In fairness, both sides slant their news in a certain direction from time to time. But the idea of "fake news", as Trump uses it, is news that is critical of him or that he doesn't want to hear. No journalist can be perfect, but they get it right most of the time; I'd say that over 95% of what Trump labels "fake" turns out to be accurate or very nearly so. Meanwhile, Trump is averaging 8 provable lies or misstatements a day. It's getting to the point where we can't believe anything he says.
Trump goes beyond that.The idea of "fake news" comes from the Nazis - Hitler referred to it as "lugenpresse", or "lying press". "Enemy of the people" comes from Josef Stalin, who labeled anyone who opposed him with that term. These are propaganda tools, plain and simple, used by autocrats and fascists to tear down the press in the eyes of the public so that they alone could control the flow of information. And when Trump tells his followers, as he did a couple of weeks ago, to ignore what they see and read and only listen to what he tells them he's trying to control the flow of information.
As for the other network being "fair and balanced" - they dropped that line a couple of years ago after Ailes was forced out. When they actually report news, they generally do a good job of it, and lately, they are not shy about criticizing Trump when they feel he's wrong. Despite its reputation as "Faux News", they have some decent journalists there.
There's a reason why Fox News has not once in 21 years won a single prestigious award for excellence in broadcast journalism - they are primarily an entertainment outlet which also happens to sprinkle in some news during the day. I prefer to get my news from outlets that are recognized for the work they do.
That tweet you mentioned was about LeBron James and Don Lemmon of CNN. The reason it was seen as racist was not because of its specific content, but because it fits a pattern of behavior when he tweets about people of color - he insults them, says they're stupid or low-IQ, etc. I'm not sure whether Trump is actually a racist, but he has a long history of behavior going back decades going back to at least the 70's that suggest he either is or he just likes to play that card to attract attention. I can refer you to several excellent books that detail what Trump was like in the early days; it's eye-opening. Or just Google "Central Park Five" to learn the story of how he insisted that 5 black and Hispanic teens who were wrongly convicted of rape and then exonerated should still be put to death.
But the main focus of my OP was that his escalating attacks on a free press are putting journalist's lives in danger. All it takes is one deranged supporter with a gun who sees that as an order to do something about the press. And he doesn't care - it's all a game to him. Proof? The press pool traveling back from Ohio Saturday night reported that, after spending time at the rally slamming the "disgusting, horrible, lying Fake News media" and suggesting that Fox was the only channel to trust, Trump joined the press in their section of AF-1 and had a pleasant off-the-record conversation with them. It's an act and a dangerous one that will eventually get someone hurt or killed. If and when that happens, he will deny any responsibility - that's another thing he's done for decades, always blame someone else when things go wrong.. |
