Trump’s News Chasm

Will the real news please stand up?  (Raise your hand if you get that reference.)

Anywho, In December of 2016, President-elect Donald Trump began to use the term “fake news,” and he would continue to use it thousands of times.  The propaganda technique was so successful at discrediting legitimate, mainstream news that his supporters believe it is false and biased, and that only Fox and other Trump-sanctioned outlets serve up the truth—much like state-sanctioned media. In this way, Trump suppresses opposition information.  This explains why most Trump supporters don’t consume mainstream media and thus don’t know—or don’t believe—he poses a threat to democracy.

Suppression of legitimate news is a common tactic used by autocrats / dictators.  Most pass laws to restrict or even ban news outlets and bolster state-run outlets.  Putin passed legislation restricting all media outlets from using select language in regard to the Russia-Ukraine War, such as “war” and “invasion”; they may call it a “special operation.”  Fox media behaves like state-run media.  In fact, it repeated the lie that Dominion voting machines were rigged; that lie cost them $787 million in the libel lawsuit.

For an eye-opening comparison, visit the All Sides website, where you will be able to see how different the language is—from the left, right, and center—on any given news topic.

One positive effect Trump has had on legitimate news media is that employees from the bottom to the top are highly careful about fact-checking before publishing or broadcasting content.  The negative consequences, however, are that many news outlets risk closure because of loss of revenue, and closure means less real news reaching the citizenry.