The Trump administration escalated its long-standing criticism of the press Friday by launching a new official website section dedicated to condemning news coverage it deems distorted. The platform publicly lists media organizations and journalists under the headers “Misleading. Biased. Exposed,” initially naming the Boston Globe, CBS News, and the Independent as “media offenders of the week.” The White House accuses them of mischaracterizing Trump’s remarks about a video from Democratic lawmakers that encouraged troops to refuse illegal orders—remarks that included Trump accusing Democrats of “seditious behavior, punishable by death” and reposting a statement with the words “hang them.”
The website argues that coverage “subversively implied that President Trump had issued illegal orders to service members,” maintaining all his orders were lawful and that it is dangerous for Congress members to “incite insubordination.” An “Offender Hall of Shame” includes the Washington Post, CBS News, CNN, and MSNBC, featuring a searchable database of articles and journalists categorized with labels like “bias” and “malpractice.” A leaderboard currently ranks the Washington Post as the top offender, citing one of its reports on a since-reversed Coast Guard policy about hate symbols. The Post defended its “accurate, rigorous journalism” in response.
The list of outlets accused of bias extends to the Associated Press, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Politico, and Axios. This move is the latest in Trump's ongoing attacks on the media, following lawsuits, settlements, and his repeated “enemy of the people” rhetoric. The launch coincides with a recent wave of personal attacks by Trump on female journalists, whom he has called names like “piggy,” a “terrible person,” and “a third rate reporter who is ugly, both inside and out” following unfavorable reporting.
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Source: The Guardian
