SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMSMuting Trump’s “Megaphone” Easier Said Than Done
How do you cover Donald Trump? He’s going to do a lot of speeches, and parts of his message will be provably false, reflect intolerance, and promote anti-democratic ideas. Political experts suggest ways media can blunt the former president’s skillful manipulation of coverage to disseminate falsehoods and spread messages which are often sharply divisive and periodically dangerous.
How do you cover Donald Trump?
He’s going to do a lot of speeches, and parts of his message will be provably false, reflect intolerance, and promote anti-democratic ideas. Reporters can’t simply ignore him because he is an important public figure but quoting him potentially makes them complicit in spreading falsehoods that are often sharply divisive and periodically dangerous.
Harvard media experts say that after two presidential campaigns — with a third starting — and four years in the White House, the nation’s media outlets still don’t seem to know how best to cover the former president, and the nation is poorer because of it.
“There’s still this set of norms for how journalists do things that has been taught since the founding of journalism schools, and they’re just not able to deal with a case like Trump,” said Matthew Baum, the Marvin Kalb Professor of Global Communications at the Harvard Kennedy School. “They’ve just fallen down.”
If anything, Trump has signaled that he’s doubling down on his unique combination of bravado, brazenness, and selective adherence to the truth that he rode to power in 2016. Through two presidential impeachments and now two post-presidential indictments, he seems to embody the old political saw: “I don’t care what you say, just spell my name right.”
Trump has cast congressional, civil, and criminal investigations as political “witch hunts” with no substance, a framing many of his supporters accept. Indeed, instead of being chagrined, he’s taken them as opportunities to raise funds and heighten his media profile.
The impact of his legal woes on Republican primary voters was illustrated by a June 14 Quinnipiac University poll showing that, after being indicted for mishandling classified documents, he remains the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, 30 points ahead of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is in second place.
A CNN town hall last month, moderated by Kaitlan Collins, illustrated the media’s problem. The crowd, made up largely of supporters, felt more like a campaign rally than an exercise in journalism. There was a standing ovation when the former president walked on stage, hearty applause when he repeated falsehoods, and mocking laughter when Trump characterized writer E. Jean Carroll as a “whack job.” The day before the town hall a jury had found Trump liable for sexually abusing and defaming Carroll and awarded her $5 million in damages.