My Media Law and Ethics professor once told my class that we have four branches of government. Like you are doing now as you read this, we all had a confused look on our face, but continued to listen to what he had to say. He explained that by definition, there is only the Executive, Judicial, and Legislative branches, but with the sheer force of its influence, the media has paved an unrecognized path as the fourth branch of the United States Government. To some, this really hit them like a ton of bricks and they proceeded to think their professor was some kind of weirdo, but for other, like myself, it really resonated with them.
The media—a looking glass into information.
First it was the newspaper, then the telephone, motion picture, radio, television, cable television, and now it's the internet. Each platform has revolutionized the way information is disseminated and assimilated. From the start, media was intended to inform and educate, but over time it became a platform for more than information and education, but to entertain, to influence, and to manipulate decision making. Whatever the media is used for, anyone, no matter who you are, can utilize some sort of media platform to get their message across to a wider audience.
Suppression, oppression, tyranny… Imagine a world without the media. Would there even be one? The media has become extremely important in American culture. And believe it or not, people use it for good and for bad. Just like the Nixon-Kennedy Debate being the first televised debate; without television, Kennedy would have never become president.
Fifty seven years ago, when a fairly unknown senator from Massachusetts, John F. Kennedy, secured his presidential career during the nation's first televised debate, known as the Nixon-Kennedy Debate. Not only did he secure his presidential future against Vice President Richard Nixon, but this first televised debate fundamentally reformed political campaigns, television media, and of course, America's political history.
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter— all of these platforms have allowed us to stay connected and get and put out information instantly. We follow our favorite celebrities, companies, and public and political figures. We tweet when we want to voice our opinion. We share and like the things that we support and don't support. Old or young, virtually everyone across America uses some type of social media to seek out information and to interact with others.
This recent presidential race between president-elect Donald J. Trump and Hillary Clinton has shown, what I believe, was a new advancement in what media can do. Specifically, social media. However, Trump has received a massive amount of backlash during his entire campaign.
Almost every mainstream media has been quick to jump the gun in criticizing Trump's social media usage like the New Republic article with headlines of, " Trump Is America’s First Twitter President. Be Afraid...He's giving a whole new meaning to the term “bully pulpit”. Even TV shows are doing it: The View’s Whoopi Goldberg who said, “Stay off Twitter and do your job now.”
But why is he receiving this massive amount of backlash? Why him? I mean many people use social media. Perhaps he is a candidate who is against a dominant group or elite group that holds power or authority in a nation or organization?
These statements have extreme amounts of bias in them and perfectly prove what Trump has said about the media during his entire campaign. That is to say that the media depicts him in an unfair way; they are "the lying media". These statements show bias in them because I can name plenty of times where a president, president-elect, political candidate and more used the media. For some reason, Trump is against the establishment, and they will do anything against him. Including biased media outlets.
In an article written by Dan Gainor he explains that, "the American media are terrified of Trump... They are freaked out by his ability to talk directly to the American public. Even more, they are enraged over his willingness to attack them...” I couldn't agree more with this statement, and it is exactly why he is being attacked and labeled as someone who has, "shown blatant hostility to the media," when really the media have been doing all the "jabs" themselves.
President-elect Donald J. Trump utilizes his social media platforms and I think that is extremely smart on his part. Why would he campaign that the mainstream media is fake, get elected and stop tweeting and or reaching out online�? What Trump is doing is what Gainor refers to as “tweet revenge” and it is sweet. He doesn’t need them. Why deal with the left-wing news media that is continuing their campaign against him? Like Trump said, “If the press would cover me accurately and honorably, I would have far less reason to tweet. Sadly, I don't know if that will ever happen!”
Comparatively, Donald J. Trump isn’t what the people and media paint him to be. He uses his media platforms to his advantage, just like President Franklin Delano Roosevelt did with his series of radio broadcasts to the nation beginning in 1933, where he spoke directly to the American people as if they were “close friends”. With these chats, he was able to directly communicate with the American people, squash rumors and discuss his policies about the promulgation of the Emergency Banking Act in response to the banking crisis, the recession, New Deal initiatives, and World War II. Trump does the exact thing and will continue to do so knowing that the media will depict him in an unfair way. He has no choice but to use Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and other social media platforms.
Like I have said, what is the difference between Trump and Roosevelt in this situation? What is so bad about Trump using social media platforms to his presidential advantages to the point where the left feels the need to ban him. Donald J. Trump uses his social media just like everyone else does. Just like NATO, virtually any famous and or public, Walmart, and so on. It is vital that we agree and understand that it is in our best interest to support instant communication between the president and the American people. Trump is still being campaigned against, so he uses his tweets, still, to his advantage. Smart. The modern day Fireside Chats, if you will. Wouldn't you want to hear what is going on directly from your president, or shall we continue to watch mainstream media who has the ability to twist stories to gain more views and ratings?
