Trump’s attacks on press freedom aren’t separate from his attacks on oppressed communities. We must resist them all.
By Maya Schenwar, Negin Owliaei, Ziggy West Jeffery, for Truthout
As Donald Trump is inaugurated a second time, independent media organizations are faced with urgent mandates: Tell the truth more loudly than ever before. Do that work even as our standard modes of distribution (such as social media platforms) are being manipulated and curtailed by forces of fascist repression and ruthless capitalism. Do that work even as journalism and journalists face targeted attacks, including from the government itself. And do that work in community, never forgetting that we’re not shouting into a faceless void — we’re reaching out to real people amid a life-threatening political climate. Our task is formidable, and it requires us to ground ourselves in our principles, remind ourselves of our utility, dig in and commit.
A clear look at the media landscape shows us why these commitments are necessary. Throughout the first Trump campaign and presidency, corporate newsrooms acted as if they were dinghies buoyed along a naturally occurring wave to the right. Initial rounds of shock at Trump’s demonization of migrants, his hostility toward protesters and the left, and his jingoistic policies eventually gave way to normalization of such stances in corporate news outlets around the country.
When these outlets did choose to take a stand, it was often around attacks on a free press — which mainstream media depicted as a distinct issue, rather than recognizing its connections with the attacks Trump wielded more broadly against oppressed communities.
