BY SHAWN MCCARTHY
Journalists who don’t toe the MAGA line have long been among Donald Trump’s favourite targets. His election victory on Nov. 5 heralds a new era of media bashing, with efforts to silence independent voices and attacks on journalists themselves.
In the waning days of the campaign, Trump frequently targeted the “fake media” at his rallies.
After CBS’s 60 Minutes aired an interview with Vice President Kamala Harris and explained that Trump had accepted and then pulled out of a similar opportunity, Trump sued the network for allegedly doctoring the Harris interview in her favour. CBS has denied his complaint.
Trump has talked about having the Federal Communications Commission strip news networks of their broadcast licenses for airing coverage he disapproves of, and about defunding public television and radio.
He has vowed to “shatter the left-wing censorship regime” by eliminating all federal support for efforts to moderate social media platforms in order to police mis- and disinformation. Trump himself, of course, lied about the 2020 election being “stolen,” and falsely alleged federal hurricane disaster relief was diverted to support undocumented migrants.
In his final rallies, he joked to his MAGA audience that he would not be sad if the journalists covering him were shot.
Not surprisingly, assaults on journalists in the United States are rising. Press Freedom Trackers reports 84 such attacks by early September this, up 50 per cent compared to the number for all of 2023.
The Committee to Protect Journalists has provided safety training to more than 700 media workers in the U.S., and will continue that effort in the runup to Trump’s January inauguration.
Trump’s verbal assaults on the media is being echoed in Canada by Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, although typically without the same level of vitriol. As the president-elect ratchets up his campaign of censorship and intimidation, we can expect greater pressure here.
World Press Freedom Canada acknowledges there is plenty of room for legitimate media criticism. It must be pursued without menace to individual journalists and while respecting the important role the news media plays in holding to account those who hold or are pursuing power.
