Is it the high time President Donald Trump ended his unsubstantiated rhetoric against mainstream media as being biased against his administration and propagating fake news? The ongoing media onslaught by Trump’s administration is atavistic and unwarranted. This is widely so - based on the critical role the mainstream media has played in fulfilling the career of President Donald Trump even before he occupied the White House.
Trump is the product of media
President Trump came to the limelight hosting the infamous Apprentice on NBC. He went on to host other shows including Saturday Night Live, a show he currently detests for what he terms as ‘vilifying his administration’ including top appointees at the White House.
He has particularly lashed out at the current host Alec Baldwin stating that 'SNL' the show he (Trump) once hosted is pathetic and a disgrace.
It would have been impossible for Trump, however, to attain the current position as the 45th President of the United States without the role the mainstream media played in shaping his career. The mainstream media not only provided a platform for him to sell this manifesto to the American people during and after the GOP primaries but also enable him communicate to millions through a series of the 'Apprentice 'show he hosted on NBC.
Trump’s fall-out with the media
It’s not clear when Trump deserted the mainstream media and launched a spirited battle against channels like CNN, but the genesis may likely be the time Anderson Cooper openly rubbished his comments as ‘that of a five-year-old’ -- comments that might not have augured well with Trump.
On Friday, President Trump vehemently criticized the New York Times, CNN and NBC referring to them as the ‘enemy of the American people’ and agents of propaganda and fake news. No sitting US President has openly waged a fierce battle against the media compared to Donald Trump. The 45th President seems to have apparently forgotten that the media only reports, analyses and highlights issues with the view of informing the public and cannot be the enemy of the American people.
Leave journalists alone
President Trump’s conflicting views that the leaks from Russia were true but when they were reported by the mainstream media they became false only magnifies the alleged role of wikileaks and other fake news that supposedly boosted his candidature against the former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
President Trump should get to work and leave journalist to do their duties. He should avoid debasing himself by directly attacking journalists or a section of the mainstream media basing on what he believes to be ‘selective reporting.’ The President should instead view the media as functioning to aid his administration in fulfilling his pre-election policies in tandem with the laws of the land.
The US media is highly reputable internationally and the President’s continued vilification only indicates his current administration does not tolerate any form of criticisms. The Trump administration ought to understand that journalists are highly trained professionals guided by a journalistic code of ethics. They are not the enemy of the people or propagandists as President Trump wants the public to believe.
