It looks like President-elect Donald Trump is setting the stage for a new era of journalism.
Unlike the past U.S. presidents, who traditionally invite journalists for a press conference to make a big announcement, Trump seeks to take the news directly to people by cutting out the middleman — the mainstream media. This is visibly evident in his tweets, which invariably goes on to make headlines.
The battle between the president-elect and the press began when Trump announced his decision to run for president.
Mainstream media like CNN and the New York Times gave Trump a tough time by mocking him and belittling him.
“Anybody who reads the newspaper online or in print or has a remote control probably has recognized that in many ways, the fix is in for Mrs. Clinton when it comes to the mainstream media,” said Kellyanne Conway , who then used to manage the Trump campaign, according to a report by Mediaite .
“I believe Donald Trump received an unprecedented deluge of criticism and, in some places, unfair coverage. But, he will be the president and they are the press, and they have to find a way to cooperate,” she said, according to a report by EW .
Programs such as Saturday Night Live on NBC too came down hard on him. This was evident when SNL started referring to his democratic rival Hillary as President Clinton, even before Election Day.
Nonetheless, the negative publicity did not stymie Donald Trump nor his candidacy. Undeterred, Trump focused on his campaign, won the election, and went on to become the 45th president of United States.
Trump, who is a seasoned businessman, knows how the game is played. If the mainstream media doesn’t support him, he has to use what’s at hand to reach out to people. Twitter became the primary mode of communication for President-elect Trump. Besides, Trump supporters, in an effort to show the good side of their representative, took to social media platforms like Facebook and Youtube.
The mainstream media bias also gave rise to digital journalism. Online news websites such as Breitbart , Townhall , and Red State offered unbiased coverage of Trump, which had an impact on the election results. Search the phrase “ Donald trump is awesome ” on YouTube and you will get thousands of user-generated videos that shows Trump in good stead.
Even after winning the presidency, an SNL skit starring Alec Baldwin and Kate McKinnon, continued to mock him for tweeting. But Donald Trump had his retort ready.
Americans are Happily Excited about the New Year and #DonaldTrump ‘s Inauguration @TrumpInaugural @transition2017 #MakeAmericaGreatAgain pic.twitter.com/hRPuN6B1ES
— Don_Vito ?? (@Don_Vito_08) January 1, 2017
“If the press would cover me accurately & honorably, I would have far less reason to ‘tweet.’ Sadly, I don’t know if that will ever happen!” Trump wrote in a Twitter post.
In October, a Quinnipiac University poll found that 55 percent of voters believe the press is biased against Trump. These findings suggested that voters are aware of media shenanigans — whether journalists offer blatantly negative coverage, package their opinion and agenda as news, or conveniently overlook positive facts about Trump, a report by Washington Post stated.
The poll found that 88 percent of Republicans cite media bias against the GOP nominee — along with 61 percent of independents, 61 percent of men, 60 percent of those ages 18-to-34 years, 51 percent of those 31-to-49, 56 percent of the 50-to-64 crowd, and 52 percent of those over 65. Wait, there’s more: 66 percent of those with no college degree cite media bias, along with 51 percent of those who have a degree. Among those who don’t agree: 45 percent of “non-whites,” 49 percent of women, and predictably, 20 percent of Democrats.
Anti-CNN, Pro-Trump
Chants of “CNN sucks” reportedly broke out multiple times during the Trump rally in Wilkes-Barre, when the Republican nominee called attention to CNN’s “dishonest” treatment of Hillary Clinton.
At one point, Trump said : “They are so dishonest. Without the media, Hillary Clinton couldn’t be elected dogcatcher.”
Despite media bias, Trump won the election fair and square. Trump will officially take charge as the president of the United States on January 20.
[Featured Image by Evan Vucci/AP Images]
