Why Trump’s battle with the mainstream media is smoke and mirrors

Explaining the Right is a weekly series that looks at what the right wing is currently obsessing over, how it influences politics—and why you need to know.

President Donald Trump’s decision to trash the First Amendment and bar news outlets from the White House would seem to be compelling evidence of antagonism between the right and the media. 

But despite Trump’s constant complaining about the “fake news” and his attacks on reporters—particularly women—the true nature of the relationship is a little more complicated.

In fact, Republicans actually have a lot to thank the mainstream media for.

Fox News has dedicated the bulk of its coverage to denigrating the left while cheerleading for Republicans. The network played a key role in transforming Trump from a reality TV host to an influential politician, and their fates are forever tied.

But while it’s the most-watched cable news channel, Fox’s ability to set the overall media agenda is limited. It doesn’t have the same kind of sway with the general public as it does with diehard MAGA conservatives.

For that level of influence, the mainstream media is unrivaled. This would include outlets like the big three—ABC, CBS, and NBC—wire services like The Associated Press and Reuters; and newspapers like the Washington Post, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and even occasionally the Los Angeles Times.

Those outlets—along with cable news networks like CNN—have reach and influence that Fox envies.

But in recent years, when those outlets have banged the drum on major political stories, it has largely been in service of the Republican cause. 

For instance, the media went wall-to-wall during the 2016 election cycle in its coverage of Hillary Clinton’s email server, crowding out her presidential campaign message and burying critical reporting on Trump’s extremist views, corruption, and assault allegations.

And then in the 2024 cycle, the press fixated on former President Joe Biden’s age and gave short shrift to Trump’s equally advanced age and signs of mental decline. Ultimately, it was a significant blow to Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign.

Going back more than 20 years, the mainstream media was played like a fiddle by the right, helping push the lie about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. Former President George W. Bush couldn’t have convincingly made the case for a war in the Middle East without the array of papers and wire services that helped do his dirty work.

The right has had this sway over the mainstream press because it created a well-tuned and well-refined grievance machine designed to cajole the mainstream media into following its agenda. Conservatives invoke cries of “liberal media” bias and insist—via pundits and elected officials—that right-wing priorities must be reported on.

The left has nothing of this size or scale, which means that even when the political winds favor Democrats—like Barack Obama’s 2008 win—the results are still interpreted through the lens of what’s most favorable to conservatives. 

For example, within seconds of Obama’s decisive victory over former Sen. John McCain, it was argued that the country was still “center-right” and that Obama’s major success was in hiding his purportedly out-of-touch left-wing views. 

It was a patently absurd argument that much of the media went with.

But the constant insistence that the media open itself up to the right leads to spectacles like the 2016 campaign, when the press gave every Trump utterance and tantrum hundreds of hours in coverage and thousands of pages in print. 

By March 201, it was calculated that Trump had received more than $2 billion in “free media” coverage. And there were still eight months to go until the election.

Even after Trump’s disastrous handling of COVID-19, his instigation of the Jan. 6 insurrection, his open bigotry, and his overall failure to lead, the Times heralded the “age of Trump” last year.

It’s nearly impossible for any single figure, party, or ideological movement to buy coverage that good.

Trump doesn’t like any media that falls short of open propaganda that sings his praises. That’s the core of his fight against the White House press corps. 

But ultimately, when it comes to what’s covered, how it’s covered, and how widely it’s covered, the mainstream media is more ally than adversary to the right.

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