Media Misinformation

Social Media Posts – In What Language?

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Article in The Guardian by Adam Gabbatt, 5/3/25

Headline:  “Trump’s Truth Social posts make no sense – what do they say about his mentality?”

Subhead:  “The president’s little used social media platform offers him a forum for his nonstop haranguing and score-settling”

“No political leader has used social media quite like Donald Trump. But his recent posts on Truth Social, the social media platform he founded in 2021, have become increasingly bizarre: the president using the lack of scrutiny afforded by the platform’s small user base to truly let loose.

“In the hundreds of ‘Truths’ since he took office, Trump has variously used Truth Social to reimagine himself as a king and to urge Americans to ‘BE COOL!’ as the stock market tanked in the wake of his trade war, the president’s seemingly random use of capital letters, punctuation and inaccurate spelling consistent across the messages. . .”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/03/trump-truth-social-media-posts

Broiling the Media?

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Kelly Stout, 5/2/25

Headline:  “Chat, Are We Cooked?”

Subhead:  “Trump and the people who work for him don’t care about journalistic norms. Is it time for journalists to rethink them, too?”

“he first hundred days of Trump 2.0 brought forth more material than infinity reporters typing on infinity laptops for infinity years could possibly report. The ‘flood the zone’ strategy—brought to us from the mind of Steve Bannon, the MAGA media strategist—has been around since at least 2018, but now, as the New York Times put it, ‘the flood is bigger, wider and more brutally efficient’; the same article also included the phrases ‘overwhelming sensory overload,’ ‘drinking from a fire hose,’ and ‘gasping in outrage.’ Each of these metaphors hit the news media directly, and hard. And then, on March 11, they gushed into the Signal chat of one journalist in particular. . .”

https://www.cjr.org/feature-2/signal-chat-atlantic-goldberg-trump-norms-ethics.php

Foxhole Safe Space for Incoming-Media

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Article in Media Matters by Harrison Ray & Isanella Sherk, 5/1/25

Headline:  “Key Trump officials appeared more than 500 times on Fox networks in the first 100 days of his presidency”

Subhead:  “Fox networks remain a safe space for administration figures”

“Key Trump administration officials appeared on Fox networks over 500 times in his first 100 days in office. President Donald Trump’s “border czar” Thomas Homan led all officials with at least 59 appearances while Fox News’ Hannity led all shows with 71 interviews.

“Trump officials appeared on Fox networks on 96 of the administration’s first 100 days. The number of daily appearances by key officials was highest on both February 3, following Trump’s announcement of his first set of tariffs, and March 4, seemingly to prime the Fox audience for his congressional address that evening, with at least 13 appearances on each day. . .”

https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/key-trump-officials-appeared-more-500-times-fox-networks-first-100-days-his-presidency

Why Not Kim Tributes for Trump?

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Article in The Hill by Tara Sutter, 4/30/25

Headline: “Ann Coulter knocks ‘Kim Jong il-style tributes’ at Trump Cabinet meeting”

“Conservative media personality Ann Coulter on Wednesday slammed President Trump’s latest Cabinet meeting, saying that it featured “Kim Jong il-style tributes.”

“ ‘Would it be possible to have a cabinet meeting without the Kim Jong il-style tributes?’ Coulter wrote in a post on the social platform X, comparing the Wednesday meeting to that of the former North Korean dictator. . .”

https://thehill.com/homenews/media/5275687-ann-coulter-donald-trump-kim-jong-il-cabinet-meeting/

Questions by the Media are ‘Stupid’

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Article in Raw Story by Erik De La Garza, 4/29/25

Headline:  ” ‘ Stupid question’: Trump lashes out at reporter in new exclusive interview”

“President Donald Trump didn’t hold back his frustrations with a journalist during a heated moment in an exclusive ABC News interview, where he refused to say whether he had “100% confidence” in his embattled defense secretary.

“The tense exchange came in a new interview with ABC’s Terry Moran, who pressed Trump about ongoing turmoil inside the Pentagon involving Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

“ ‘Do you have 100% confidence in Pete Hegseth? Moran asked Trump in the Oval Office moment previewed on CNN Tuesday evening.

“ ‘I don’t have 100% confidence in anything, okay? Anything,’ Trump said as he bristled between his responses. ‘It’s a stupid question. ‘ . . .”

https://www.rawstory.com/trump-lashes-out/?utm_source=superhead

Non-MAGA Media Enemy of the People?

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Article in Mediaite by Zachary Leeman, 4/29/25

Headline:  “Reporter From Far-Right Gateway Pundit Asks Trump if the Press is ‘Proving to Be the Enemy of the People’ “

“While speaking with reporters, Jordan Conradson asked Trump about the ‘leftist media’ while complimenting his ‘Gulf of America’ hat he was holding. Conradson accused the media of trying to ‘hide’ mugshots of illegal migrant criminals.

“ ‘They’re trying to hide the mugshots that are featured on the front lawn of rapists, murderers, pedophiles. What do you think of that? Aren’t they proving to be the enemy of the people?’ Conradson asked about the media.

“ ‘Well, I guess they are. I guess they are, right? Thank you. Who are you with?’ Trump said’. . .  Conradson complimented Trump’s hate and identified himself as Gateway Pundit’s White House correspondent, earning an approving nod from Trump. . .”

https://www.mediaite.com/media/reporter-from-far-right-gateway-pundit-asks-trump-if-the-press-is-proving-to-be-the-enemy-of-the-people/

Don’t like News-Channel Polls?

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Article in The Hill by Dominick Mastrangelo, 4/29/25

Headline:  “Stephen Miller tells Fox News anchor on air: Fire your pollster “

“Top White House aide Stephen Miller told Fox News anchor John Roberts that the network should fire its polling team during a live interview on Tuesday.

“After Roberts laid out a Fox News poll for Miller showing President Trump getting higher marks on issues like immigration and the border than on the economy and tariffs, he asked Miller point blank: “A lot of people think he’s spending too much time on tariffs and not enough time on the economy and lowering prices. What do you say?”

“ ‘I don’t want to make things weird for you, John,’ Miller responded. ‘But it is our opinion that Fox News needs to fire its pollster. And I won’t surprise you with that … but the Fox News pollster has always been wrong about President Trump.’ . . .”

https://thehill.com/homenews/media/5273148-stephen-miller-fox-news-trump-polls/

‘New Media’ – “Tell Us What to Write”

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Article in the Daily Dot by Mikael Thalen, 4/29/25

Headline:  ” Trump’s first ‘new media’ briefing hosts influencer who spent 7 days convinced the moon had disappeared”

Subhead: ” ‘Has anyone seen the moon lately? I’ve been looking for 7 days.’ “

“A conservative influencer who was convinced last year that the moon had disappeared attended a press briefing on Monday held at the White House.

“Kambree Nelson, an ambassador for the American First Policy Institute, was one of several individuals permitted to join a special briefing reserved solely for members of the ‘new media.’

“ ‘This is our first official influencer briefing,’ White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced at the press conference’s start. ‘Millions of Americans are now turning to social media and independent media outlets . . .”

“Nelson, who boasts more than 625,000 followers on X, was immediately ridiculed for her performance, asking Leavitt to tell her what questions she should ask the administration.

“Yet among all the members of the new media invited to the White House, a collection of independent journalists who all support President Donald Trump, Nelson is receiving extra attention given her outlandish beliefs and fears. . .”

https://www.dailydot.com/debug/kambree-nelson-moon-white-house-press-briefing/

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Article in Mediaite by Ahmad Austin Jr., 4/28/25

Headline:  ” ‘New Media’ Reporter Straight Up Asks Karoline Leavitt to Tell Her What to Cover: ‘What Direction Do You Advise Me to Go In?’ “

“During the new media briefing, American First Policy Institute ambassador Kambree Nelson first bashed traditional media outlets for their coverage of the president — before asking Leavitt to give her marching orders.

“ ‘I’ve noticed — this is kind of like a repeat of 2016 — the legacy media has gone back to not reporting anything on President Trump,’ Nelson said. ‘In the beginning, we had them reporting everything that he was doing. Now, they’re kind of going back, again, to not reporting everything that he is actually doing.

“ ‘I’m kind of the nerd when it comes to reporting. I’m not the headline news girl. I’m the nuts-and-bolts, I’m the policy-type nerd; so what direction do you advise me to go into? Like the White House files that y’all send out every single day? Because that’s what people are used to. When they wanna ask me questions, they wanna know the nuts and bolts of everything.’ . . .”

https://www.mediaite.com/news/new-media-reporter-straight-up-asks-karoline-leavitt-to-tell-her-what-to-cover-what-direction-do-you-advise-me-to-go-in/

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Article in Media Matters by Pete Psipis & Reed McMaster, 4/24/25

Headline:  “By the numbers: As Trump snubs legacy media, data shows his press briefings elevate right-wing outlets”

“A Media Matters review of White House press briefings held so far in President Donald Trump’s second administration found that White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called on right-wing media outlets 41% of the time, and 4 of the 5 reporters called on most were from right-wing outlets.

“The press briefings now include a ‘new media’ seat which the White House has used to amplify more right-wing voices. While the White House attacks traditional press freedoms, the press briefings are now littered with biased questions from the administration’s most staunch supporters. . .”

https://www.mediamatters.org/donald-trump/numbers-trump-snubs-legacy-media-data-shows-his-press-briefings-elevate-right-wing

NYT – A Dubious Win?

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Jon Alson, 4/23/25

Headline: “Q&A: Bill Grueskin on the New York Times Beating Sarah Palin (Again)”

Subhead: ” ‘Two things can be true: you can publish something about a public figure that is clearly false, and you can avoid being held financially liable for having done so.’ ”

“. . .the gods of the media beat soon handed down another big story. Compared with the 60 Minutes and USAGM imbroglios, which are relatively recent, this one concerned a much longer-running drama and a central character—Sarah Palin, the former governor of Alaska and vice presidential candidate—who can perhaps be seen as an ur-Trump. Back in 2017, after a gunman opened fire on a congressional baseball practice, Palin sued the Times for defamation over an editorial that wrongly suggested she had helped incite the shooting of a different member of Congress, Gabby Giffords, six years earlier. (Palin’s PAC had published a map with crosshairs drawn over Giffords’s district. . .”

https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/qa_grueskin_palin_new_york_times_sullivan.php

Only Unfairness Doctrine Now.

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Article in Poynter by Liam Scott, 4/22/25

Headline:  “The repeal of the fairness doctrine accelerated the polarization of US media”

Subhead:  “When broadcasters no longer had to present diverse viewpoints, conservative radio thrived”

“The walk from his Federal Communications Commission office to the commission meeting room felt particularly long for Dennis Patrick on Aug. 4, 1987.

“That was the day that Patrick, then FCC chairman, and his colleagues unanimously voted to repeal the Fairness Doctrine, a policy that had mandated broadcast networks to fairly present differing viewpoints on controversial issues.

“Patrick remembers how quiet it was as he walked to the meeting that day with one of his aides.

“Finally he said to me, just before I opened the door to enter the commission meeting room, ‘Mr. Chairman, are you sure you really want to do this? You are going to have hell to pay,’ Patrick recalled. ‘And I said to him, “We are going to do the right thing, and I’m sure that we will have hell to pay.’ ”

https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2025/poynter-50-repeal-fairness-doctrine-rush-limbaugh-conservative-talk-radio/