Living With Trump's Fake News About Fake News

Chloe Ruffennach
cr584116@ohio.edu

Photo from https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-42724320

Let's get one thing straight: fake news is real, but it is not limited to political criticisms. The president of the U.S. has placed the journalism industry in a suffocating position by proclaiming that hardworking journalists are "the enemy of the people" on numerous occasions. This unearned title is hurled at reputable outlets and comes after Trump became the center of public scrutiny following countless questionable political actions. Journalists are not the enemy of the people; they are the enemy of whoever is corrupt and actively committing crimes.

There are, of course, true instances of false reporting, such as the Sandy Hook conspiracy, pedaled by "journalist" Alex Jones, and even some of the satire pieces spread by The Onion have the potential to cause harm. These stories are certainly destructive toward the establishment of journalism and public trust. However, perhaps even more damaging is when true, factual reporting is unfairly deemed fake because the content is unflattering to the subject being written about. This fake news epidemic has shaken journalism and American democracy to their cores.

Trump has been very proud of his "fake news" coinage. In fact, he claims that he even made up the term, something that, in itself, is fake news. This common phrasing has been used for years to describe legitimate instances of false information being reported. It has only been recently that the phrase has squirmed its way into most Americans' vocabulary after the president's tireless usage of it. However, like many things, Trump is using this term incorrectly. He uses the phrase "fake news" to describe reporting on himself that is unflattering but factual. Trump deems his bad press "fake" to delegitimize it.

Obviously, this has horrible consequences on society. When the president, who is perhaps the most directly influential person in the U.S., deems the press fake when it is uncomplimentary, he paves the way for public distrust. His constant degradation of journalists' work sews doubt into the minds of the public. This violently shakes our democracy in the process.

Since the founding of this country, the U.S. has relied on and taken pride in the First Amendment. The freedom of the press has proven vital to hold the people in power accountable and to keep Americans informed about the inner workings and possible corruption of their government. But when the public is told that these reports of possible corruption are false and made up to fuel a partisan conspiracy theory, who are Americans supposed to turn to? Who can they trust, if not the press and their accounts of the government? How are they supposed to stay informed?

The consequences of the president's "fake news" smear campaign will live long after he has left office. These instances of doubt that the president has instilled will live on past his presidency, and perhaps, even past himself. His administration's rhetoric toward the press and his attempts to discredit reports that are critical of his conduct have already damaged the institution of journalism. Journalists will be living with these consequences for years, all because they were doing their job and the president couldn't stand it.