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NEWS & CURRENT AFFAIRS

The Nairobian

Why media is lame duck in Trump news era

Opinion

By Mark Oloo | Mar 16, 2025

**Journalists during a past event.** [File, Standard]

During Mr Donald Trump’s first term as president, American journalist James Warren picked my mind on several key issues in the media industry.

The interview, conducted in Chicago, Illinois, was featured in Vanity Fair, a publication known for its Hollywood coverage and narrative journalism. Mr Warren was the chief writer at Poynter Institute. To begin with, we discussed the resentment among minorities. That time, there was a huge debate over the US race relations. Hispanics and African-Americans hated Mr Trump’s racist tendencies.

Another critical issue was what I considered undue attention on Mr Trump’s theatrics at the expense of urgent issues like poverty in San Francisco and other key cities where homeless families had no recourse to a formal support system. Then the ever-rising gun violence.

I also questioned the editorial endorsement of candidates, which reverses journalistic fairness and balance. In the US media, Opinion sections can endorse candidates – something that attracts reprisals in Africa. We’ve seen how ‘disloyal’ publishers are frowned upon in Kenya when it comes to State advertising.

Above all, Mr Trump’s coverage had me rolling my eyes. Like a dog on a bone, the US media were obsessed with his drama. And with his return to the White House this year, media outlets have resumed their fixation on the half-truths he peddles. It’s the trend. Even the African media can’t resist falling for it.

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The Fourth Estate didn’t learn a thing between 2017 and 2021, when Mr Trump made 30,573 misleading claims – all of which were reported verbatim in the news. Can’t learn, won’t learn. Globally today, media outlets have become a facsimile of Mr Trump’s mind. But to what gain?

In feeding into the president’s hyperbole, journalists are reporting unguarded words literally: ‘Trump to take over Gaza, own it’ and ‘Trump says South Africa seizing land.’ You’ll find quotes like ‘fire and fury’ and ‘aliens and animals.’ He told Canada ‘don’t take the bait’ over tariffs. On Ukraine, the Don vowed to ‘end the war in 24 hours’ only to berate President Volodymyr Zelensky at the Oval office. Someone is ‘fixing’ the media! Mr Trump bullied AP for not referring to the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America. AP, Bloomberg and Reuters were then denied access to the Oval office. It’s also curious how Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos curtailed the scope of views on the paper’s Opinion pages. Meanwhile, X owner Elon Musk is the new blabbermouth. Meanwhile, US aid cuts, including $268 million support to independent media, have miffed free flow of information.

No matter the case, evidence is journalism’s foundation. Prioritising clicks and ratings – also called clickbait journalism – over informative reporting on Mr Trump and other loudmouths may be exciting now but will soon be costly. Audiences can see through lapses of ‘he said’ journalism. Already, trust has badly plummeted. Beyond sassy quotes, stories must address real issues. Most of Mr Trump’s angry sentiments don’t offer solutions. Like Mr Rodrigo Duterte, Mr Jair Bolsonaro and Mr Rigathi Gachagua who hated media but rode on it to build support, Mr Trump has muddied the news environment, forcing the media to tuck its tail and play ball. He echoes ex-president Richard Nixon’s ‘madman’ theory.

Anyone belittling free media deserves blackout. Lately, punchy headlines in The Standard, like a recent one on Uganda’s Muhoozi Kainerugaba, have attracted criticism. Why? It’s because elites want a coy media. But while Mr Trump and his ilk can freely rant on social media, covering them should hereafter include smart perspectives from experts and citizens. This can be a clever fact-checking that also onboards extra voices.

The Media Council of Kenya, the custodian of our ethics code, will agree that it’s wrong for outlets to merely restate news subjects’ words without a meticulous assessment. Recall the plan to build nine stadia in six months? Media didn’t query the feasibility of these pledges, or did they? But as Mr Trump does his thing, the media must reject ‘elite’ manipulation.

-The writer is a communications practitioner. X:@markoloo