The Trump administration has unleashed a multifaceted pressure campaign against news organizations as it increasingly bristles at media coverage of a Middle East military operation that many Americans oppose.
Official Pentagon briefings now include attacks on outlets like CNN, with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth nit-picking headlines. President Trump is turning to his bully pulpit on Truth Social to accuse “Highly Unpatriotic ‘News’ Organizations” of airing “LIES” about the war and musing about “Charges for TREASON.”
The goal seems to be pressuring journalists to back off critical coverage of the war effort, or to at least encourage the public to second-guess reporting that runs counter to the administration’s preferred narrative. And the effort has gone well beyond words.
Mr. Trump’s top media regulator, Brendan Carr of the Federal Communications Commission, issued an explicit warning to broadcast television networks on social media, writing that “hoaxes and news distortions” could lead to the revocation of licenses for local stations, a threat that Mr. Trump said he was “so thrilled to see.”
The president and his allies have sought to vilify the news media since the start of his political rise a decade ago. But this recent denigration of news organizations — including The New York Times — comes as Mr. Trump has appeared at pains to depict his Middle East military effort as a smashing success, despite some facts to the contrary and opinion polls that have revealed widespread doubts among Americans about the war.
In particular, Mr. Trump has zeroed in on accusing American news organizations of disloyalty to their country, as in an official White House news release declaring that CNN had sought “to undermine our decisive victories in Operation Epic Fury.”
Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said in a statement on Monday: “The media has been undeniably biased and negative in its coverage of President Trump and Operation Epic Fury. Anybody with eyes and ears can see this.”
Previous White Houses have also complained about domestic news coverage of American intervention in the Middle East. But this administration’s attempts to shame, and in some cases punish, journalists for straightforward reporting on the war has engendered comparisons to the demands of foreign authoritarian leaders.
David Axelrod, a former Obama adviser, said recently on social media that “it feels like a decision has been made that if the war news isn’t better, better to attack those who report news of the war,” adding: “They’re envious. Putin doesn’t have to put up with this!”
Mark Thompson, the chief executive of CNN, said in a statement that “politicians have an obvious motive for claiming that journalism which raises questions about their decisions is false.” He added, “No amount of political threats or insults is going to change that.”
There is something uniquely Trumpian about the way the president is handling the first full-bore active military conflict of his two terms in office. Fixated on his press coverage since his early days as a real estate developer, Mr. Trump has both accused mainstream reporters of treason and also engaged with them on a close, personal level.
Since the start of the military strikes in Iran, the president has fielded dozens of calls on his personal cellphone from journalists from, among other outlets: ABC News, Axios, CBS News, CNN, The Daily Mail, Fox News, MS NOW, NBC News, The New York Times, The New York Post and the small conservative outlet The Washington Reporter.
Jonathan Karl, ABC’s chief Washington correspondent, recently said that he had spoken to Mr. Trump by phone three times in the first five days of the military operation in Iran, including one midafternoon call that lasted 20 minutes. During one of those calls, the president asked Mr. Karl if he thought the war was “impressive.”
Mr. Trump’s comments in these conversations sometimes contradict one another — in the course of one day, he suggested to one reporter that the conflict was coming to a quick end then told another that he expected it to last for a while longer — but his eagerness reveals a sensitivity to the views of the shaping public perception of the war.
The president has also complained about the proliferation of misleading videos generated by artificial intelligence that have widely circulated online, and he appeared to blame traditional news organizations for aiding their distribution. (Many mainstream American outlets have identified and debunked those videos.)
The licensing threat from Mr. Carr, the F.C.C. chairman, raised eyebrows in part because the agency has been traditionally viewed as independent. As a regulator, Mr. Carr has government tools at his disposal to punish media organizations, though the process for revoking a broadcast license is onerous and can take years. On Sunday, the Democratic minority leader, Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, called his comments “vindictive, fascist stuff.”
Mr. Carr made his remarks on a day when he was seen speaking with Mr. Trump at the president’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Fla., according to CNN. Mr. Carr was criticized last year for implying that he might retaliate against ABC for on-air comments by Jimmy Kimmel, the late-night host, who was then temporarily suspended by the network.
His comments about coverage of the war drew Republican criticism over the weekend. Senator Ron Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican, was asked on Fox News on Sunday if the government should have a role in policing news coverage. “I’m a big supporter of the First Amendment,” Mr. Johnson said. “I do not like the heavy hand of government, no matter who’s wielding it.”
Besides CNN, Mr. Trump has also criticized The Times and The Wall Street Journal for particular articles.
The president’s attacks on the media have been supplemented by Mr. Hegseth, who used a Pentagon briefing last week to assail individual outlets for what he deemed insufficiently positive coverage of the war.
Mr. Hegseth said that he was looking forward to CNN coming under the control of David Ellison, the billionaire founder of Paramount Skydance, whose purchase of CNN’s parent company still requires approval from the Trump administration.
Mr. Ellison is perceived as friendly with Mr. Trump, who on Monday referred to him and his father Larry Ellison, the founder of Oracle, as “two great people.” Skydance purchased CBS last year, and Mr. Ellison installed a conservative ombudsman at the news division and pledged to appeal to a more centrist audience.
CBS also announced the end of Stephen Colbert’s late-night show. At Sunday’s Academy Awards, Mr. Kimmel, who was presenting an award for documentaries, could not resist tossing in a jab.
“As you know there are some countries whose leaders don’t support free speech,” Mr. Kimmel told the audience. “I’m not at liberty to say which. Let’s just leave it at North Korea and CBS.”
Michael M. Grynbaum writes about the intersection of media, politics and culture. He has been a media correspondent at The Times since 2016.
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