this post was submitted on 24 Aug 2025
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Because Biden wouldn't threaten you with lawsuits if you said mean things about him.
I don't think it's lawsuits that the journalists are worried about.
But it is what their corporate bosses are worried about.
The corporate bosses are worried about falling out of favor with the fascist administration. The lawsuits are small potatoes compared to other tools available to a dictator.
The fascist administration they ACTIVELY HELPED GET INTO POWER. That's what they're afraid of
It's cowardly, but it's also rational. Nobody's opinion is going to be changed by something like that. And doing it would just result in Trump retaliating against them. Lawsuits are only one tiny portion of what they'd face. CBS arguably axed Colbert because Trump was using the FTC's approval of their merger as leverage. The AP didn't rename the Gulf of America and as a result they were barred from his press events.
Is it better to use the term "Gulf of America" if it means that you can still have reporters at his news conferences to ask tough questions? Probably. Is it better to avoid asking questions that are too tough if if means you get to go to the next news conference? Um... Is it better to not have op-eds that piss off Trump if it means that you can report on factual stories without too much interference? Err..
We're in a new situation now. It used to be that the press had some power because it was the only way for the President to get a message to the people. Even things like the Fireside Chats that were carried unedited still required that the NBC radio stations carry the broadcast. If the president tried to prevent the press from doing their job, they could cut him off from getting a message to the people. Now the press no longer has that power, the president can talk to his supporters directly using his own media platform.
A news conference used to be something where there was a balance of power. The president had some leverage because the news stations wanted to be there to report the news. They wanted to be able to ask tough questions that would make viewers tune in, or readers buy the newspaper. The news had some leverage because if the major networks didn't show up to a news conference, the things said at that news conference wouldn't reach the people.
Now it's completely one-sided. The press reporting the president's statements is nice to have, but he can reach people through his own media platform(s) if he chooses to. So he no longer needs them, but they still need him.