Trump v the media – The Latest

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0:45Trump has really cracked down on the media in a way that no other president has. It's interesting because they said they were going to boycott me, but they never boycott me. So I wasn't very worried about that. Look at all that press. It's a symbiotic relationship, I think, between the media and Trump. Maybe you'll see after the midterms, if Trump starts to be perceived as more of a lame duck, maybe you'll see more media organisations standing up to fight against him. From the Guardians today in Focus, this is The Latest with me, Lucy Half. There's been a very big escalation in Donald Trump's war with the press.

1:20Paul Owen, you're one of our international editors. There is a boycott of pooled shared coverage of the president from a number of really major networks. The usual suspects that you might expect from this, CNN, Politico, but also some allies of the president, including Fox News. It's very striking. Yeah, that's right. The TV pool, which broadcast footage of Trump going about his daily events, you've probably seen the kind of footage where he's in front of a helicopter in Marine One about to go somewhere. they decided to boycott filming him. And yeah, as you say, you know, as well as CBS, ABC, NBC, the organizations boycotting him include Fox News, which is obviously much more of an ally.

2:10So what that means is that as Trump goes to events, like yesterday was going to New York, for example, and no one's there filming him throughout the journey. This system's been in place since 1950. And it's viewed as a cornerstone of how the press covers the president in the US. This is a response to his decision to ban several news organisations from the White House, CNN, MS Now and Politico as a response to their coverage of him, which he considers fake news. Trump has responded in very Trumpian fashion by setting up his own TV network called Trump TV. There is an advert sort of espousing this network that I think is the most Trumpian thing I may have ever witnessed.

2:59But as you say, yesterday, while he was travelling to New York, we would be used to those shots of him on Air Force One, you know, speaking into the microphone. But, you know, there is a reason that professional cameramen do this job, as was on full display yesterday. Yeah, that's right. They've set up this new live stream on YouTube called Trump TV, but it's not really a like for like replacement for live coverage. So far, they seem to be showing things like his state visit to the UK to meet King Charles, which we know meant a lot to him. Speech he did at Mount Rushmore, his inauguration speech.

3:39So it's not quite the same thing. And yes, yesterday when they were opening a new helipad at the White House, which is one of Trump's pet projects, he's very proud of it. They tried to film it themselves, the White House, but it turned out it wasn't quite as easy as they thought. They were able to do the pictures, but when it came to the audio, they didn't have a boom microphone, seemed to belong to the pool. And unfortunately, it was all drowned out by the rotor blades of the helicopter. OK, so not a smooth start for the White House run media operation. I mean, it feels like a very worrying step in an already worrying landscape between the current president and the media.

4:26You know, we've had lawsuits, very, very expensive lawsuits against the Wall Street Journal. We've had a lawsuit against the BBC that's ongoing. But this is another step because the networks that were banned, those three networks have clubbed together and launched legal action. It's going to be very complex and expensive, isn't it? And probably will take some time to resolve. Yeah, that's right. There are a couple of other cases that are quite similar. So when Trump renamed the Gulf of Mexico, the Gulf of America, the Associated Press news agency refused to go along with that. and he banned them from the White House.

5:03And that case is still making its way through the courts. And there's a similar one with the Pentagon where they decided to institute some very stringent media regulations, which a lot of members of the media objected to, took them to court. And that's still going through court as well. So it may be that even if in the end the media organisations win this, it takes so long that quite a substantial chunk of Trump's second term goes uncovered by them. Yeah, yeah. So what will the White House press room look like in this interim period, given that you've got some of the most watched and highly respected news outlets banned from being there for those conferences?

5:44I mean, they'd already changed the composition of it quite considerably over especially the last couple of years, inviting much more friendly news organisations, many of whom didn't quite have the same mainstream reach or professional reputations as some of the organisations they'd banned. So it may be they're able to fill any gaps that way. Right. Well, Trump obviously finds it very difficult not to be on camera. He attended a press conference held by the newly elected, very popular in New York at the moment, New York Mayor Zoran Mamdani sort of hovering behind him, but then using it as an opportunity to address the press.

6:27One imagines Zoran Mamdani was not thrilled about that. Yeah. And, you know, Mamdani made the point that he believed in a free press and he'd invited all the news organisations, you know, wasn't going along with this boycott. And Trump then basically poured scorn on the idea of a boycott and said that essentially over time he's realized that the news organizations need him more than he needs them right I mean I think that is that's sort of arguable it's definitely true that he's found ways to directly engage his um his audience you know setting up truth social one-man social media loudspeaker for him but at the same time I was in the US at the time when when he was first running for president and his speeches were carried in full on many of these channels and nobody else's were and that really did give his campaign a flying start so it's a symbiotic relationship I think between the between the media and Trump yeah and and in particular Fox News who have been sort of such a mouthpiece for Trump over both of his presidential terms And it's all very, very troubling, isn't it, given that you've got a US president who is so clearly willing to confront the First Amendment, the right to free speech, free expression.

7:50And it feels like we're taking a step to the first steps towards US state TV. Do you think that's valid? Am I right to feel so scared? When I clicked on Trump TV Live earlier, it didn't really seem to have a very large number of streamers. OK. However, it's definitely true that that that Trump has really cracked down on the media and in a way that no other president has, you know. And I think one thing we saw when he came back into office this time was lawsuits against media organizations for really cases that many legal experts felt were almost completely meritless. And the shocking thing was that many of those organizations just decided to fold and settle.

8:37Partly the perception is because they had other business interests that they wanted the Trump administration's approval for. But you have seen, you know, more recently these cases against the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the BBC. Those news organizations have chosen to fight them and it's going to be expensive. and difficult, but it's going to be expensive and difficult on both sides. And maybe you'll see after the midterms, if Trump starts to be perceived as more of a lame duck, maybe you'll see more media organisations standing up to fight against him. Yeah, but it's got this chilling effect, doesn't it?

9:17Because it suggests that media organisations like CNN and Politico, who scrutinised, as is their right, the actions of the president and his administration, Similarly with the Wall Street Journal, when they published what was alleged to be a hand-drawn drawing by Donald Trump given to Jeffrey Epstein, something the president strongly denies, that those stories bring on these lawsuits. So therefore, you might have news organisations who want to seek access to the White House to cover him, so therefore might refrain from writing critical stories about him. No, absolutely. And, you know, we don't know what the stories are that might have been covered or might have been uncovered during this period because people chose not to do that because it was too difficult.

10:06And just going back to those lawsuits, you know, even if you win in the end, it may be that it's cripplingly expensive and not every media organisation has their deep pockets to pay for that. Absolutely. Well, Paul, thank you so much. Thank you. that's it for today my huge thanks again to paul owen one of the guardian's international news editors you can keep up with all our coverage of this story over at theguardian.com and i really recommend today's episode of our sister podcast science weekly which is looking at fad diets from paleo to intermittent fasting are any diets actually good for us you can find that wherever you get your podcasts and you can also find it on youtube thanks for listening to this episode of the latest.

10:49Today in Bocas will be back in your feed as usual tomorrow morning. The latest will be back tomorrow night. This episode was produced by Angus Neal. The senior producer was Ryan Ramgobin. The executive producer was Zoe Hitch and it was presented by me, Lucy Hoff.

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11:45Thank you.