On Monday, presidential candidate Donald Trump led a foray against the establishment media.
It is not “freedom of the press” when newspapers and others are allowed to say and write whatever they want even if it is completely false!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 14, 2016
I am not only fighting Crooked Hillary, I am fighting the dishonest and corrupt media and her government protection process. People get it!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 14, 2016
Crooked Hillary Clinton is being protected by the media. She is not a talented person or politician. The dishonest media refuses to expose!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 14, 2016
My rallies are not covered properly by the media. They never discuss the real message and never show crowd size or enthusiasm.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 14, 2016
If the disgusting and corrupt media covered me honestly and didn’t put false meaning into the words I say, I would be beating Hillary by 20%
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 14, 2016
The failing @nytimes, which never spoke to me, keeps saying that I am saying to advisers that I will change. False, I am who I am-never said
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 14, 2016
The failing @nytimes talks about anonymous sources and meetings that never happened. Their reporting is fiction. The media protects Hillary!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 14, 2016
In addition to a flurry of tweets, Trump sent out a Mainstream Media Accountability Survey via email. “We are running against the very dishonest and totally biased media!” the email reads. “It’s time to hold the media accountable for trying to rig this election against us.”
Trump’s recent criticism of the establishment media follows a story The New York Times published about the alleged secret work that Trump’s campaign manager, Paul Manafort, had done for Viktor F. Yanukovych, the elected leader of Ukraine who was deposed during a State Department engineered coup.
“One again The New York Times has chosen to purposefully ignore facts and professional journalism to fit their political agenda, choosing to attack my character and reputation rather than present an honest report,” Manafort said in a statement, adding that the accusation that he “accepted cash payments is unfounded, silly and nonsensical.”
“I have never received a single ‘off-the-books cash payment’ as falsely ‘reported’ by The New York Times, nor have I ever done work for the governments of Ukraine or Russia,” he insisted.
Manafort then excoriated The Times for ignoring the corruption of Hillary Clinton. “The Times does fail to disclose the fact that the Clinton Foundation has taken (and may still take) payments in exchange for favors from Hillary Clinton while serving as Secretary of State,” he said.
“This is not discussed despite the overwhelming evidence in emails that Hillary Clinton attempted to cover up.”
The reason the establishment media does not cover the Clinton Foundation scandal is obvious: NBC Universal, News Corporation, Turner Broadcasting and Thomson Reuters are among more than a dozen media organizations that have made contributions to the foundation.
“The list also includes mass media groups like Comcast, Time Warner and Viacom, as well a few notable individuals, including Carlos Slim, the Mexican telecom magnate and largest shareholder of The New York Times Company, and James Murdoch, the chief operating officer of 21st Century Fox. Both Slim and Murdoch have given between $1 million to $5 million, respectively,” writes Josh Gerstein for Politico.
The donations span the supposed political divide, and include Newsmax, Google, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Mort Zuckerman, George Stephanopoulos and others.
Trump’s strategic attack arrives at a time when public attitudes toward the establishment media are at a historical low.
“Over the last two decades, research shows the public has grown increasingly skeptical of the news industry,” a report from the American Press Institute released in April reads. “The study reaffirms that consumers do value broad concepts of trust like fairness, balance, accuracy, and completeness. At least two-thirds of Americans cite each of these four general principles as very important to them.”
Even journalists believe that the establishment media is not only biased, but corrupt. “There is unprecedented, I believe, influence on the media, not just the news, but the images you see everywhere. By well-orchestrated and financed campaign of special interests, political interests and corporations. I think all of that comes into play,” a CBS reporter, Sharyl Attkisson, told Fox News host Bill O’Reilly.
“Broadly there are overarching concerns about, I would say just fear over original investigative reporting,” she added.
According to a report by the Associated Press, Democrats are more likely to believe establishment media news stories than are Republicans and independents.
“Just 6 percent of people say they have a lot of confidence in the media, putting the news industry about equal to Congress and well below the public’s view of other institutions. In this presidential campaign year, Democrats were more likely to trust the news media than Republicans or independents.”
Donald Trump’s latest effort to fight back against negative propaganda aimed at his presidential bid appears to be well-timed and executed, especially following the outrageous charge by the media that he encouraged gun owners and supporters of the Second Amendment to assassinate Hillary Clinton.
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