GEORGE V MAGAZINE / ABC NEWS
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Trump has been railing against the so-called “mainstream media” for years. He is now following up his threats with actions. He successfully sued the broadcaster ABC News and filed a lawsuit against a daily newspaper in Iowa – because of a poll that was unfavorable to him. Will this continue?
Donald Trump and the media have never had a love affair. “Open hostility” is more accurate if you look at his statements over the past few years. The most hair-raising of these was: “The media are the enemy of the people” – which he claimed shortly after taking office in January 2017. But you have to look more closely: He was referring primarily to those broadcasters, newspapers and websites that he describes as “mainstream media”.
Trump has been waging an open campaign of revenge against these “mainstream media” not only since his election victory. A recent ruling in his dispute with ABC News made headlines, and now he has sued a regional newspaper from Iowa, the “Des Moines Register,” which is published in the capital city of the same name. These are just two examples of a wave of lawsuits against editorial offices and media companies.
Rape or abuse?
In the case of ABC News, star presenter George Stephanopoulos did not comment entirely correctly on the rape allegations against Trump. A New York jury had found it proven that he had penetrated a woman, the author E. Jean Carroll, with a finger in the 1990s. Until recently, however, such an act was not defined as rape in New York, but merely as abuse. Accordingly, Trump was acquitted of the charge of rape. However, the judge in charge had specifically stated exactly that and said that Trump had raped the woman in a broader sense of the word.
In an interview with Republican Nancy Mace, Stephanopoulos said that Trump had been convicted of rape. But since the verdict “only” found abuse, Trump sent his lawyers. Trump was right in that he had not been convicted of rape. But Stephanopoulos also had good arguments, since the judge himself had spoken of rape. In short: the matter was not clear-cut.
Up to this point, all of this would have been a side note. It would have been expected that Stephanopoulos’s station, ABC NEWS, would have stood up for its anchor. At first, he did, but then he caved. After the attempt to dismiss Trump’s lawsuit failed, a settlement was reached. The station must now pay $15 million to finance a presidential library dedicated to Trump. It will also pay $1 million in Trump’s legal fees.
Is business more important than freedom of the press?
Liberal commentators are outraged. “A deep low for ABC News,” commented Eric Wemple in the “Washington Post.” Michelle Goldberg wrote of a “great capitulation” in the “New York Times,” referring not only to ABC News, but to “powerful Americans” as a whole. But she called ABC News the “most shocking example of the week.” Commentator John Heilemann said in the political podcast “Hacks on Tap”: “We see big business and the media kneeling before Trump.”
ABC News is owned by the Disney Corporation. Now there is suspicion that business was more important than freedom of the press. One reason could have been to limit legal costs. But it could also have been to get on Trump’s good side. Because as president he could use his office for personal vendettas, no one doubts that. Last but not least, Trump had threatened that ABC News could lose its license. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who also owns the Washington Post, aroused similar suspicions. Before the election, he had prevented the newspaper from openly supporting the Democratic candidate Kamala Harris. Perhaps because he is hoping for contracts from the Trump administration for his space company Blue Origin?
At least if Trump goes to court against a huge broadcaster owned by Disney, it at least has the appearance of equal opportunities. And at least Trump had a point. Stephanopoulos could be accused of having expressed himself inaccurately – even if he said what the judge himself had said.
The situation is different for the regional newspaper “Des Moines Register”. It is hard to see any other motive than revenge. Shortly before the presidential election on November 5, the newspaper published a poll in which Harris came out surprisingly strong. The poll caused a stir and fired the imagination of the Democrats. The election result was completely different – Trump won the state comfortably, the poll was completely wrong. The reasons for this were a mystery. Trump is now suing the newspaper for “brazen election interference” – precisely because of that poll.
Responsible for this was pollster J. Ann Selzer, who had built up an excellent reputation over the years. Her survey was considered by many to be the “gold standard” and was taken particularly seriously. Selzer’s reputation, however, was ruined and she subsequently resigned. It is hardly credible that she deliberately wanted to influence the election. But that did not stop Trump from filing a lawsuit.
Climate of Fear
Perhaps it’s not even about winning. “The lawsuits are not so much about winning as about threatening,” law professor and author Samantha Barbas told the New York Times. She teaches at the Iowa College of Law. “It’s clear that Trump is waging war on the press,” she said.
Trump himself makes no secret of it. Nor of the fact that he is trying to undermine the credibility of the press so that criticism rolls off him. This pattern has been observed for years. But now he will no longer be just a grumbling, ageing billionaire at a golf club in Florida. He will be President of the United States.
As such, he has already announced that he will in future enlist the Attorney General and Minister of Justice in his punitive actions. This is indeed not good news for press freedom. It is not just about the details of individual cases, but about the climate that is created. Trump is intimidating the free media. At the same time, too many of his fans believe the myth that the media are also their enemies.
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