Bizarre, Media, Politics, Society

One-Third of Americans Say Media Is “The Enemy of the People”

donald_trump_president-elect_portrait_croppedFor years, some of us have criticized President Trump for his reference to the media as the “enemy of the people.”  While Trump has indicated that he adopted the attacks to appease his supporters, the danger is that many would believe it.  Now a new Hill-Harris X poll shows that one-third of Americans say the news media is “the enemy of the people.” Not coincidentally, that figure matches Trump’s core base that remains firm in the polls. However, it shows that this mantra is believed by millions of Americans, who are now viewing the media as the enemy.

I have repeatedly called out the media about a self-defeating bias against Trump, a trend that has fulfilled the stereotype advanced by the President.  Indeed, CNN and MSNBC is risking not only this type of backlash against the media but, again, fueling a desire in some voters to vote for Trump to stick it to the establishment.  There is no need to warp the news.  Trump is justifiably criticized on many fronts. However, some networks have become openly partisan.  Watching CNN cover breaking news is like watching open advocacy from the anchor chair — immediately contesting statements and leading guests to the most critical possible take on developments.

None of that however excuses Trump’s reckless attacks on the free press, the very cornerstone of our democratic system of government.  While the bias against Trump in palpable on some outlets, the vast majority of media in the United States remains professional and unbiased in their reporting.  Indeed, the New York Times, Washington Post, and other major newspapers have continued to report on important stories despite the constant threats and badgering from the White House.

I have long objected to this rhetoric from Trump. Past presidents have attacked the media but never in these terms.  They have maintained presidential in reminding the public of the importance of our free press while disagreeing with specific stories.  The use of the “enemy of the people” language is perfectly chilling given its use in authoritarian nations like China to crackdown on free speech and the free press. Most presidents would view this poll as a terrible legacy in convincing one-third of Americans that the free press is actually the enemy of the people.

The percentage of people buying into this view is higher outside of major cities.  Forty-six percent of rural Americans said they believed the news media to be the “enemy of the people.”  Moreover, 51 percent of Republicans polled said they thought of the press as “the enemy of the people.”

On the good side, according to Gallup, trust in the news media is the highest it has been since 2009. Most importantly, there remains 67 percent of us who believe that the “news media is an important part of a democracy.”

262 thoughts on “One-Third of Americans Say Media Is “The Enemy of the People””

  1. DSS, when one is observing from the heights sometimes the fog gets in the way.

  2. We ALL (including you!) know what Trump means… 90% of the press hates conservative people, policy, and politicians and will lie and smear any conservative. Trump’s rhetoric is a response to 40 years of liberal firebombs with conservative fire.

    Let’s review the constant, vociferous liberal lies and attacks we hear from Dem leaders and about 90% of the media: Conservatives are racist, misogenist, homophobics who want to inslave Americans; US Border Patrol is running Nazi concentration camps; Border Agents are evil, child abusers; Republicans want to kill people with health issues by pushing them off of the ledge; Trump is like HItler and Stalin and is a slave of Russian leaders; Gen. Flynn, Carter Page and anyone who works for this administration is a traitor to the US; ; pro-lifers are ignoramuses who hate women and do nothing to care for children; Kavanaugh was a rapist; mass shooters are only conservatives; licensed gun owners are crazy killers who can’t be trusted.

    The Left and much of the Press has spent 40 years maligning conservatives. Trump’s just calling it like it is. You’d be a fool to not understand.

    1. SBG: Take a Xanax and a deep breath. Trump is not a conservative. Conservatives believe in limiting, not increasing national debt by an historic amount. Conservatives do not condone consorting with porn stars, lying, misogyny or racism. They respect women, the Constitution and rule of law, unlike the scofflaws occupying the White House. You err when you conflate Trump with conservatives, but that is all part of the Faux News indoctrination, just like calling Trump opponents, which include most Americans, “Dems”, libs” or the “left”.

      The US Border Patrol is running concentration camps, which are defined as a place for incarcerating people against their will because they are of a certain group or ethnicity but have not been convicted of any criminal offense. In addition to concentration camps, Nazis had death and work camps, which are different in that those brought there were either slated for immediate extermination or work. The concentration camps run by USBP hold people under worse conditions than Guantanamo Bay, where actual convicted terrorists are incarcerated. That is an outrage and disgrace. Conservatives don’t believe in abusing people, especially small children. It’s a wonder that the U.N. hasn’t come after us for human rights violations. Oh, and when Faux News tells you that it is the fault of the “Democrats” that conditions are bad because they won’t approve additional funding, they aren’t telling you that the reason is that they are holding out for accountability and the right to inspect the facilities to verify how our taxpayer money is being used. More of Trump refusing to accountable. Democrats aren’t going to give him a blank check with no accountability. Demanding accountability for how taxpayer money is spent is actually a conservative thing.

      As to Trump’s involvements with Russians and Kushner’s indebtedness to Saudi Arabians, Democrats are trying to get to the bottom of all of this. Why do you think Trump is hiding his tax returns? Why do you think intelligence professionals with decades of experience recommended that neither the little bleached princess or her husband be given security clearances, only to be overruled by Trump? Doesn’t that worry you? Conservatives trust intelligence professionals because they are non-partisan and know what constitutes a threat.

      Pro-lifers don’t understand the basics of the dispute or the reasoning behind Roe v. Wade–they believe the propaganda that they are saving unborn babies, but really it’s about using religion to get people to the polls so the Republicans can pursue their real agenda, which is rolling back consumer and environmental protections and tax cuts for corporations, investors and the ultra-wealthy. The issue in Roe was whether government has the right to play a role in a woman’s decision whether to have an abortion, or whether the Constitution protects her right to privacy. It is a fact that if the government has the right to say that a woman cannot have an abortion, then the corollary is also true– that government could also compel a woman to have an abortion. The issue is whether and to what extent the government has any role in abortion decision-making or whether there is a constitutionally-protected right to privacy in making such decisions. Roe says that up until the point of fetal viability, the government does not have a voice in the matter. It’s that simple. Limiting governmental involvement in private matters is a conservative thing, too.

      You are fully indoctrinated into the Faux News discipleship. You cannot even perceive the facts, much less the truth. There are many others like you, and it’s scary.

      1. Natasha – as I said, just like your rhetoric, there’s a lot of fanatical, left-wing smear out there. Good job proving my point. Where do you make home?

  3. The mainstream media is actively trying to affect voting in selective, or sometimes fraudulent reporting. When it edits out Trump saying that racists “should be condemned totally” and claims he called racists fine people. When it does not report on any positive outcome of his policies. When almost every pundit refers to conservatives in a derogatory fashion. The list just goes on and on.

    The mainstream media does not report the news. It has become propaganda. Op ed is fine, but the reporting of the news itself has become twisted in order to control the information given to voters. That’s what one would expect from a totalitarian state.

    Leave the personal bias behind outside of the Editorial studio.

    It is not the existence of journalism that is the threat, but the outright fraud and errors that have become commonplace.

    That said, free speech guarantees that we can say whatever we like. We can broadcast a news segment that is completely, deliberately, wrong. The best remedy for bad speech is good speech. The proliferation of grassroots journalism would be the remedy, except that Leftists control Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, GOOGLE, etc.

    The algorithm of GOOGLE is used in just about everything. GOOGLE is on record that it plans to guide, or “meddle” in the next election. Why is it a question that this would be a threat to democracy?

    It is time to get legislation up to speed. There needs to be a differentiation between private clubs and the public square. If your platform is a public square, then you cannot censor. If the media wants to descend into op ed pretending to be news, that is its right. But laws should protect the opposition voices out there with the news that these major news sites repress.

    1. Karen is wrong again and keeps repeating the nonsense about Trump and the “fine people” at the neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville.

      Numerous studies showed that negative press coverage of Trump and Clinton were largely equal in 2016, so Karen is hallucinating along with Allan. or just purposefully lying as she has been proven to do in the past.

      1. Anon is purposely lying here. Read Trump’s actual quote at Charlottesville, if you dare.
        Karen is absolutely correct on all points. Anon prefers to stick its fingers in its ears and chant “la la la I can’t hear you…”

        1. FTS

          Be fair to Anon, he only reads the liberal press, so that is all he knows.

          You cannot blame an ostrich for thinking that the world is a dark hole.

      2. Anon, you don’t bother providing the exact quotes and the pertinent things that accompany a quote. Why? Because you are a liar and an arrogant one at that. When not lying you deal in generalities that are meaningless. I think you are the award winner of the worst poster on this blog along with its biggest liar.

        Congratulations, you have finally succeeded at winning something,

      1. Karen, no one outside the rightwing media bubble considers James O’Keefe a real journalist. O’Keefe has never produced news stories that weren’t focused on discrediting liberals. What’s more, O’Keefe’s organization is actually funded by the Koch Bros. In short O’Keefe is the ultimate dirty trickster stooge.

        1. What you mean to say is that no one outside of your oversized egocentric group believes James O’Keefe to be a journalist as he continues to bring forth atrocities that you cowards will not touch! And how much money do you think the Enemy of the People Medial take from Soros groups? I am betting you do not even have a clue.

          1. rgonzo, why don’t you post an article by James O’Keefe that has nothing to do with discrediting liberals. See if you can find a straight news story from him. I don’t think you will. He’s not a real journalist.

            1. Only after you post one story from each of the Dem State Run Media sources not discrediting Trump or Conservatives. When you do then maybe I will respond to you again.

              1. rgonzo, can’t find one, right? I didn’t think you could. O’Keefe has never covered straight news.

                1. Peter, what is straight news? His expose on the DC Democrats trying to sabotage the inaugeration was news except he didn’t wait till after it happened. He caught it during the planning state. That is fantastic and you can’t admit it.

            2. Peter, O’Keefe has been exposing people since he was in college. Of course with so much criminal activity on the left it is much easier to film leftist criminals.

              But does he only post for conservatives? No. I think he first started changing public opinion while at Rutgers getting Lucky Charms banned from the cafeteria at least for awhile. That was to show how ridiculous the administration was in yeilding to PC pressure.

              His expose on the teachers union wasn’t political. He showed in multiple videos that the union officials filmed would lie and cheat to protect teachers even when those teachers were guilty of rape. Maybe you think that is going after the left because maybe you think teachers raping public school students is a good thing to do.

              His expose use by the FBI got people in trouble because they planned activities that were terroristic in nature. One can hear the actual plans being made on tape.

              Maybe his expose on ACORN is right wing because he stopped ACORN from being funded because ACORN was doing illegal things.

              Of course to you his expose on the border had to be right wing because he showed how easy it was for illegal aliens and terrorists to cross the border when he dressed up as Osama bin Laden. Then again maybe it is right wing because the left supports illegal aliens along with terrorists crossing our borders.

              Maybe it was the pictures of physicians talking about illegalities at Planned Parenthood that set you off or the video of how the body parts were being sold.

              Peter, you don’t like O’Keefe because he exposes you for what you are. Take any of the subjects above and explain why such videos shouldn’t have been made and shown to the world. Don’t use the excuse of selective videos and selective editing as the entirety of many of the tapes was offered to opposing journalists and most of the exposes have multiple tapings occuring with different people, in different cities etc. You just don’t want to know what you don’t want to hear.

              1. Good post Allan. In homage to Willie Sutton, O’Keefe reports news that discredits liberals because that’s where he finds worthy subjects to expose.

                1. Olly, Alan forgets to note that James O’Keefe was once arrested for impersonating a Telephone Technician at a Congresswoman’s office. For that reason alone O’Keefe is toxic to real journalists.

                  1. James O’Keefe was once arrested for impersonating a Telephone Technician at a Congresswoman’s office.

                    Too bad they don’t arrest reporters for the fake news outlets for impersonating journalists.

        2. Peter, you disclose pure ignorance. What is a journalist? Here is an answer to the NYTimes that James provided. He is the real journalist and exposes people in video and I understand why they don’t like being exposed. In the video O’Keefe talks about other journalists and what real journalists are. I don’t think Peter will listen to the video because he is only defensive and not objective. He is only looking for journalists that agree with his point of view whether they are truthful or not.

          https://www.projectveritas.com/video/okeefe-responds-to-not-a-journalist-claim-from-nyts-dean-baquet/

        3. O’Keefe has never produced news stories that weren’t focused on discrediting liberals.

          Apply the Sutton Rule and you’ll understand O’Keefe’s news stories. They write themselves, usually in video and usually in the subjects own words.

          1. Olly, find one news story by O’Keefe that has nothing to do with discrediting liberals. Just one straight forward news story. Just for the exercise, see if you can find one.

            1. While you’re at it, Olly, find one HHHNN story that doesn’t try to discredit conservatives or Republicans.😏🤓

            2. find one news story by O’Keefe that has nothing to do with discrediting liberals.

              If the material he reports discredits liberals, then look no further than the liberals in his reports. They are routinely on video and audio discrediting themselves.

        4. Hill – new journalists can choose the area they want to expose. They always do and indeed tend to make their name doing so. James O’Keefe has chosen to expose a variety of organizations a la 60 Minutes, etc. He’s a journalist in all aspects. You’re just afraid to hear something you don’t agree with.

          1. sbg, real journalists cover straight news too. They don’t just specialize in dirty trickster efforts.

            1. They don’t just specialize in dirty trickster efforts.

              There’s a reason you haven’t referred to his reporting as fake news. Do you have an equal disdain for those brave men and women in law enforcement that go undercover to expose criminal enterprises?

              1. Olly, James O’Keefe is not a cop. So ‘why’ the comparison?? And just so you know, I worked with cops for many years. I’m not hostile to law enforcement. But I’m hostile to commenters who compare James O’Keefe to law enforcement.

                1. One need not be a cop to find criminality and expose it. O’Keefe has found a lot and unfortunately for your position the criminality was moslty by Democrats.

                2. But I’m hostile to commenters who compare James O’Keefe to law enforcement.

                  Bring it.

                  James O’Keefe is not a cop. So ‘why’ the comparison??

                  Because investigative journalists and law enforcement both go undercover to get evidence of corruption and criminal activity. If you find the results of this investigative technique inconvenient to your worldview, then you’re on the wrong side of the pursuit of justice.

            2. Shill, Some journalists only cover a specific type of news using specific techniques. Consider O’Keefe a specialist in his craft. All of his videos have been real exposes of real people acting in embarassing fashions. Did you listen to O’Keefe’s video about journalism mixed in with his reply to the NYTimes? Tell us what was wrong or in error.

  4. Fake news! Turley intentionally omits the word “fake” as in “fake” news id the enemy of the people. Turley just trying to churn the Shiite to get more clicks.

  5. Past presidents have attacked the media but never in these terms. They have maintained presidential in reminding the public of the importance of our free press while disagreeing with specific stories.

    And how has that served the interests of the American people? The media outlets President Trump has consistently labeled as Fake News didn’t suddenly become enemies of the people with the election of Donald Trump. The DC swamp was not created by the election of Donald Trump. The Deep State conspirators existed long before the 2016 election. The Left’s stranglehold on the K-College campuses has taken multiple generations to accomplish. The massive administrative state has been over 100 years in the making. All of this has taken place while the citizen-class were lulled to sleep by presidents being presidential, congress defying their oath of office and the media failing their duty to the people.

    President Trump is being presidential by waking the American people up to these enemies of the state.

    1. Olly, come on! Trump is “waking up the people” to whoever he knows will challenge his BS. You don’t seriously think he GAF for anyone but himself, right? How did you come to worship a lying sack of s…?

      1. How did you come to worship a lying sack of s…?

        Translation: Why won’t you join our anti-America movement?

        There, fixed it for you.

  6. Interesting about Think Progress that played a part in “fake news”.
    —
    ThinkProgress, Now 50% Off

    In the Obama era, ThinkProgress was the brains behind the machine. Then the machine got stiff and creaky. CAP never survived allegations of Clinton partisanship. It’s gone from a trending lefty group to an outmoded beast still clinging to failed efforts like ThinkProgress.

    Well the clinging is over.

    ThinkProgress, once one of the more visible online banners of lefty agitprop, is up for sale. This is like Lenin’s mummy being auctioned off.

    ThinkProgress, the flagship news site of the Democratic think tank Center for American Progress, is up for sale.

    Staff were informed on Monday afternoon that the site would be sold off and a CAP official told The Daily Beast that the organization would begin looking for prospective buyers for the website, which has come under severe financial strains during the Trump era.

    “Unfortunately, like so many other news outlets that have relied on advertising to fund its work, ThinkProgress has seen a significant drop in revenue in recent years, along with other financial strains. In addition, events over the last few years have underscored the divergent missions of American Progress and ThinkProgress,” said Navin Nayak, executive director of the Center for American Progress Action Fund.

    According to internal documents previously reviewed by The Daily Beast, the site was facing a $3 million gulf between revenues and expenses in 2019, with $350,000 of it made up by a shortfall in ad revenue and nearly $180,000 of it coming from a drop in expected online contributions.

    The obvious question is who would want to buy a failing digital media site?

    Lefty digital media is crashing and consolidating on all sides. When HuffPo, Vice and what’s left of the Gawker slime empire are in big trouble, where’s the demand for a retro product like ThinkProgress, which is just bleeding money with no end in sight?

    Paging, George Soros.

    __Greenfield

  7. Since the media doesn’t generally focus on the kidnapping of children to keep the Democrats illegal voting scandal going I thought I would provide some news from the San Diego Tribune. The MSM is certainly the enemy of those enticed to arrive illegally at our southern border.
    —-
    Tijuana Authorities Investigating Migrant Groups Trying to Buy Children to Cross into the United States

    “Some migrants in Tijuana are trying to purchase children from vulnerable single mothers in local shelters so they can more easily cross into the United States, according to shelter directors, migrants and Tijuana law enforcement authorities,” Wendy Fry reports for The San Diego Union-Tribune.

    “U.S. border authorities have been warning since June 2018 about people fraudulently using children who aren’t theirs to pose as family units and gain entry into the United States a claim that critics said was overblown. But now, authorities in Tijuana are warning migrant mothers to keep their children close by and supervised, after reports of men offering to purchase migrant children in order to cross.”

    “I can’t go to work because I can’t take my eyes off my boys,” a migrant from Honduras says. “They want to rob our kids so they can cross into the United States.”

    https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/border-baja-california/story/2019-06-27/tijuana-authorities-investigating-mgroups-trying-to-buy-children-to-cross-into-the-united-states

  8. Why Can’t All Networks Be As Adoring As Fox?

    DAILY SHOW COMPARES NORTH KOREAN MEDIA COVERAGE..

    TO FOX NEWS’ AND FINDS ODDLY SIMILAR, WORSHIPFUL PRAISE

    1. Funny ,,,,,, but ……not funny. What kind of idiots suck this crap up?

      1. Faux News disciples suck this crap up. Just like the N. Korean propaganda woman, they need affirmation about the supreme wonderfulness and awesomeness of their revered leader.

    2. Peter, we know you have a certain liking for the news from Iran which has more of a similarity to your feelings. “Death to America”.

    3. Lou Dobbs. I have really enjoyed him for decades. I catch him on youtube sometimes now since I never watch tv. Awesome hails to the Great Leader Donald J Trump!

    1. What a toad. I hope you enjoy future 4th celebrations featuring President AOC and her Democratic donors at the front.

      2. Of course here is the one in every crowd who exhibits their intelligence through slander and futile fantasies.

        1. Yeah, you’re right rgonzo. There will never be another Democratic president who you will despise and wish all the precedent bar lowering your applauding now had not happened. Just ’cause they’ve won the popular vote in 6 of the last 7 elections doesn’t mean you won’t keep pulling a royal flush in the Electoral College.

          1. Sorry but I have yet healed from the 8 years of what you speak already and 2009 to 2016 was an awake nightmare. And complain about the Constitution (electoral college) all you want, it is the only reason you, me, and others in here get to blab on about our perceived or real injustices. Thinking that the electoral college should be gone so that 2 or 3 states can rule the country has serious implications for the future of this country and those seeking out a way to eliminate it have not really given that serious thought but that is what TDS does to people.

            1. OK rgonzo, I got it. You don’t have any personal standards left after defending every low life dip s… self serving action your leader takes, including turning the annual 4th Celebration on the Mall into a publicly paid for partisan rally with VIP seats for party bosses.

              1. Your spewing Dem talking points and absurdity does nothing but convince me you are in need of a mental health exam. Please do not hurt yourself or worse yet others while you are in your black hole of TDS. I am done with you and only wish Turley had a mute button I could use to assist me.
                Bye

  10. Back in the seventies I was passionately dedicated to pursuing a career in journalism once I completed school. I studied journalism in jr. high and high schools and worked on both schools newspapers, earning editors, positions on both. Back then it was drummed into our heads that responsible journalists searched for facts, VERIFIED facts, NAMED sources (if the source refused to be named, it was deemed unreliable or not credible) and the story was presented in a FULL and FACTUAL manner, free of opinion (Opinions were reserved for the Editorial section) and it was left up to the reader to form their own opinion. Any other type of reporting was referred to as “sensationalism” or “yellow journalism”, the type of early journalism early paper used to sell more copies.
    Jump ahead to current times. Apparently, responsible journalism has been shoved to the back seat and sensationalism has once again become the norm. With the popular media ignoring the codes of truth and full disclosure as well as reliable information sources, opting instead for outright lies, select disclosure and countless “unnamed sources”, an information source which was once fairly reliable has become sadly nothing more than a platform for partisan and/or social propagation. Granted, the news platform has always been dominated by a more liberal influence but, in days gone by, it was usually grudgingly supressed. Today there isn’t even an attempt to even slightly mask it.
    Yes, “the news media is an important part of democracy” and as such it is protected by the first amendment. However, when the institution is used irresponsibly to attack anybody, much less a sitting President of the Untied States, using misinformation, deliberate lies, editorializing during news reporting, utilizing countless “unnamed” sources and, when that fails, to attack the very base that supports the President with accusations and name calling…well, “reliability” becomes a bitter pill to swallow.
    Has the media become “the enemy of the people”? I don’t know about you, but my friends don’t lie to me…or stab me in the back,

    2. Bill W, the press shows remarkable restraint in treating Trump like a serious person and the president instead of the lying sack of s.. he is. Dude, he makes up whatever makes him look good, all day long, everyday, and cares not a wit for what is true or not. Do you not have any self respect left that you suck up that swill as leadership?

      1. If I hadn’t read JanF./ anon1/anon’s comment, I would not have known about the media’s favorable coverage🙄 of Trump.

        1. The orientation materials used at Correct-the-Record don’t incorporate instruction in subtlety.

          1. Thanks absurd.

            There is nothing subtle about our President being a total complete unabashed lying sack of s… and everyone knowing it.

            You know that, right?

            1. And there most certainly nothing subtle about your Trump Derangement Syndrome and it driving you be rude and a bully. Keep on with it as there are few in here who listen to what crap a hater spews they are here to discuss reasonably the issues brought forth by Turley.

              1. rgonzo, you want to hear some crap being spewed, listen to your leader. You aren’t going to say you haven’t noticed he lies all day every day, right? You’re not blind or a cult follower, right?

        2. Tom apparently didn’t know that Trump continues to get unearned respect at press conferences and headlines as our president. Tom surely knows Trump is a lying sack of s… who will say anything , anytime, to make himself look good and cares not a lick if it any of it is true. Everyone, and especially reporters know that but they continue to pretend otherwise.

          If Tom doesn’t know that he’s blind or a cult follower.

          1. JanF/ anon1/Anon doesn’t have a clue what “Tom knows”. That can be added to a long list of cluelessness in JanF./ anon1/Anon’s inventory, who is evidently even clueless about who he/ she is at times while posting under different aliases.

              1. Another Trump cultist who won’t stand up for the veracity of his leader. Changing the subject to other posters is this pair’s favorite distraction when they’ve got nothing, which is most of the time.

            2. OK, looks like blind. No comment we notice on how much respect Trump has earned by being a lying sack of s.., every day, all day.

  11. The media are the enemy of the people. So is much of academe. So is much of the school apparat. So is much of the social services apparat. So is much of the legal profession. So are certain business sectors. So is the Democratic Party as an institution. There is no danger from understanding the truth. The question is what we do having recognized that truth.

  12. There are three areas where Freedom of Press must not be abridged. Press reports about Politics, Religion, and Ethics. Electronic media on the same issues must not be censored.

    Asking whether or not some of the media is doing harm through Fake News might be more helpful than asking whether media is the enemy of the people.

    1. ‘Helpful?’ I’m sure thinking like a passive-aggressive elementary schoolteacher will do us all a world of good.

  13. A unanimously biased press is always the enemy of the people. Pravda was the enemy of the people in the Soviet Union. The insidious nature of press bias is – like a tailwind while riding a bicycle – you don’t notice that bias if it is in the same diresction as your own bias.. You only notice a headwind fighting against you. That is why leftists notice Fox News – it says things against what they are used to hearing. That is why people on the right notice all the other news source’s bias – it is blowing in their faces.

    In news – diversity truly is strength – while uniformity is weakness. Let me explain that with another analogy: imagine that the country is like a giant antenna held in place by guy wires. The guy wires represent the press trying to pull the country in a preferred direction. If all of the guy wires are on one side only, the antenna is going to fall over; the country will collapse in a pile of rubble.

    1. “A unanimously biased press is always the enemy of the people. Pravda was the enemy of the people in the Soviet Union. ”

      I agree with your sentiments. However, The US press is more insidious than Pravda because the Russian people knew that Pravda was an agent of the communist party.

  14. During the late 60’s when I was living in the ‘Bay Area’, I used to read the NYT, Newsweek, Time, USNews and World Report, etc. That was until I read in the NYT that it was their obligation to tell Americans HOW TO VOTE. And from that rather young age, I have never bought another copy of the NYT. Yup, a BOYCOTT. And that has been a very long time! Next for me is NIKe. They can kiss my gritts.

    1. Bob, I read the NYTs. They don’t tell me or anyone how to vote except – like almost any newspaper – on their editorial page. They do provide the best news coverage of major national and international events. I hope you read another good paper, like the LATimes, WSJ – not their editorial page – or WaPo. The Economist is a good international news magazine.

      1. Anon:

        “They don’t tell me or anyone how to vote except – like almost any newspaper – on their editorial page.”
        ****************************

        ̶m̶e̶s̶p̶o̶, [anon] the fact that you don’t get what a lying sack of s… ̶y̶o̶u̶r̶ ̶l̶e̶a̶d̶e̶r̶ [the Press] is, is both funny and pathetic.”

        You’re manipulated not only by how they cover but what they don’t cover on the news pages. You can’t be that naive!

        1. mespo, anytime you want to match the NYTs or any major US newspaper vs Trump for accuracy ….. never mind.

          This is like Scientology.

        2. Anon is worse than naive.

          Arrogance tends to corrupt the mind and absolute arrogance corrupts absolutely.

          Hat tip to Lord Acton who never had the opportunity to meet the arrogance displayed by Anon.

      2. You whoreship the NYT! You are at least a paperboy, I hope! You should get commissions.

    2. Bob M.,
      I think you were cleared to read the editor page if the New York Times, but not the editorial pages of other publications, in the comment below.
      A.- Did I interpret the list and restrictions of approved reading correctly, and
      B.- will you act on that advice🤔?

  15. “Trump is justifiably criticized on many fronts. However, some networks have become openly partisan. Watching CNN cover breaking news is like watching open advocacy from the anchor chair — immediately contesting statements and leading guests to the most critical possible take on developments.

    None of that however excuses Trump’s reckless attacks on the free press, the very cornerstone of our democratic system of government.”
    ************************

    Sure it excuses it. If Trump does or says nothing, a vast part of the electorate with conclude silence means consent and penalize him for it. This “don’t hit back” mantra is the cry of the haggard nanny who is not interested in right or wrong merely peace at any price. By the way, the cornerstone of our democratic system of government isn’t a free press. The cornerstone is the right of an informed people to govern themselves. As usual, Jefferson said it best: ” Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government.” (Thomas Jefferson to Richard Price, Jan. 8. 1789.).

    When a favored institution critical to that informing engages in propaganda to promote and aggrandize itself while discrediting an elected leader, it undermines this cornerstone and ought to be called to task. Trump has shut no one down (as Lincoln did), or surveilled journalists (as Obama did). Trump merely calls it as he sees it. That’s how you hold the press accountable. It’s also how the public responds when lied to constantly and for the ruthless goal of political power.

    1. mespo, the fact that you don’t get what a lying sack of s… your leader is, is both funny and pathetic. He makes s.. up everyday and all day and cares only to be in the spotlight, not what the truth is. He doesn’t know what the truth is and is not interested in finding out. If the press treated him objectively, instead of with the respect all presidents get, they’d preface almost every headline with “Trump lies about X, says Y”. Reporters would say. “That’s BS Mr president and you know it.”

      1. Anon:
        The Press doesn’t get to tell us what to think or cajole us for our opinions. They work for us and that’s why they get “favored nation status” from everything from criminal prosecution to libel laws. When they quit working for us and decide to work for themselves, the deal is off and they get rightly pummeled. You either want to objectively inform or subjectively advocate. When you choose the latter path, you enter the political arena and all bets (and protections) are off. The Press doesn’t glide about on angel wings; they are human labor and, as such, only valuable so long as they do the appointed task.

  16. Example Of Why Trump Gets Bad Press:

    FBI WAS SLATED TO MOVE IT HEADQUARTERS

    BUT TRUMP SABOTAGED MOVE FOR REASONS OF CONFLICT

    The Justice Department’s inspector general will investigate the FBI’s role in dropping plans a decade in the making to move its headquarters to the Washington suburbs, he told Congress in a letter Tuesday.

    The inspector general, Michael E. Horowitz, told House committee leaders that he is initiating a review of actions at the DOJ and FBI that led to the canceling of the plans in favor of building a smaller replacement for the J. Edgar Hoover Building downtown and dispersing other FBI staff elsewhere.

    The review could produce new revelations about the Trump administration’s stunning reversal of bipartisan plans for the development of a new, highly secure campus that would have gotten the bureau out of the fast-deteriorating Hoover building.

    Democratic leaders of two committees, Elijah E. Cummings (Md.) and Gerald E. Connolly (Va.) of the Oversight Committee and Peter A. DeFazio (Ore.) and Dina Titus (Nev.) of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, have pressed Horowitz to investigate. They redoubled their efforts after the head of the General Services Administration was found by her agency’s inspector general to have misled Congress about the White House’s involvement in the decision-making.

    Democrats allege that Trump used the decision to put his own financial interests ahead of the needs of the FBI and taxpayers, which administration officials deny. The GSA is the landlord to Trump’s D.C. hotel, located just down the street from the Hoover building, and redeveloping the Hoover site could introduce a new hotel competitor. Trump also told The Washington Post before running for office that he was considering bidding for the FBI project as well.

    “For months, our Committees have investigated the Administration’s sudden change of heart on a federal property across the street from the President’s namesake hotel, but because the FBI has withheld key decision-making documents from Congress, we have been left with many unanswered questions,” the House committee leaders said in a statement.

    In April testimony to Congress, FBI Director Christopher A. Wray defended the decision to keep the headquarters in downtown Washington and reaffirmed it as his preference. “It is absolutely the FBI’s view, the FBI’s choice, the FBI’s preference to build a new building . . . at our current location,” he said.

    For a decade before Trump’s election, the FBI had been working with the GSA and Congress on the suburban headquarters plan. Citing security concerns with staying downtown and lack of large development sites nearby, the FBI and GSA pursued large plots of land near the Capital Beltway and suburban Metro stations, ultimately narrowing its search to sites in Greenbelt and Landover in Maryland and Springfield, Va.

    But six months into the Trump administration, the FBI and GSA ditched those plans and announced they preferred to keep a smaller downtown headquarters and move 2,300 headquarters staff members out of the Washington area altogether — to Alabama, Idaho and West Virginia.

    GSA chief Emily Murphy testified that Wray — not Trump or a White House official — asked that the FBI remain downtown if possible, downplaying any White House role in the decision-making.

    The FBI backed her assertion, but the inspector general found that Murphy misled Congress about the White House’s involvement, including an Oval Office meeting with Trump about the project that she omitted. Murphy denied misleading Congress, maintaining that the decision about where to put the FBI was made before that meeting.

    The GSA maintains that the government could see cost savings under the new plan, but federal real estate experts have said the government’s expectations of cost savings weren’t likely to come true based on unrealistic expectations on the administration’s part about how little its plan will cost. The GSA inspector general found that the Trump administration plan could cost hundreds of millions of dollars more and accommodate 2,300 fewer employees.

    Edited from: “Justice Department Watchdog To Investigate Decision To Cancel FBI Headquarters Plan”

    Today’s Washington Post

    1. Regarding Above:

      For almost a decade, the FBI had been planning to move it’s headquarters to large, new complex in suburban Washington. In that plan, the FBI would have sold the site of its current headquarters to private development. But Trump’s Washington hotel is directly across the street from that site. And there is speculation that Trump feared a new hotel would be built on that site which would have competed with ‘his’ hotel.

      Therefore it appears that not long into his presidency, Trump pressured the FBI to scrap the long-in-the-making plan for its new suburban headquarters. Instead the FBI now has tentative plans to rebuild on its current site. But that plan could become far more expensive than than the suburban move.

      Now Inspector General Michael Horowitz is going to open an investigation to determine if the FBI scrapped it’s move because of political interference by Trump. Which goes to show that Trump’s business conflicts could be costly to taxpayers. This is an example of the type of news story that makes Trump howl that the media is ‘biased’ against him.

      1. Peter likes to mix fiction with fact. Under the present circumstances with the corruption seen in the leadership of the FBI now is not a good time for it to move.

        “Officials from the General Services Administration (GSA), which oversees federal real estate, said a lack of stable leadership at both agencies could have deterred funding of the search, the paper said.”

  17. An example rich environment provided by the media gives readers and viewers all the information they need to come to this conclusion without any outside help from POTUS or anyone else. It is a self inflicted wound that may be fatal to their business plan of being used to sway opinion rather than report the news fairly and factually.
    What they don’t get is that we can actually make up our own mind once we have the truth. You just have to look at the ratings of MSNBC & CNN who, for nearly 3 years and counting, have tried to stick their collective thumbs in the eye of an elected President. How do you think this would be if the the shoe was on the other foot?
    If I were a stock holder in CNN, I would lead a revolt of shareholders against the current management for intentionally causing great harm to shareholder value. That harm violates the law requiring a CEO to act in the highest & best way (fiduciary), of a publicly traded company. Clearly CNN & MSNBC have NOT!

  18. I do not understand where you have been other then to excuse your ignorance to those of us who have believed in the media in no way being our friend to living in the bubble of the swamp. I am 68 years of age and have since I was in my 30’s had significant enough concerns with the usurping of the narrative by the media and their marching to and now fully supporting Liberal ideologies that do not represent the moderates of this country. I have sat on several citizens advisory groups with two different media sources and while trying to bring moderation to their message was used as a tool to give them a defense against community complaints. This is not a Trump result and those supporting his narrative on this did not just start feeling this since his arrival on the scene. From Reagan, to Trump and all Conservatives and Conservative values in between, We The People have been lead to accept Liberal ideologies by the media and are more willing with the election of this President to say so. Trump has just opened more peoples eyes to the dishonest ways of the Mainstream media and worse yet to their out right lying. It is the media who is doing nothing to help us feel that they are moderates friends and if not our friend what does that make them?

  19. I’m with Trump on his take on polls. Especially, if its about Trump: add 10%! 40% is about right and about right. And if you accept this syllogism, you’d be on to something:

    Major: All propagandists are enemies of the people in a democracy;
    Minor: A lot in the press in the democracy are propagandists;
    Conclusion: Therefore, a lot of the press in the democracy are ….

    Well, you get it. So does the American public.

  20. The media is not the enemy of the people. Some people and some groups have misused the media and that misuse is an enemy to civil democratic societies.

    I think Turley might be misinterpreting Trump. Trump has exercised his free speech calling some news as “fake news”. I think that characterization is correct. He has never prevented the newsmedia from functioning and has actually been quite transparent to all types of news, more transparent than his predecessor.

    1. The moderator’s stated position is craven and contrived.

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