The odor that typically wafts from the myriad business endeavors of Donald Trump is often portrayed by him as the satisfying fragrance of triumph. He selects catchy names such as ‘Victory 45-47’ for his costly $249-per-bottle perfumes to highlight his obsession with victory. A precedent is his earlier fragrance, ‘Fight, Fight, Fight,’ which priced at $199 and hinted at his feisty response to an alleged assassination attempt.
Being a former host of ‘The Apprentice,’ it’s hardly surprising that he closely marries winning with monetary gains. This outlook extends to the manner in which he perceives the White House’s media coverage and frames his foreign policies. Prevailing in his private litigation against Paramount Global, which may hamper the course of American journalism for years to come, is a stark testament to his strategy, however melancholic it may be.
In a recent debacle involving CBS’s renowned show, 60 Minutes, Paramount felt compelled to reimburse Trump a whopping $16m. This event came on the heels of a controversial claim lodged by Trump that an interview with Kamala Harris, a Democrat candidate for President, was biasly manipulated to work in her favor. This episode will, without doubt, lend credence to the President’s assertion that our mainstream media is fundamentally untrustworthy and intentionally misleading.
The lawsuit was deemed frivolous by many, given its hefty $20bn price tag. Secretly, Paramount hopes to expedite an $8bn merger with Skydance Media—critical for the conglomerate’s survival. Yet the question remains: did Paramount cede its premier news show’s reputation and compensated $16m to save a bigger financial stake? Paramount’s stance is that the lawsuit and merger are entirely independent events.
Undeniably, Trump, the author behind ‘The Art of the Deal,’ would derive immense satisfaction from this. When berating the ‘fake news’ industry, Trump frequently condemns media corporations for teetering on the brink of failure and brushes off their counterclaims. His case against ABC News is a fitting demonstration—he successfully won $15m after anchor George Stephanopoulos accused him of sexual abuse liability in a civil proceeding.
This strategy isn’t limited to powerhouses either. Trump has initiated legal proceedings against the Des Moines Register for publishing a November poll suggesting Harris held the advantage in Iowa. Trump persistently resubmitted his lawsuit, despite securing victory in that state. The repercussions that stem from Trump’s approach are cause for serious concern.
The chilling impact on news is concerning. Journalists are beginning to apprehend that their investigations might be stifled by media proprietors to avoid potential financial retribution from the White House. The FCC’s authoritative position offers Trump a substantial leverage over corporations and a prospect for personal monetary rewards through court rulings.
This scenario sets a horrifyingly worrisome trend, with future election victories transforming into opportunities to cripple the media with ad hominem attacks. An increasing number of politicians will resort to litigation against news outlets. In confirmation of this, last week, California’s Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, announced his intent to sue Fox News host Jesse Waters over allegations of dishonest statements on deploying the National Guard in Los Angeles.
America’s current state is a terrifying precedent to the world. The Taliban government in Afghanistan has already placed an outright embargo on all political discussions across different media channels. The issue of censorship is creating a tense conundrum for Keir Starmer in Britain, another region where free speech is under the scanner.
The political climate is such that both left- and right-wing critics of the government, from Lucy Connolly to the punk duet Bob Vylan—those endorsing, respectively, arson attacks on asylum hostels to a crowd chant calling for IDF deaths—are facing penal consequences. Remarkably, even with a media-mogul President who seems more interested in censoring than fostering freedom of speech, the United States currently ranks only 21st globally.
Despite all this, Trump’s business pursuits persist in their uncertain fiscal future. Yet he somehow manages to continually devise innovative means to strike gold. And sadly, news media is paying a heavy price for it.