Wannabe Dictator, Autocrat, Authoritarian, King...It's All Semantics - Part VIII - Attempts to Control Information & News Media

The New York Times recently published an article Are We Losing Our Democracy? where they looked at various signs of dictatorship or autocracy and whether we had crossed that line. (I also provided the text in a Facebook post for those without NY Times access). I am going to look at each segment in turn and provide my own thoughts. 

#8 - Attempts to Control Information and News Media

Democratic governments prize accurate information as a guide to decision-making. Authoritarians seek to suppress inconvenient truths.

While this overlaps somewhat with Part I - Stifling Dissent and Free Speech, it goes much farther than that. Trump, going back to his first term, has been working overtime to undermine faith and confidence in a free press. Whatever you think about the major, mainstream, news organizations, however biased you believe they are, however beholden to corporate interests, they have resources and access that we, as ordinary citizens, do not. Trump, with his dismissal of any reporting that he doesn't like as "fake news" has convinced half of the voting public that anything negative about him is a lie. He has painted most of the media as "the enemy of the people"—a choice of words any dictator would love. 

Not satisfied with killing their reputation, Trump has weaponized the courts, filing lawsuits against ABS, Paramount (owner of CBS), Meta (owner of Facebook), YouTube—all which have settled for millions of dollars. Lawsuits against the New York Times and Wall Street Journal are underway. He has pressured Congress to defund NPR and to eliminate the Corporation For Public Broadcasting. News organization that cross him are barred from covering the White House; those who report on the Pentagon, other than a handful of right wing pseudo-journalists, have been banned for refusing to sign a restrictive agreement to only report pre-approved information. 

He has used his so-called Department of Government Efficiency to shut down departments that compile statistics critical for informed governmental decisions. He fired the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics after the agency reported disappointing job growth this summer. He shut down federal data collection efforts related to climate change, presumably because the information might encourage people to take action.

In place of an independent and free press, Mr. Trump evidently hopes to create a shadow ecosystem willing to promote his interests and talking points.

Part I - Stifling Dissent and Free Speech

Part II - Persecution of Political Opponents

Part III - Bypassing the Legislature

Part IV - Using The Military For Domestic & Political Purposes

Part V - Defies The Courts

Part VI - Declares National Emergencies Under False Pretenses

Part VII - Vilifies Marginalized Groups