FIRST, it was “fake news.” That’s what US President Donald Trump called the American press who were covering his every misstep and misspoken word, in order to deflect the real criticism away from him.
No matter that the facts they reported about him were factually correct – because he did not like the message that they were saying, they were renounced as being untrue.
Fake news these days isn’t much about actual authenticity, but partiality to the subject – in this case, the president of the United States of America.
Recently, however, to up the ante, fake news has evolved into “enemy of the people.”
Yes, in the US president’s own view, the media are not simply peddling misinformation, they are now actively opposing the American people in some kind of war. Thus their new moniker, which is not quite so different from what had been accorded such infamous figures as Al Capone, John Dillinger, and other fugitives of the law. They are the new FBI’s Most Wanted, America’s Public Enemy No. 1.
It’s probably not news to anyone that US presidents, like every other politician, have always had their beef about the media.
After all, it is the duty of the Fourth Estate – what the free press is referred to in the United States – to counterbalance the huge power of the executive office, to take the side of those who may not really be in the good graces of the presidency. So though sometimes less-than-friendly with the media, past presidents have always grudgingly accepted the role of the press as necessary adversaries, and something that also adds legitimacy to their own existence.
Every president, that is, until this present one.
The current POTUS is unique in every other way, and not only in his bitter enmity of the free press. He is his own news machine, the good, the bad and the ugly. He prefers to tweet his own thoughts, rather than have the press report them for him. It ensures that he conveys his own messages in the way he wishes to, rather than have others convey them with their own spin. The modern version of the soapbox president, he prefers it all unfiltered, unedited and unadulterated. Donald Trump, unplugged.
Having grown up in an environment that had always been hostile and toxic to truthful journalism, I cringe at his description of the press as enemy of the people. Too many times in my youth, I had seen media practitioners being marginalized, oppressed and trampled upon by those in power. Some even paid the ultimate price with their lives, killed in the line of duty by some, apparently encouraged by the condemnation they heard from those in power. That time, it was the US that opposed the demonizing of the press, believing in their genuine role as guardians of a free society. That’s why it is so strange and unprecedented, to hear of a US leader lambasting the media in this way.
And yet, it goes on unabated, not only from the president but also from his presidential underlings. Kellyanne Conway and now Sarah Sanders – at various times they have taken heart form their boss’ energetic condemnation of the media. And they are as vociferous as he is in their own attacks.
And yet, what does it really matter? Who cares if legitimate media is labeled fake news? Well, perhaps the whole United States should? They call the press the Fourth Estate for a good reason, and primarily because the press “makes sure the participants do not exploit the democratic system.” And yet, with its image badly tarnished by repeated allegations of untruthfulness, who will now make sure that those in power are held accountable for their transgressions?
(http://asbbforeignexchange.blogspot.com & http://twitter.com/asbbatuhan)