Commander in Chief victim of media attacks

For the first time in eight years, the oval office is once again occupied by a Republican, and the mainstream media surely seems to have rediscovered their role of aggressive analysis and harsh scrutiny. We are already seeing some extremely stark contrasts from the playful banter that occurred between former President Obama and the press. Obama was welcomed with questions such as “during these first 100 days, what has…enchanted you the most from serving in this office?” Trump is facing questions that are not only inconsequential, but vitriolic in nature. Today, there are certainly different standards for the new Republican administration.

CNN and the New York Times are no longer simply lobbing softballs and assuming the best about the administration. Saturday Night Live is no longer making light-hearted jokes about a president they have a great relationship with. The cast and writers have been attacking viciously. Even President Trump’s 10-year-old son, Barron, is not off limits. The jokes no longer require comedy as long as they continue to push a narrative under the guise of a sketch comedy show. If these media outlets continue at such a rate, they may begin to do more harm to themselves than their adversary in the White House.

Though former President Bush was constantly ambushed by many of the same sources, the situation was quite different for one main reason: President Trump fights back. Whether it was out of apathy, fear, respect, or simply incompetence, Bush was not quick to argue with his critics. We saw how that affected the public’s opinion as well as his approval ratings. For all of his faults, I cannot help but think that if he were portrayed more positively by the media, he would be remembered in slightly better light.

This term will be different. President Trump, a very prideful man, loves to prove his critics wrong and has not hesitated to point out their flaws as journalists. Their reaction has been to openly bare the glaring bias they have been attempting to conceal for decades in some of the most desperate and inflammatory reporting that we have ever seen against a president.

In the aftermath of the commander in chief ’s inaugural address, mainstream news media unloaded a firestorm of defamation in order to demean a speech that seemed to convey a message of unity while remaining true to the consistent promises of President Trump’s campaign.

Among other unparalleled criticisms, MSNBC’s Chris Matthews described Trump’s “America First” message as “Hitlerian.” Matthews has viewers that trust that his reporting is reasonable, even while he compares our democratically-elected president to the perpetrator of the most brutal genocide in recent history. Is there no line that cannot be crossed?

This subpar journalism was epitomized in Time’s article on the removal of the Martin Luther King Jr. bust from the Oval Office, written by Zeke Miller. The story was immediately proven false. Regardless of whether Times and Miller knowingly published a fake story or simply were not thorough in their investigation, this is unacceptable. This story only fueled the fire and encouraged the notion of our President being a closeted racist.

To make such a claim without sufficient proof is the antithesis of responsible reporting. One cannot help but think this action was the result of a preconceived bias. Where is the accountability?

The Times article is extremely alarming and reckless. How could such farfetched claims not serve to fuel the divide in our country? Reporters creating opinion-based facts are misleading the uninformed and putting unwarranted fear into the minds of their audience. These are issues that carry far more implications than a debate over the inauguration crowd size.

Many people have confidence in these news organizations to report honestly and fairly. The incessant smearing of our commander in chief is validating and augmenting a movement of people that refuse to concede a positive thought about him. It is almost as if the media would prefer the public to imagine eerie music and storm clouds every time he speaks. It is truly a manipulation of the masses in its most blatant form.

This is not to say journalists should not be expected to ask hard-hitting questions that are relevant to the status of our country. That, however, is not what we are seeing; we are seeing partisan hacks pushing their agenda with inconsequential “gotcha” questions.

Of course, there are also media outlets that fall into more conservative biases in their reporting. Many of the talking heads on the much smaller, conservative side of media have lost viewers and credibility over the last eight years due to such reporting. Fox is the only major conservative media source to weather the storm. As a result, they have maintained their position as the most-watched cable news channel for 14 years. More recently, new sources such as Breitbart and Right-Side Broadcasting are gaining momentum. This could serve as a real threat to those outlets that believe they can report however they like, without being held accountable.

Ultimately, the Trump administration and the people of the United States will hold the media accountable, and if they prove they cannot maintain a respectable standard, we will soon see their baseless reporting slip into a state of complete obsoleteness, joining the ranks of Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck