President-elect Donald Trump fought the establishment media and won during his 2024 campaign. Now his return to the White House draws closer and already legacy journalists are fearful given his combative nature and refusal to be intimidated, a report Monday details.
In a closely watched case settled over the weekend, ABC settled a defamation lawsuit brought by Trump over a false statement made by George Stephanopoulos by agreeing to pay $15 million toward Trump’s presidential library, as Breitbart News reported.
Trump claimed his “reputation was besmirched” by Stephanopoulos falsely claiming during an interview with Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) that two juries had found Trump “liable for rape” in the case against E. Jean Carroll.
Stephanopoulos will also deliver a public apology as part of the settlement while the network also agreed to pay $1m towards Trump’s legal fees.
An AP report cites that moment as an indicator of just what lies ahead for a press corps that claims to be “exhausted” just thinking about the prospect of Trump redux.
Underneath the headline, “Journalists anticipate a renewed hostility toward their work under the incoming Trump administration” reporter David Bauder set out Trump has news executives nervous.
He further details, “Perceived threats are numerous: lawsuits of every sort, efforts to unmask anonymous sources, physical danger and intimidation, attacks on public media and libel protections, day-to-day demonization.”
Such as the perceived threats – real and imagined – are, media representatives say they are prepared.
“The news media is heading into this next administration with its eyes open,” Bruce Brown, executive director of the Reporters Committee for the Freedom of the Press, told the outlet.
“Some challenges to the free press may be overt, some may be more subtle. We’ll need to be prepared for rapid response as well as long campaigns to protect our rights — and to remember that our most important audiences are the courts and the public.”
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Legacy news organizations enter the second Trump era enfeebled both financially and in public esteem while knowing the man who invented the term “fake news” is ready for them.
To a large extent, Trump favored podcasters while choosing to (mostly) ignore ABC, CBS and NBC through his successful 2024 campaign.
The fear surrounding his next step is spreading wider than the usual outlets, the AP report notes.
It’s apparent the new administration will come after the press in every conceivable way, former Washington Post editor Martin Baron said recently on NPR.
“I do think he will use every tool in his toolbox,” Baron said, “and there are a lot of tools.”
That fear is being heightened by a press corps already “exhausted” with Trump’s second term before it even starts, members of the press corps told Vanity Fair last month.
In the article, titled “Reporters Brace for the Frenzy of a Second Trump White House,” New York Times White House correspondent Peter Baker said, “Anybody who went through it the last time remembers how nonstop it was.”
“It ends up kind of becoming all-consuming and taking over your life. It wears you down,” he lamented.
“Everybody’s exhausted, and he hasn’t even taken office yet,” Baker added, knowing full well a man who detests mainstream media, which he sees as ruled by liberal-leaning reporters, editors and publishers, will very soon be back in the highest office in the land and ready to fight.
Follow Simon Kent on Twitter: Follow @SunSimonKent or e-mail to: skent@breitbart.com
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