only one to be sued.
Famous journalist Bob Woodward is also under attack from Trump’s lawyers for publishing taped interviews with the President. Trump is arguing that Woodward was authorized to record them for journalistic purposes, but not to publish the audio.
Meanwhile, broadcaster CBS has been sued by Trump after he claimed CBS edited an interview with election rival Kamala Harris in a favorable manner.
Trump called it “a brazen attempt to interfere in the 2024 US presidential election.”
Free speech expert Charles Tobin, speaking to CNN, called the lawsuit “dangerous and frivolous.”
Risk of self-censorship
Melissa Camacho, a communications professor at San Francisco State University, told AFP that even if Trump loses in court, his willingness to launch the lawsuit “creates a chilling effect.”
“What happens is that outlets begin to engage in the practice of self-censorship.”
Khadijah Costley White, an associate professor of journalism and media studies at Rutgers University, said the lawsuits may also prompt media coverage to become more favorable to the president.
He said, “If he extracts concessions as he recently did with the ABC News deal, forcing his perceived opponents into a retreat, or intimidating the press into giving only favorable coverage to him, So these are all wins.”
There are also procedural ways in which Trump — who ran because of a lack of trust in the mainstream media and government institutions — could fight the press.
During his first term, his administration once went more than 300 days without an official media briefing from a White House press secretary.
And if Trump’s White House holds daily news conferences, they could get rid of seats reserved for mainstream outlets.
“Make it first-come, first-served. There’s no reason these left-wing groups should be guaranteed a seat,” former White House press secretary Sean Spicer wrote in a recent opinion piece for the conservative Washington Times newspaper.
The “leftist group” in question? NBC, CBS, CNN, The New York Times and The Washington Post – mainstream outlets that are sometimes considered to have a liberal bias but are among the most prestigious news outlets in the country.
The irony is that even if his White House shuts out traditional media, Trump, who is fond of talking to reporters, may still talk to reporters more than outgoing President Joe Biden, who largely Avoids interviews with national outlets.
voice of america
People outside the United States can also expect changes.
The incoming president has appointed radical loyalist and election denier Kari Lake as the new director of Voice of America.
VOA has a worldwide reach with programming in several African, Asian and European languages.
It receives US funding but is generally considered a credible, independent media operation, covering global and US news for an international audience.
During his first term, Michael Pack, Trump’s head of the U.S. Agency for Global Media, which oversees VOA, raised concerns when he moved in 2020 to remove an internal firewall at the organization intended to protect the newsroom from political interference. Was.
According to Trump, Lake will “help ensure that American values of freedom and liberty are disseminated around the world fairly and accurately, contrary to the lies spread by the fake news media.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
