The relationship between the media and the Trump White House was controversial. This aroused mistrust and led to a disturbing increase in physical and verbal threats against journalists. These threats were aided and encouraged by Trump’s constant encouragement to his supporters of “false news” and criticism of the press as “the enemy of the people”.
“I am not the only reporter who covered this White House, who received death threats,” said Jim Acosta, CNN’s main correspondent at the White House in “Trusted Sources” on Sunday. “We cannot be in a place in this country where political reporters, correspondents for the White House, need bodyguards to cover political campaign events.”
Like many other reporters, Acosta has had its fair share of disputes with the president over the years. A dispute at a press conference in 2018 resulted in Trump and his aides revoking the Acosta White House press pass, which was later reinstated after a court ruled in favor of CNN in a legal dispute. It was an unprecedented act by a president who, according to many, jeopardized First Amendment protections for journalists.
But the impact of Trump’s repeated attacks does not end there. It is also etched into the hearts and minds of several Americans, who now doubt new sources of trust or openly condemn verified media and reporters as propaganda machines against the president. Floods of misinformation and conspiracy theories make fewer Americans care what is proven to be true or false.
The result of Trump’s animosity towards the media over the years has been shocking. This undermined confidence in the press and, at the same time, sowed seeds of skepticism that took shape in the form of allegations of electoral fraud, votes on falsehoods and vaccination hesitation.
“It is just widespread and undemocratic hostility to the process that I just hope that we will never receive something like that again,” said Acosta. “It is very damaging and destructive to our democracy.”