Patrícia Campos Mello
SAO PAULO, SP (Folhapress) – In version 2.0 of his war against the press, President Donald Trump Ladra, but also bites.
In his first term (2017-2021), Trump often attacked journalists by the name and plagued the media of “people enemy” and “fake news”, but did not come to the ways in fact, in part because he was touched by Congress or the judiciary . Now it continues to invest against reporters nominally, but goes beyond, pursuing the media concretely.
TV and radio stations are under investigation, the government promises to cut all media vehicle signatures, part of the “traditional media” lost the physical space of work in the Pentagon, and the White House vetoed Associated Press reporters after the agency did not adopt The new name of the Gulf of Mexico, renamed the Gulf of America in Trump’s decree.
Trump special emissary for retaliation to the press is Brendan Carr, appointed to chair the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), an agency charged with giving green light to broadcasting mergers and concessions.
Carr opened -or reopened – investigations against TV and radio stations that make critical coverage of the Trump administration. Last week, the targets were NPR and PBS, American radio and public TV, considered leftists by the Republican.
“I think NPR and PBS may be violating federal law by vehicle commercials,” Carr said, announcing the investigation. Public broadcasting stations are prohibited from displaying commercials. The companies deny.
The FCC boss made it clear where he wants to go. “I see no reason for Congress to continue funding with taxpayer money to NPR and PBS,” he said.
In his first term, Trump tried to end PBS, but congressmen and public opinion teamed up to “save Garibaldo” (the station broadcast the Vila Sesame children’s series).
Carr also reopened investigations that had been closed in the Biden government on CBS, ABC and NBC for coverage that allegedly hurt the public interest. CBS is accused of having “distortion of news” in the edition of an interview by Democrat Kamala Harris in September on the 60 Minutes program. Carr said the episode may influence FCC analysis of a pending merger between CBS controller, Paramount Global, and Skydance Media.
The most recent targets were NBC and its controller, the Comcast. They were notified by Carr that they would be investigated for “promoting forms of discrimination in violation of FCC regulations and civil rights laws” by prioritizing initiatives of diversity, equity and inclusion, prohibited by Trump decree.
In relation to Fox, Trump aligned, Carr chose not to reopen the investigation for coverage of false electoral fraud reports in 2020. Last week, Fox announced that he had hired Trump’s daughter -in -law, Lara, married to Eric Trump, to be anchor of a program on Saturdays.
“During the first term, Trump tried to contain the critical media, but in many cases was unsuccessful, because he was prevented by the courts, defenders of institutions within his own government and public opinion,” Joel Simon, director-director Founder of the City University of New York (Cuny) Journalism Protection Initiative. “This time, the bureaucracy is more aligned with its agenda, the courts are more favorable, and the power of the media to mobilize public opinion is much smaller.”
Another target of Trump is the financial health of news vehicles. The White House instructed the administration of general services to end “all media contracts” funded by the agency, according to an email obtained by the site Axios.
Subscriptions to news sites would fatally succumb to the offensive of government spending cuts undertaken by Elon Musk. Trump promoted in his social network, Truth Social, the false statement that government agencies had given billions of dollars to journalistic companies such as “bribes to convey positive stories about Democrats.”
Trump and Musk spread the false statement that USAID, the government’s foreign aid agency that was in practice closed by Musk, gave $ 8 million in subsidies to the political site, called by the republican “left tabloid”. In fact, this value referred to signatures from the political service for the entire US government.
Reuters was the latest victim of fake news campaign. Musk said the news agency had received $ 9 million from Pentagon to “execute large scale social fraud.” In fact, Thomson Reuters Special Services, a covert company that investigates cyber threats, had been hired in 2018 during the Trump government to study how the US could defend themselves from influence operations (social engineering). Trump demanded that the agency return the money.
All of this is at the same time as hopes of a reissue of the so -called Trump Bump frustrated. In 2016, the Republican’s turbulent style of governor and his incessant generation of factoids increased the vehicle audience. Now this approach is just overloading the press, which suffers to gain the attention of readers and viewers. Last week, the New York Times shares fell 12% in one day after the newspaper released subscribers growth below expectation in the last quarter of 2024 and warm projections for this year.
Another difference from Trump 1 is the largest disposition of press vehicles to give in to pressure. Last year, ABC signed an agreement and paid $ 15 million to Trump to terminate an action in which the president accused the broadcaster of defamation. Now CBS would be willing to do the same to end Trump’s process due to Kamala’s interview.
According to experts, these would be cases where broadcasters would easily win in court, so they would not have to make hits. In the US, it is very difficult for a public person to overcome a defamation process against a press vehicle due to the protection given by the first amendment of the Constitution, which guarantees freedom of expression.
According to Joel Simon of Cuny, all this can still get worse in case Kash Patel is confirmed as FBI head. In an interview last year, he said he would use his position in the government “to go after the media people who lied and helped Joe Biden defraud the election.”
Another front is the restriction of the access of critical vehicles and greater opening for podcasts and trumpland sites. The AP had barred reporters in the White House after not adopting the expression “Gulf of America”.
The Pentagon created a rotating scheme in the use of physical spaces for press vehicles at the ministry. The New York Times, NBC, Politicus and NPR were evicted, who had been especially critical on the coverage of the then defense secretary Pete Hegseth. They have gained space One America Newwork, Breitbart and the New York Post, all aligned with the government, and the progressive HuffPost-Veicle that doesn’t even have a Pentagon sectorist reporter and had not asked for space.
The government says the defense of freedom of expression is one of its flags. “The White House strongly believes in the first amendment,” said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt. But with limits. “We know that many traditional media vehicles in this country have released lies about the president and his family, and we will not accept it.”
