THIS week we celebrated World Press Day against a saddening backdrop where the American presidency is at war with the press.
To say there is no love lost between President Donald Trump and the country’s main media houses would be an understatement.
The relationship between the media and Government has always been a give-and-take.
While the media often plays the watchdog role, at times it has been in bed with Government and in the more extreme cases, it is an all out war between the two.
The contestation between President Trump and the media comes as no surprise.
Given that President Trump has managed to rub almost everyone the wrong way, it became a given that the US media, which has for so long been drunk on the power of influence, would be against him.
From the onset, President Trump embraced the use of social media, and used this as his main weapon in not only reaching his supporters, but directly attacking his opponents, without the mainstream media playing any mediatory or censuring role.
President Trump took the power out of the hands of the traditional media and invested that power in himself.
It goes without saying that this deviation from the norm broke several unwritten rules between Government and the media.
Social media is a threat to traditional media as it removes power and control from the latter’s hands into the hands of any hack with a smartphone.
Am I saying President Trump is a hack; for the most part, yes!
This is a man who has taken to attacking his opponents, real and imagined, without the decency of allowing them a right to respond.
His tendency to inform on half-truths and outright lies is a mockery of the establishment and borders on abuse.
His move to segregate media houses that do not report favourably on his policies and activities, in favour of ‘friendly ‘right wing Christian type media houses is at best described as institutionalised attempts to muzzle the media.
In an interview with New York Magazine, on January 17 2017, CNN Worldwide president Jeff Zucker declared: “It’s just unfortunate that the most powerful person in the world is trying to delegitimise journalism and an organisation that plays such a vital role in our democracy.
I think he’s entitled to his opinion, but it’s – to use one of his favourite words – sad.”
Given that the US has set the benchmark that freedom of the press is an indicator of a healthy democracy, President Trump’s war with the mainstream media is likely to play havoc with the traditional power players in Washington.
One should be mindful of the fact that selling and maintaining the narrative that democracy is the pancreas to the developing world’s challenges is big business.
Much like the argument that was proffered by some during the 1950s in support of desegregation; how does the US preach to the world, when its house is not in order?
Democracy advocacy groups are in for a torrid time when they attempt to push for press freedoms across the globe.
The deputy executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Rob Mahoney, recently bemoaned the Trump administration’s stance against the media as counter-productive when it comes to issues of democratising the developing world.