Trump 's Media Bashing Has Deep Roots in the GOP
Public riffs targeting the press are nothing new for  Trump .  He  has made little secret of  his  deeply felt dislike for the Fourth Estateâand  in fact   his  hyperconfrontational attitude toward the mainstream media was one of the things that first endeared  him  to Republican primary voters.
By the afternoon  Trumpâs media bashing had migrated to the Oval Office  where  sitting next to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau  the president again tore into NBC News for its âfakeâ story. âItâs frankly disgusting the way the press is able to write whatever they want to write â  Trump  said  without irony. âAnd people should look into it.â And by Wednesday night   his  earlier suggestion about challenging networksâ licenses had morphed into a demand: âNetwork news has become so partisan  distorted and fake that licenses must be challenged and  if appropriate  revoked â the president wrote on Twitter. âNot fair to public!â
âFake @NBCNews made up a story that I wanted a âtenfoldâ increase in our U.S. nuclear arsenal. Pure fiction  made up to demean â  Trump  tweeted Wednesday morning. Ten minutes later   he  followed up with a proposed solution: âWith all of the Fake News coming out of NBC and the Networks  at what point is it appropriate to challenge their License? Bad for country!â
President Trumpâs latest call for a First Amendment-defying crackdown on the American press began  as they so often do  with a morning venting session on Twitter.
But while  Trump  is often the one who gets the blame (or credit) for todayâs dramatically escalated culture war on the press  the roots of these attacks go much deeper. As I wrote in a new essay for the fall issue of the Columbia Journalism Review  the history of modern Republican politics is rife with examples of conservativesâfrom Barry Goldwater to Sarah Palinâworking to discredit journalism.
In the Trump era  that pretense has been dropped. With the rapid growth and rising influence of the conservative-media complex  most on the right seem to have given up on trying to âfixâ the mainstream press. And many of the powerful figures in that world now openly declare that they are working to bring about the demise of the nonpartisan journalistic establishment in America.
Most Americans might be inclined roll their eyes at all this rhetoric. But the widespread destructionist attitude toward American journalism on display in the conservative media today means that  Trump  would have a loud and enthusiastic cheering section if  he  ever decided to actually follow through on  his  threat to the networks. And given the immense political power these figures have demonstrated over the past two yearsâculminating in the election of a conservative media darling to the presidencyâit would be a mistake to take their agenda lightly.
Public riffs targeting the press are nothing new for  [TGT]  .  He  has made little secret of  his  deeply felt dislike for the Fourth Estateâand  in fact   his  hyperconfrontational attitude toward the mainstream media was one of the things that first endeared  him  to Republican primary voters.
By the afternoon  Trumpâs media bashing had migrated to the Oval Office  where  sitting next to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau  the president again tore into NBC News for its âfakeâ story. âItâs frankly disgusting the way the press is able to write whatever they want to write â   [TGT] said  without irony. âAnd people should look into it.â And by Wednesday night    [TGT]   earlier suggestion about challenging networksâ licenses had morphed into a demand: âNetwork news has become so partisan  distorted and fake that licenses must be challenged and  if appropriate  revoked â the president wrote on Twitter. âNot fair to public!â
âFake @NBCNews made up a story that I wanted a âtenfoldâ increase in our U.S. nuclear arsenal. Pure fiction  made up to demean â   [TGT]   tweeted Wednesday morning. Ten minutes later    [TGT]   followed up with a proposed solution: âWith all of the Fake News coming out of NBC and the Networks  at what point is it appropriate to challenge their License? Bad for country!â
President Trumpâs latest call for a First Amendment-defying crackdown on the American press began  as they so often do  with a morning venting session on Twitter.
But while   [TGT] is often the one who gets the blame (or credit) for  [TGT]  dramatically escalated culture war on the press  the roots of these attacks go much deeper. As I wrote in a new essay for the fall issue of the Columbia Journalism Review  the history of modern Republican politics is rife with examples of conservativesâfrom Barry Goldwater to Sarah Palinâworking to discredit journalism.
In the Trump era  that pretense has been dropped. With the rapid growth and rising influence of the conservative-media complex  most on the right seem to have given up on trying to âfixâ the mainstream press. And many of the powerful figures in that world now openly declare that they are working to bring about the demise of the nonpartisan journalistic establishment in America.
Most Americans might be inclined roll their eyes at all this rhetoric. But the widespread destructionist attitude toward American journalism on display in the conservative media today means that   [TGT] would have a loud and enthusiastic cheering section if   [TGT]   ever decided to actually follow through on   [TGT]   threat to the networks. And given the immense political power these figures have demonstrated over the past two yearsâculminating in the election of a conservative media darling to the presidencyâit would be a mistake to take their agenda lightly.