 The Salem witch trials is a travesty that caused the execution of innocent people that were blamed for witchcraft due to hysteria. This hysteria though was not just a result of blind stupidity, but a result of improper reporting that caused so much hysteria that it pushed the community to kill. In the case of President Trump and the media, Improper reporting has caused the credibility of both the President and the media to go down due to constant disagreements and feuds. This has left the American public bewildered at to whether to believe their President, who is inexperienced in politics to begin with, or the media. The media consists of networks, broadcasters, journalists, and who knows how many countless jobs in order to produce news for the people. President Trump and the white house though have continued, much like during his campaign, to rely heavily on themselves to deliver their own news because of the current rift between the media and Trump. This rift has exploded into an all-out divide that has caused a rise in improper reporting on both sides of the divide. Constant rumors, and bickering also have fueled a rise in alarmist articles from the media which has pushed divide. The tumultuous relationship between Trump and the media during the campaign trail propelled what the public is now experiencing.  

At the beginning of his run, President Trump’s decision to run was seen as just as a way to land some attention because he is known worldwide due to his vast business ventures and for being in the spotlight. The media originally thought the American public viewed their coverage of Trump throughout his political journey as entertaining, but at some point in the coverage Americans began to gravitate towards Trump. Much of the media did not see how the rural population of America voted for Trump because they heard a message of hope. (Ingram). These communities have seen many jobs go away due to regulations, or move to other countries. The message of hope resonated not just with rural America, but with Americans all over the country that saw a man that was different from regular politics, and wanted to create opportunity in America. The media’s coverage of Trump was essential in order for Trump’s message to have reached the American public so quickly, and for rural Americans to grab ahold of the hope. The media is what put Trump in place to win the Presidency due to constantly putting him in the press. (Azari 677) Due to all the headlines he made, good or bad, Trump was able to show his policies to the masses propelling him to take the Republican party by storm. The numbers show Trump was the clear winner in terms of media coverage because he amassed about $2 billion worth of media attention while Hilary Clinton came in second with $746 million. (Confessore). All this coverage though came with a cost because the mainstream media started to go on the attack against Trump, and has continued to even though the election has passed.

Throughout Trump’s presidential campaign and Presidency there is a notion that the mainstream media has a negative bias towards Trump. Piers Morgan, the Daily Mail US editor-at-large, went on air to explain how the media keeps wanting to bring Trump down while explaining that he has never seen such a “war” between the media and Trump. (Morgan). He went on air to say, “I remember in the middle of the campaign picking up the New York Times, and reading it from cover to cover, and there were eleven different pieces that all contained hostile references to Trump.” (Morgan). This shows how not even the New York Times, which is one the most respected papers in America, shows a major bias against Trump. Obama’s campaign in 2008 is similar to Trump’s in 2016 in that both received the majority of media coverage. (Riddell). The difference though between the two is that Obama had only around 30 percent coverage that was negative while Trump’s coverage was around 60 percent negative. (Riddell). The numbers along with Morgan’s testament show how the American media does have a negative bias towards Trump. So, President Trump headed into an office where the majority of the media was already producing mostly negative works about not just him, but also his family members.

After winning the election, the media continued to publish articles containing assumptions that painted Trump, and his family as incapable of running the white house. Arielle Padres wrote a piece criticizing first lady Melania before she even took office providing an example of why articles like this discredit the media. The major claim of this article is that first lady Melania Trump will have trouble being first lady due to her always wanting shy away from the spotlight(Padres). Well, at the time this article was written President Trump has not been inaugurated yet, so by publishing these assumptions of how Melania will act as first lady is pointless, and is really just another way make the Trump’s look un-presidential. The article further shows that is just a bash on the Trump family because Padres writes as her first sentence, “If it’s still strange to Imagine Donald Trump-tabloid-verified sex-haver, unverified billionaire, Black Mirror character come to life-as president of the United States, think about how Melania Trump feels” (Padres). The credibility is also very low because both women do not know why Melania is waiting to move into the white house, but with one search one will find that she is waiting until their son, Baron, is finished with the school year to make the move to D.C further proving Padres assumes a lot of this information in the article. Even President Obama casted his support in accepting a new President and seeing how they fair before casting judgement, so by writing this article the author is simply just trying to sway public opinion and pick up some clicks by writing about Trump. Articles like this have pushed the idea of alarmist articles into the mainstream media. 

The point of an alarmist article by the media is to delegitimize Trump as President by making a headline, or small piece of news, a bigger deal that it actually is. After the election a bomb was basically dropped on the white house with Buzzfeed releasing a dossier leak that contained memos entailing personal information about Trump, but also his connections to Russia. Although the memos in the dossier have been disproven, Harry Cheadle, wrote a piece warning of how people need to be weary of Trump due to these allegations.  Even though some of the memos have already been been discredited other ones should not be overlooked due to America’s intelligence agencies still raising an eye. (Cheadle).  John Dickerson, a broadcaster for CBS, and Hugh Hewitt recently discussed the current articles being written about Trump and Hewitt had this to say, “it most explicitly does not mean that the press just throws out the standards.” (Hewitt).. Dickerson breaks this down by explaining how the mass alarmism the media has shown toward Trump has come unwarranted at times which in turn has complicated the image of the press. In short the press has hurt its own reputation with the alarmist articles and not Trump. 

On the night of January 10, 2017 BuzzFeed released memos amassed from an ex British intelligence agent, Christopher Steele, with Russian ties that detail heinous acts to under the table deals made with Russian officials. The New York Times reported on the dossier, but did not jump to conclusions because much of the information is questionable as said, “But much of what he was told, and passed on to Fusion GPS, was very difficult to check.” (Shane). Meanwhile a CNN report came out with an article the very same day the dossier was released claiming that investigators had confirmed some truths in the dossier. The article’s first sentence says, “For the first time, US investigators say they have corroborated some of the communications detailed in a 35-page dossier compiled by a former British Intelligence agent,” (Sciutto). This article set off a fire storm in the white house because it started to become apparent the dossier was not true. The biggest error in the dossier describes how Michael Cohen, Trump’s lawyer, sat down for a meeting in Prague with Russian officials prior to the election, but Cohen has since showed his passport and shared his itinerary for a trip he took to California to prove he has never been to Prague. (Scarborough). It is in this paragraph we see how CNN does not use the same level of proper Journalism as the New York Times because the sources of information and evidence were invalid. This is embarrassing for the media because it lowers standards, and puts in jeopardy how much freedom of speech the media has. Joel Simon is the executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists and in work of his says, “those who define themselves as professional journalists need more than ever to maintain standards and report with seriousness and objectivity.” (Simon, 166). Although President Trump may be overly attacked at times, the alarmist articles did not just come out of nowhere.

President Trump has brought criticism on himself in the past due to remarks he has made regarding women, and Russia. Before Trump assumed the role of President he was a businessman building his empire through real estate, and eventually created a T.V. show. His job was not being a celebrity, but instead enjoyed being in the limelight. Well, in 2005 Trump made remarks on the Howard Stern including, “I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.” (Taylor). When this audio was released many people were calling him to step down from running, but he declined. Those comments obviously warrant nervousness to elect someone who could say those hurtful comments. Another major problem that has caused uneasiness amongst the media and American is how Trump is going to handle Russia as President. Trump has said before he respects their President, Vladimir Putin, and is even on record saying, “I think I’d get along very well with Vladimir Putin. I just think so,” (Diamond). It is well known that America and Russia are always weary of each other due to the cold war and red scare which propels some fear in America, and is material that can be used against Trump. The most recent rumor of the Trump campaign having involvement with Russian officials has to with his how his national security advisor, Michael Flynn, had to resign over his connections with Russians. Another problem some Americans have with Trump is they simply do not trust him due to the rumors of his ties with Russia. Trump’s use of his own media, other claims have propelled the media to call him out for falsehoods. 

President Trump is known for expressing his own thoughts because that is what helped get him elected due to other Americans relating to his beliefs. One of the ways he has continued to reach out the public is through his twitter page. For example, as soon as the dossier leak happened he immediately tweeted about how none of the memos in the dossier were untrue. That being said, some of his claims on twitter and officially have been proven false which is just another way the divide gets deeper. One of his more outlandish claims recently is that the Obama administration wiretapped Donald Trump during the campaign. The problem with his claim was that is it illegal for a President to order a wiretap as survelliance because a wiretap requires a warrant. It is also important to note how Spicer, the white house press secretary, described the claim as “surveillance and other activities.” (Sciutto). This shows how Trump needs to work on his wording in how he tells the public information, so that Americans will trust what he says more. Thinking through rash statements would also deter the media from continuing to write alarmist articles because there would be less reasons to write negatives articles on about him. This back and forth bickering is less appealing to the American public, and has been proved from a past president. 

Rebuttal between Trump, and the media has brought credibility down because people do not know who to believe. Trump rejecting claims, and everything the media says about him only adds to the fact that media and him are not in sync. A study consisted of 2,104 adults of both men and women found that the majority believe what they hear on the news. (Kohut). Typically, the American public trusts the media more than the President. An example being as Kohut writes, “Indeed, at the time only 12% of the population gave Reagan a “1” (Lowest score) for believability. Yet even during his most successful year in terms of public approval, Reagan’s believability mean was “only” 2.84, significantly lower than the mean score achieved for 31 news organizations and journalists.” (Kohut). So, the American public typically trust other citizens giving them news instead of the government. Usually when people lose faith in the President they gain trust with the media (Kohut). The Iran-Contra Affair shed new light on public opinion because research shows that when Raegan and the media both dipped in believability when in factual disputes with each other. (Robinson). As Robinson says, “studies show rebuttal from credible sources, or from anonymous sources which reflect the original predispositions of the audience, can erase or diminish the effects of a personal appeal or an appeal made through mass media.” (Robinson 17). These studies show that while the President will always have low credibility the media loses their own credibility when disputing with the President. 

The divide created between President Trump, and the media comes down to each side holding on too bad blood from the election which in turn lowers credibility. The media on one side wants to right their wrong of publicizing Trump by releasing articles that delegitimize Trump as a President with articles that over-emphasize how wrong his decisions from the past and present are. They accomplish this through alarmist articles along with other articles that sometimes contain invalid evidence or even assumptions which means in some cases there is not even evidence. The media has a point in that alarmist articles are necessary in times of actual need, but the article by Padres shows how some members of the media will do anything in order to bash the President or even him and his wife’s personal decisions. It is also interesting that respected people in the media like Dickerson, Hewitt, and Morgan all agree that many people in the media are overhyping or producing alarmist articles that directly are just for the purpose of delegitimizing Trump as a President. Trump meanwhile defends his actions, but also at the same time will make outlandish claims, or somehow be connected to Russians that send the media into a frenzy again. History repeats itself which is why all of the back and forth between the two leads to the credibility of both dropping thanks to the Raegan chart of his feud with the media. Hopefully the media and the President give each other a fresh start, so that more focus can be directed on real issues and not themselves. Until this happens, they will continue to argue and leave the American public wandering what is actually going on. 
