Aya Cathey
ac460519@ohio.edu
"Former President Donald J. Trump speaking to a CNN reporter: “Your organization’s terrible. ... You are fake news.” on Jan. 11, 2017. Courtesy of CNN
There is no US law stating that the president must interact with the press. However, federal court cases have ruled that a journalist can not be denied a White House Press pass or denied access to a press conference based on an arbitrary or content-centered criterion or the nature of their reporting.
That being said, the symbiotic relationship between the White House and the press is a tradition built over generations of mutual trust and respect between journalists and those in office. Theodore Roosevelt saw the news as an "instrument of power". He created a newspaper cabinet of reporters and correspondents and regularly shared his thoughts on delicate matters of the state with the general public. He essentially laid the foundation for a trusting partnership between the press and the most powerful institution in the country. Later, former presidents Woodrow Wilson and Dwight Eisenhower solidified this concept through televised press conferences, broadcast TV and radio reports, and presidential briefings. The era of Donald Trump and "Fake News" has entirely unraveled this delicate relationship, and it will be incredibly difficult to rebuild.
On April 5, 2019, former President Donald Trump tweeted from his personal Twitter account:
"The press is doing everything within their power to fight the magnificence of the phrase, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! They can't stand the fact that this Administration has done more than virtually any other Administration in its first 2yrs. They are truly the ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE!"
Throughout his presidency, Trump repeatedly attacked journalists and media networks to capitalize on the "fake news" narrative. Trump and his associates manipulated their positions in power and used the media as a surrogate for a political opponent. Once his campaign ended, it became alarming evident that Trump was only good at two things: debating and making empty promises. So in order to continue fueling his platform, Trump accused the news media of spreading misinformation and degrading his character.
The 2016 election sparked a rise in partisanship and political animosity. Negative views of an opposing party and their members became increasingly common; not only did partisan citizens disagree with each other, but hateful, fearful, and toxic environments spread on social media and in the real world. Trump claimed he wanted to be the solution. He made several false statements about fighting the systemic left-wing bias in the news and claimed that because he did not have a prior political career, his opinions were more trustworthy than other politicians and political journalists.
However, I believe the country doubted his intelligence. Trump was an entertainer, he knows how to appear unscripted, relatable, and bold, and people gravitate to confident leaders. The events that occurred on Jan. 6 proved the dangers of his rhetoric, but even before then, trust in the media had significantly declined since he took office. Trump built a platform in undermining credible facts and celebrating free opinions and word of mouth. As a result, most Americans currently only have one or two news organizations they trust to share credible news, and many identities feel misunderstood or underrepresented in the media.
Journalists have the constitutional responsibility to report the trust and hold institutions of power accountable for their actions. Trump’s “fake news” agenda attempted to undermine journalism’s intellectual values of democracy while simultaneously suggesting reporters are driven by profit, greed, and deception. In order to repair the balance between the press and the public, both journalists and politicians must publicly emphasize media literacy and support reporters from credible media networks. Americans are prone to fear and manipulation and the best strategy moving forward would be to cultivate an online media landscape that is transparent, timely, direct, and above all, trustworthy.
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