Trump attacks on the Media



Donald Trump’s attacks on CNN’s Jim Acosta are strategic, designed to undermine confidence in reporting and raise doubts about verifiable facts.

Editorial by Micheal John, micheal.john@fpmag.net Writer | Editor

Trump's attacks on trhe mediaFeminine-Perspective Magazine’s Rosa Yamamoto posted on Twitter a sobering thought after arting this meme. The ten commandments from #Trump to @Acosta Somehow I (Rosa) lost fun of doing a meme cuz I was thinking of #JamalKhashoggi.   :'(   I am sure #MBS brought Trump in on that, Be careful Mr. Jim Acosta Trump is dangerously abusing power.

Trump Prepares for bad news

Donald Trump is ‘training’ the news media for some bad news. Possibly he faces impeachment in the new year; probably his son will be indicted for doing the ‘dirty work’ of his personal businesses. This is in his mind, real or not, as his political party generally took a “shellacking” at the polls during the 2018 Mid Term Elections this week. Many governor seats fell to the Democrats and the House of Representatives, potentially the White House’s worst enemy, goes to the control of his opposing political party, the US Democrats, in January.

The new rules for journalists at CNN are set out in a series of Ten Commandments, compiled on the basis of things that He, doesn’t like and things He does like.

With tongue in cheek we share:

Donald Trump’s Ten Commandments for the Media

1. Put no story before Me
2. Put no story after Me
3. Don’t say Trump vainly
4. Worship Me on holy days MTWTFSS
5. See Fred’s tax evasion not mine
5. Don’t let on-air murder My hair
7. Don’t interview Horseface or My son
8. Don’t steal My thunder
9. Don’t bear witness against Me
10. Covet Me

Fox News apparently does not need this lecture because it abides completely.

On the other hand, Fox News is decidedly not news media but the cheering section for some kind of Cult that has been named and renamed by observers who struggle to define what they are seeing.

But it is spreading as Authoritarianism around the world as democracy takes a back seat to lunacy and self-destruction.

This is a problem serious enough to get global note.  In August the United Nations spoke out about US President Trump’s attacks on the media. This was before:

Here is the UN Human Rights Statement

UN and Inter-American experts on freedom of expression have condemned U.S. President Donald Trump’s repeated attacks on the free press and urged him and his administration to cease efforts to undermine the media’s role of holding government accountable, honest and transparent.

The USA President has labelled the media as being the “enemy of the American people” “very dishonest” or “fake news,” and accused the press of “distorting democracy” or spreading “conspiracy theories and blind hatred”.

These attacks run counter to the country’s obligations to respect press freedom and international human rights law,” the experts said. “We are especially concerned that these attacks increase the risk of journalists being targeted with violence.”

Kaye and Lanza said that, over the course of his presidency, Mr. Trump and others within his administration have sought to undermine reporting that had uncovered waste, fraud, abuse, potential illegal conduct, and disinformation.

“Each time the President calls the media ‘the enemy of the people’ or fails to allow questions from reporters from disfavoured outlets,” the experts added, “he suggests nefarious motivations or animus. But he has failed to show even once that specific reporting has been driven by any untoward motivations.

“It is critical that the U.S. administration promote the role of a vibrant press and counter rampant disinformation. To this end, we urge President Trump not only to stop using his platform to denigrate the media but to condemn these attacks, including threats directed at the press at his own rallies.

“The attack on the media goes beyond President Trump’s language. We also urge his entire administration, including the Department of Justice, to avoid pursuing legal cases against journalists in an effort to identify confidential sources, an effort that undermines the independence of the media and the ability of the public to have access to information.

“We urge the US Government to stop pursuing whistle-blowers through the tool of the Espionage Act, which provides no basis for a person to make an argument about the public interest of such information.

“We stand with the independent media in the United States, a community of journalists and publishers and broadcasters long among the strongest examples of professional journalism worldwide. We especially urge the press to continue, where it does so, its efforts to hold all public officials accountable.”

The experts encouraged all media to act in solidarity against the efforts of President Trump to favour some outlets over others.

“Two years of attacks on the press could have long term negative implications for the public’s trust in media and public institutions,” Kaye and Lanza said. “Two years is two years too much, and we strongly urge that President Trump and his administration and his supporters end these attacks.”