Donald Trump has successfully convinced many people that contesting anything he says is tantamount to bias or partisanship. And this is why he attacks the mainstream media. But criticizing political figures is essential to our democratic republic. It’s as American as apple pie.
If the media say violent crime was down in the United States under the Biden administration (which it was), Trump denies that this is a fact; he claims this is a woke attack on him that goes against “what everyone knows” — that crime has never been worse. If the media say Trump lost the 2020 election and that his supporters attempted to stop the certification of President Joe Biden on Jan. 6, 2021, with a violent insurrection (which they did), he claims it’s “fake news” reflecting the inherent bias of the media. If the media report that Trump has been found guilty of a crime or crimes (which he has), this isn’t reporting on the facts; it is engaged in a partisan attack on him.
This is how Trump has worked to undermine the independent press. He contests facts to serve his interests and then attacks anyone who points this out. This has led Facebook (which owns Instagram and Threads) to announce that it will end fact-checking. Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg admits that this is being done “because the election is a tipping point.” In other words, he is buckling to pressure because he fears that Trump will target Facebook with reprisals. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos already tried to save The Washington Post from being attacked by refusing to accept his editorial board’s decision to endorse Kamala Harris in the 2024 election.
Freedom fades away when people give in to fear and act to protect themselves from retribution. If social media sites end fact-checking, social media will be dominated by politics, lies and videotape that drag us further and further into the abyss of the alternative reality that Trump has sought to create since he first came on the political scene. The Jan. 6 insurrection will no longer be a day of infamy — as it was rightly called in Bulwark recently. It will be a day of national celebration. Vaccine deniers will no longer be dangerous enemies of health and science; they will be heroes who are standing up for freedom.
This is why Trump considers the independent press to be a threat and why he calls it the “enemy of the people.” When I say the “independent press,” I say it advisedly. Clearly no one in the press is absolutely, completely unbiased. Who is? But there is a wide spectrum of what we all understand to be bias, and it is crucial that this be understood. Not all bias is created equal. Sure, even a glance at The New York Times will show us that it has its flaws. It often presents facts through its own filters. Yes, there clearly is bias there. The same is true for The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal.
This is why we have a responsibility as citizens to read news stories and all accompanying opinion pieces (including this one) critically. This is why we need to read multiple sources. But these newspapers and most other traditional newspapers in our country make a concerted effort to present the facts. They try. And they have systems in place, including source-checkers and fact-checkers, to make that effort. Do they always succeed? Of course not. But they are not in the business of working intentionally to deceive us.
Trump and his MAGA supporters have tried to convince us that there is no difference between the mild and mostly inescapable bias of the independent press and brazen propaganda.
Both Stalin and Hitler either owned the press or terrified it into doing their bidding. When the independent press is hijacked or silenced, citizens have no alternative but to accept whatever the government wants them to believe. If we want to have the opportunity to sort out truth from falsehood, fact from fiction and even reality from fantasy, we need the independent press, even with its all-too-human bias. We should call the press out when we believe it has fallen short of its responsibilities. It often does. But that is very different from claiming it is the enemy of the people.
Our newspapers — with all their flaws — are a national treasure. We need to be vigilant and actively demand that the independent press uphold the highest standards, that it strive to hold its biases in check. But with all of its flaws, our democratic republic stands or falls with the independent press. Our independence as a nation depends on its independence.
Solomon D. Stevens of North Charleston is a retired professor of constitutional law, American government and political theory. He is a regular contributor to The Post and Courier Opinion section. He can be reached at [email protected].
This post was originally published on here
