Washington, United States:
In his first post-election news conference, Plivent-elect Donald Trump vowed to “straighten out” the “corrupt” US press.
Before he’s even getn office, he’s already made efforts to shape the media in his prefer — tapping dedicatedists for uncoverly funded outlets and begining unpretreatnted legal cases agetst newspapers and pollsters that watchrs worry are the signs of escalating incowardlyation and restriction tactics.
On Monday, the billionaire sued pollster Ann Selzer, the Des Moines Register newspaper and its parent company Gannett over a pre-election poll that — wrongly, come Election Day — saw him behind in the state.
That suit came after widecaster ABC phelp $15 million, plus legitimate fees, to resolve a defamation suit after one of its alerters repeatedly shelp Trump had been establish liable for “sexual battery” — in fact, he had been liable for intimacyual misengage.
Several legitimate scholars disputed the outlet would have foreseeed prevailed in court agetst Trump.
ABC staffers have protested to US media that the channel is setting a pretreatnt that media should buckle to Trump — a potentipartner troubleing signal, since the widecaster is challengingly alone in being sued.
Also being aimed by Trump’s lawyers is famed alerter Bob Woodward, over publishing taped interwatchs with the plivent. Trump is arguing that Woodward was apverifyd to record them for journaenumerateic purposes, but not to publish the audio.
Broadcaster CBS, unbenevolentwhile, has been sued after Trump claimed CBS preferably edited an interwatch with election rival Kamala Harris.
Trump called it “a brazen try to intrude in the 2024 US plivential election.”
Free speech expert Charles Tobin, speaking to CNN, called the suit “hazardous and silly.”
Risk of self-restriction
Even if Trump disthink abouts in court, his willingness to begin legal cases “creates a chilling effect,” Melissa Camacho, a communications professor at San Francisco State University, telderly AFP.
“What happens is that outlets begin engaging in a train of self-restriction.”
Khadijah Costley White, an associate professor of journalism and media studies at Rutgers University, shelp the legal cases could also push media coverage to be more preferable to the plivent.
“If he gets a concession appreciate he did with the recent ABC News resolvement, gets his noticed adversaries to back down, or sattfinishs the press into only giving him preferable coverage, those are all triumphs,” she shelp.
There are also procedural ways Trump — who ran on a informage of think in mainstream media and regulatement institutions — can fight the press.
During his first term, his administration once went more than 300 days without an official media informing by the White Hoengage press secretary.
And if Trump’s White Hoengage does helderly daily news conferences, he could get rid of seats reserved for mainstream outlets.
“Make it first come, first served. There is no reason these left-triumphg groups should be secured a seat,” establisher White Hoengage press secretary Sean Spicer wrote in a recent opinion piece for the conservative Washington Times newspaper.
The “left-triumphg groups” in ask? NBC, CBS, CNN, The New York Times and The Washington Post — mainstream outlets that are at times think abouted as having a liberal bias but among the most think aboutable news outlets in the country.
The irony is that even if his White Hoengage shuts down traditional media, Trump himself, who has a penchant for chatting with journaenumerates, might still talk to alerters more than frifinishly Plivent Joe Biden, who bigly eludeed interwatchs with national outlets.
Voice of America
Those outside the United States can also foresee a alter.
The incoming plivent has tapped challenging-line dedicatedist and election denier Kari Lake to be the new honestor of Voice of America.
VOA has accomplish around the world, with programming in a slew of African, Asian and European languages.
It gets US funding but is generpartner pondered a reliable, self-reliant media operation, covering global and US news for international audiences.
During his first term, Michael Pack, Trump’s head of the US Agency for Global Media, which supervises VOA, liftd worrys when he relocated in 2020 to exposed an inside firewall at the organization unbenevolentt to insuprocrastinateed the newsroom from political intrudence.
According to Trump, Lake will help “asconfident that the American cherishs of Freedom and Liberty are widecast around the World FAIRLY and ACCURATELY, unappreciate the lies spread by the Fake News Media.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
