One feature of Fascism is it often involves a “cult of personality”. In and of itself, that isn’t fascist or necessarily bad. History is full of charismatic figures and leaders. But when it lines up with other features of fascism, it’s a concern. One aspect of a “cult of personality” is
controlling the image by controlling the media, either directly with legislation or indirectly through threats, meritless investigations and other means.
Cult of Personality:
cult of personality, a
deliberately created system of art, symbolism, and ritual centred on the institutionalized
quasi-religious glorification of a specific individual. Since the 20th century, “cult of personality” has been most often used to refer to
charismatic leader cults, a type of personality cult which is based on a political leader and
designed to enforce their power, magnify their ideology, and legitimize the rule of the government associated with them.
Trump and the media
While Trump does not exert complete control with how he is portrayed in the media, there are some signs that he is dipping his toe in that pool and adjusting the temperature. Fox News is entirely Trumps mouth piece and has been for some time.
Bezos, who now owns The Washington Post, has executed a
sharp reversal in regards to Trump and this has been reflected in his handling of the paper in regards to political cartoons, editorial section and nixing the long time tradition of the editors endorsing a candidate. It remains to be seen if further changes occur. It is also worth noting Bezos stands to gain millions in government contracts.
Trump has also cut “unfriendly” media from the White House press pool and other government press pools and taken control of how they will be selected in the future
in an effort to control how he will be covered.
On February 7 the Department of Defense announced the Post would be removed from its office in the Pentagon’s “Correspondents Corridor” along with CNN, plus the New York Times, NPR and NBC which were evicted earlier to make room for pro-Trump media organisations.
Trump has ordered his agencies to
investigate stations he deems as “unfair” (read that as critical) in their coverage of him, not on the basis of any wrong doing but in an effort to inspire fear and influence their coverage of him.
Trumps Historic War on Traditional Media
Zoom in: These moves, while punitive, are temporary and a new president can easily reverse them. Broader efforts to target media companies by Trump, his administration and a Republican-led Congress recently could be harder to unwind.
- Congressional PBS, NPR probe: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) has called on the CEOs of NPR and PBS to testify at a DOGE subcommittee hearing about what she says is "systemically biased content." It's the first hearing to be announced for the subcommittee. Both broadcasters rely on congressionally appropriated funding to survive.
- FCC PBS, NPR probe: The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is also investigating the two public broadcasters over whether their member stations violated FCC rules around airing commercial ads. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr implied that the investigation could help influence Congress' funding decision.
- FCC Comcast/NBC investigation: Carr informed Comcast he is opening an investigation into the company's diversity, equity and inclusion practices. It marked the first public effort by the new administration to target a private company for its DEI initiatives.
- FCC CBS inquiry: Carr opened an inquiry into CBS News to evaluate whether it violated the FCC's news distortion rules when it edited a "60 Minutes" interview with 2024 Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris during the campaign. The inquiry adds pressure to CBS, as it considers whether to settle a separate lawsuit filed against it last year by Trump before he took office.
Trump is, for all intents and purposes, saying that a free press is or should be illegal.
President Trump railed against the media on Friday, suggesting some of the actions of the press be deemed illegal and should be investigated.
In a speech at the Department of Justice (DOJ), during which Trump railed against people and entities that he claims have targeted him, said he views CNN and MSNBC as corrupt.
“I believe that CNN and MS-DNC, who literally write 97.6 percent bad about me, are political arms of the Democrat Party and in my opinion, they’re really corrupt and they’re illegal, what do they do is illegal,” Trump said.
