Journalism

President Donald Trump has escalated his fiery attacks on the news media, seizing on a recent string of mistaken reports to bolster his case that he is being persecuted by a left-leaning establishment out to bring him down and fueling a national debate over truth, accountability and a free press. While every president has groused about his coverage, President Trump has proved to be the most vocal and visceral news media critic in the Oval Office in at least a generation. In recent days, news outlets have provided him ammunition with reporting errors.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders sparred with reporters during her Dec 11 briefing over errors made by media outlets in reports on President Donald Trump. Sanders disputed the notion that mistakes made by news outlets were “honest mistakes” during a heated exchange with CNN’s Jim Acosta.  "You cannot say it's an honest mistake when you're purposely putting out information you know is false," Sanders said. Sanders and Acosta talked over one another during the exchange. “I’m not finished,” she responded when reporter Brian Karem tried to cut in.

CNN accused President Donald Trump of being an online bully after the president tweeted an attack against anchor Don Lemon, calling him the “dumbest man on television.” “In a world where bullies torment kids on social media to devastating effect on a regular basis with insults and name-calling, it is sad to see our president engaging in the very same behavior himself,” a CNN spokesperson said. “Leaders should lead by example.”
 

President Donald Trump lashed out at The New York Times on Dec 11 over a report that said he watches a minimum of four hours of television each day. 

A one-digit mistake by CNN has armed President Donald Trump with new ammunition for another fusillade against the media. CNN reported Dec 7 that Donald Trump Jr. received an email on Sept. 4, 2016, that granted special access to WikiLeaks documents. The network said in an online article that the email had been “described to CNN by multiple sources.” But The Washington Post obtained the email itself and reported in the afternoon of Dec 7 that the message was actually dated Sept. 14, 2016 — a difference that sets Trump Jr.’s receipt 10 days later. The date matters.

What's President Trump hearing when he watches Fox News? He's hearing that special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation is "illegitimate and corrupt." That it's led by a "band of merry Trump-haters" who are trying to reverse the results of the election. And that it must be stopped. He's also hearing that the FBI is becoming "America's secret police," akin to the KGB in Russia, full of "sickness" and "corruption." These are all actual quotes from some of the president's favorite pro-Trump talk shows. The overarching message from "Fox & Friends" and "Hannity" is unmistakable: Mr.

The Federal Communications Commission’s anticipated decision on net neutrality has (rightfully) garnered a lot of publicity and scrutiny. The FCC’s repeal of different regulations earlier this fall, however, could reshape a news source often left out of predictions of the industry’s future: local TV newsrooms.

Reddit is often dismissed as the digital version of a noisy bar brawl between nerds and misfits. But when it comes to issues like net neutrality, the site has a way of highlighting not just what’s important about the web but also what average citizens of the internet can do about it, something few mainstream media outlets tend to do.

American democracy is fragile, and unless care is taken it could follow the path of Nazi Germany in the 1930s. That was the somewhat jaw-dropping bottom line of Barack Obama in a Q&A session before the Economic Club of Chicago, the Chicagoan who used to be president dropped a bit of red meat to a hometown crowd that likely is a lot closer to him than the man whose name never was mentioned: President Donald Trump. The US has survived tough times before and will again, he noted, particularly mentioning the days of communist fighter Joseph McCarthy and former President Richard Nixon.

We agree that fake news and misinformation are real problems that deserve serious attention. We also agree that social media and other online technologies have contributed to deep-seated problems in democratic discourse such as increasing polarization and erosion of support for traditional sources of authority.