Last week, The New York Times asked President Donald Trump if the Civil Rights Act resulted in discrimination against white men. His response was anything but shocking: “White people were very badly treated… I think it was unfair in certain cases.”
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The quote picked up speed– as many of his inflammatory remarks often do– and soon made headlines all over the country. But while anything the president does nowadays seems to be newsworthy, the question remains what responsibility the media has to not amply this divisive rhetoric.
In order to understand what’s happening today, you have to trace things back to when Trump first announced his bid for office in 2015. Then, most folks — including many news publications — laughed at him. Even then-CBS CEO Leslie Moonves joked that Trump’s candidacy “may not be good for America, but it’s damn good for CBS.” Fast forward 10 years, and these same words ring true.
Trump’s administration seems to also run on the notion that “All press is good press,” and to his credit, he’s been elected twice because of it. We spoke with Dr. Erik C. Nisbet, an Owen L. Coon Endowed Professor of Policy Analysis & Communication and director of the Center for Communication & Public Policy at Northwestern University, about Trump’s hold on the news.
“He is the master of earned media, and he purposely — I think — engages in ways that earns clicks, likes and attention,” the professor said. Trump supporters have praised his shocking rhetoric, knighting him as a “tell it like it is” leader. In response, the demand for more Trump news grows and publications have to keep up with it all.
As a result, repetitive coverage of the president’s controversies floods the mainstream as it has for the last 10 years. Now that the Trump era of news has taken over, Dr. Nisbet predicted his impact will be long-lasting.
“Some of the stuff is baked in and it’s not gonna change back,” he said of Trump’s impact on media. “The partisan capture of some press will not recede, and if anything our Press has become more polarized,” he said. Publications also reflect just how polarized the country’s become under Trump.
Unlike his first term when news outlets continuously held Trump accountable, some of the leading publications now seem to be taking the Trump bait. Look at MS Now– formally MSNBC– who completely rebranded following a push to separate its liberal outlets, the Washington Post reported. It’s a business move that Dr. Rayvon Fouché, a Professor of Communication Studies at Northwestern and published author focused on the intersection of Black Americans and technology, told us is part of a greater trend.
“We seen in the last 15, 20 years, the business of media and the business of journalism taking a front seat in the conversation,” Fouché said. But more than just business, he pointed to a “new moment” in media where previous political norms are no longer standard.
“Often times, there was understood negotiations between different political positions and beliefs and independence of journalism but that moment– clear with this administration– is a dream of a bygone era,” he added. The ongoing battle between Trump and the media has resulted in biased coverage of the president and public distrust in the news overall. According to a October study by Gallup, only 28 percent of Americans trust in the media.
There’s been a heightened mission to expose Trump for all of his bigoted actions over the years. Now, this mission has become obsession. Still, there’s a fight to uphold the truth, no matter the cost.
“Journalists, historians [and] people who study presidential organizations are not gonna stop doing the work that they do because certain voices and commentary are limited,” Fouché added. “Journalists will keep digging. Historians will keep digging, and eventually the things that have been hidden, confiscated– they’ll be free to the world.”
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