Washington DC has invented yet another war it has decided to undertake: 'the war on the media.' However this isn't a conflict independent to the US solely with Donald Trump's ban on several news organisations entering the White House. Venezuela for example in mid-February, kicked 'CNN en Español' off air in claims that its reports 'defame and distort the truth.' Cambodia have also followed suit, with the government threatening to expel several media outlets not abiding by the orders of Phnom Penh. This is without even mentioning the attack laid by Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs website on foreign media, with its website labelling outlets like The New York Times and Al-Jazeera as disseminating fake news. These 'proposed wars' work to both intimidate the media and also act as attempts to ingratiate the country's government with Trump's administration. The same thing was seen with Bush's 'war on terror' where 'to get on the United States' good side, leaders would use the phrase 'war on terror.'' It's suggested that what will be seen with this is that dictators and autocrats will all start using this same 'anti-media language' used by the US President to prevent foreign and domestic reporters holding them to a strong level of accountability. With this, the question of whether Trump will work to protect journalists abroad sparks some doubt. This doubt increases particularly with his statement in 2015 displaying the level of moral equivalency he has with Putin regarding the killing of non-compliant journalists. It's said that this war on media will have its greatest repercussions in China where state media outlets have already begun 'adapting Trump's phrases to denigrate Western journalists' criticism of China's human rights abuses.' Something representative of this is a tweet by the newspaper The People's Daily saying that: 'Foreign media reports that police tortured a detained lawyer is FAKE NEWS fabricated to tarnish China's image.' While this is thought to be untrue, it's representative of how countries like China become emboldened as this war rages on.
This story showcases the level of impact that Trump's 'war on the media' is going to have not only in the US but also across the world. It appears that 'anti-media language' like fake news is something that'll be used by leaders that simply want to stop journalists from scrutinising their premiership as opposed to the genuine report of fake news. It's more likely than not that we're only seeing the start of the impact this war will have and across the next few years we'll see it on more of a widespread scale.
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