The FCC chair is openly cheering the weakening of the press
In a speech, he ticked through defunded outlets, ousted journalists and looming ownership changes — then said the president is ‘winning’
President Donald Trump has made no secret of the fact that he detests the press, and for the past 10 years has waged a full-scale assault on it.
He has used fascist tactics, such as calling the media “fake news” and the “enemy of the people.” His attacks include lawsuits, bans and threats. My colleague, Angela Fu, continues to document that assault in Poynter’s Press Freedom Watch — a list that is growing alarmingly longer by the day.
And powerful people within his administration help him do his harmful work. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has used his position to kick news outlets out of the Pentagon for not reporting what he wants them to. He whines constantly in news conferences about fair and accurate media coverage of the war in Iran. His pettiness even led him to punish photographers because he didn’t like the photos they took of him.
Then there’s White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, who echoes Trump’s claims of “fake news” whenever there is critical coverage of the president and his policies.
Related Knowledge Center: The White House vs. the press
Whether it’s the Des Moines Register’s publication of an unfavorable election poll, a routine edit of a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris, or the Associated Press’s decision in its authoritative stylebook to continue to use “Gulf of Mexico,” Donald Trump and the White House have used executive authority and legal reprisals in an effort to punish and suppress press coverage that runs contrary to the administration’s preferred narratives.
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Related Knowledge Center: Media and the law
Toxic politics and vast shifts in the technology landscape have created a plethora of thorny issues — both legal and ethical — for newsrooms, courts, and regulators.
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