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| Meta Title | Trump complains the US media arenât bending to his will. Arenât they? | Donald Trump | The Guardian |
| Meta Description | Despite owners and networks forsaking journalistic independence, Trump continues to threaten journalists |
| Meta Canonical | null |
| Boilerpipe Text | In the telling of
Donald Trump
and his
Republican
colleagues, the US media is fake news, stocked with â
radical-left monsters
â who are guilty of
âillegalâ reporting
on the president.
The reality is different.
Since the presidentâs election, a number of
US news organizations
have appeared to bend to his will, with a growing number of examples of billionaire owners seemingly setting aside journalistic independence in favor of staying in Trumpâs good grace.
Despite that acquiescence, Trump has continued to threaten journalists, branding pollsters ânegative criminalsâ who âshould be investigated for election fraudâ. In April, he attacked âradical lunatic Democrats and their comrades in the fake news mediaâ,
adding
: âThose lying to the American People on behalf of violent criminals have to be held responsible by the Agencies and the Courts.â
The attacks overlook the ways in which some outlets have submitted to Trumpâs will â either by executives settling frivolous lawsuits or wealthy owners interfering to avoid upsetting Trump.
Jeff Bezos, the Washington Post owner, ordered an overhaul to the paperâs editorial pages in February that effectively muzzled the newspaperâs criticism of Trump. The Los Angeles Times
dropped its endorsement
of Kamala Harris under pressure from Patrick Soon-Shiong, its billionaire owner.
In December, ABC News
settled a Trump lawsuit
, in a move first amendment experts said could foster more attacks on the media. And in another blow, the owner of CBS News is said to be considering settling a $10bn lawsuit brought against the network over the editing of a Kamala Harris interview.
The New York Times
reported
that lawyers for Paramount were planning to mediate with Trump over the issue, despite legal experts dismissing the lawsuit as frivolous. CBS said its show 60 Minutes edited one of Harrisâs answers for time, a normal journalistic practice. Paramount is in talks to be sold to Skydance, a sale that needs approval from the Trump administration. Shari Redstone, Paramountâs controlling shareholder, would land a huge windfall if the deal went ahead, and has told Paramountâs board of directors she is in favor of settling with Trump, according to the Times.
âThe people bowing to Trump are the owners of all of these media outlets, or top management,â said Heather Hendershot, a professor of communication studies and journalism at Northwestern University.
âItâs hugely problematic, and itâs absolutely driven by their bottom lines. Jeff Bezos doesnât need to make money off of the
Washington Post
. He could break even, or lose money on the Washington Post, and he would be just fine, but it could make trouble for him and his other business enterprises, so heâd rather toe [Trumpâs] line.â
It wasnât always this way. Hendershot drew a comparison with how CBS handled a complaint in the 1970s, over its The Selling of the Pentagon documentary. Back then, CBS was ordered to hand over all film and sound recordings from the film, but the president of CBS, Frank Stanton,
refused the subpoena
from the House commerce committee, risking going to jail.
The current-day CBS leadership appears to be less stout. In January, CBS
decided to comply
with the FCCâs request to release the âfull, unedited transcript and camera feedsâ of the Harris interview.
Semafor reported
that the potential for Redstone to meddle in 60 Minutesâ reporting is what led Bill Owens, the showâs executive producer, to leave the flagship news program earlier this year.
âOver the past months, it has become clear that I would not be allowed to run the show as I have always run it, to make independent decisions based on what was right for 60 Minutes, right for the audience,â Owens said at the time.
Last week, eight US senators, including Bernie Sanders,
wrote a letter
to Redstone and Paramount Globalâs board describing the lawsuit as âan attack on the United States Constitution and the First Amendmentâ and urging them not to settle with Trump.
âIt has absolutely no merit and it cannot stand,â the senators said. They said Trumpâs lawsuit is âa blatant attempt to intimidate the media and those who speak out against himâ.
CBS News does not appear to have allowed the lawsuit to affect its coverage. Earlier this month, 60 Minutes ran
a long report
on Trumpâs presidential orders targeting law firms.
âIn recent weeks, President Trump has signed orders against several law firms â orders with the power to destroy them,â 60 Minutes host Scott Pelley said at the start of the show. âThat matters because lawsuits have been a check on the presidentâs power.â
Matt Gertz, a senior fellow at Media Matters for America, a watchdog group, said
CBS
News âcontinued to do hard-hitting reporting on the Trump administrationâ.
âWill they still be able to do that six months, a year, down the road? We donât know,â Gertz said.
âThe fact that we need to have these conversations, the fact that we have the president openly pushing for investigations into particular media outlets â and that we have those institutions, apparently in response, trying to find ways to assuage him â all of that is not something we should be comfortable with in a liberal democracy.â
Gertz said some owners made a miscalculation in bowing to Trump, overestimating his support among voters and thus his ability to target whichever institutions he chooses. But recent polling has shown that Trump is deeply unpopular, with even his support among
Republicans
falling.
âThe landscape is moving quickly under the feet of some of these corporate media owners, and they should recognize that and grow spines and try to protect the crown jewels of the US free press that they are overseeing,â Gertz said.
There is also the sense that settling with Trump over a particular issue could be a foolâs errand. Trumpâs insistence on fawning, unquestioning coverage means even he is likely to continue to be upset by mainstream media coverage â even if an organization has cowed to him on a previous story.
While Trump-soothing movements may continue in the background, journalists have largely resisted the direction their outletsâ owners have taken. The Washington Post and
Los Angeles Times
have continued to interrogate the excesses of Trumpâs presidency, as have reporters elsewhere, although the threat of interference in the editorial process is higher than ever.
Gertz said âwe will never really be able to knowâ whether editors are forced to bow to ownersâ pressure.
âSo much of what happens in the media happens in small, private discussions, where editors and reporters try to decide on what to cover and how to cover it. These stories that are left unpublished, we generally just wonât be able to tell if they should have run, if there was enough support for them,â he said.
âI think that to some extent, we wonât know whether weâve lost the free press until itâs gone.â |
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Donald Trump speaks with the media in Washington DC on 4 May. Photograph: Chris Kleponis/EPA
[View image in fullscreen](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/11/trump-media-journalists-60-minutes#img-1)
Donald Trump speaks with the media in Washington DC on 4 May. Photograph: Chris Kleponis/EPA
[Donald Trump](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/donaldtrump)
This article is more than **10 months old**
[Analysis](https://www.theguardian.com/tone/analysis)
# Trump complains the US media arenât bending to his will. Arenât they?
This article is more than 10 months old
[Adam Gabbatt](https://www.theguardian.com/profile/adam-gabbatt)
Despite owners and networks forsaking journalistic independence, Trump continues to threaten journalists
Sun 11 May 2025 13.00 BST
Last modified on Mon 12 May 2025 05.11 BST
Share
In the telling of [Donald Trump](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/donaldtrump) and his [Republican](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/republicans) colleagues, the US media is fake news, stocked with â[radical-left monsters](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-administration/trump-signs-executive-order-stop-federal-funding-npr-pbs-rcna204375)â who are guilty of [âillegalâ reporting](https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20250314-trump-blasts-foes-and-media-in-speech-at-department-of-injustice) on the president.
The reality is different.
Since the presidentâs election, a number of [US news organizations](https://www.theguardian.com/media/us-press-publishing) have appeared to bend to his will, with a growing number of examples of billionaire owners seemingly setting aside journalistic independence in favor of staying in Trumpâs good grace.
Despite that acquiescence, Trump has continued to threaten journalists, branding pollsters ânegative criminalsâ who âshould be investigated for election fraudâ. In April, he attacked âradical lunatic Democrats and their comrades in the fake news mediaâ, [adding](https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114372349322321344): âThose lying to the American People on behalf of violent criminals have to be held responsible by the Agencies and the Courts.â
[Crass, flashy, outrageous: Trump media blitz redefines meaning of presidential Read more](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/10/trump-media-white-house-communications)
The attacks overlook the ways in which some outlets have submitted to Trumpâs will â either by executives settling frivolous lawsuits or wealthy owners interfering to avoid upsetting Trump.
Jeff Bezos, the Washington Post owner, ordered an overhaul to the paperâs editorial pages in February that effectively muzzled the newspaperâs criticism of Trump. The Los Angeles Times [dropped its endorsement](https://www.theguardian.com/media/2024/oct/23/la-times-editor-resigns-presidential-endorsement) of Kamala Harris under pressure from Patrick Soon-Shiong, its billionaire owner.
In December, ABC News [settled a Trump lawsuit](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/dec/21/trump-media-assault-silence-criticism), in a move first amendment experts said could foster more attacks on the media. And in another blow, the owner of CBS News is said to be considering settling a \$10bn lawsuit brought against the network over the editing of a Kamala Harris interview.
The New York Times [reported](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/29/business/media/paramount-cbs-60-minutes-trump-lawsuit.html) that lawyers for Paramount were planning to mediate with Trump over the issue, despite legal experts dismissing the lawsuit as frivolous. CBS said its show 60 Minutes edited one of Harrisâs answers for time, a normal journalistic practice. Paramount is in talks to be sold to Skydance, a sale that needs approval from the Trump administration. Shari Redstone, Paramountâs controlling shareholder, would land a huge windfall if the deal went ahead, and has told Paramountâs board of directors she is in favor of settling with Trump, according to the Times.
âThe people bowing to Trump are the owners of all of these media outlets, or top management,â said Heather Hendershot, a professor of communication studies and journalism at Northwestern University.
âItâs hugely problematic, and itâs absolutely driven by their bottom lines. Jeff Bezos doesnât need to make money off of the [Washington Post](https://www.theguardian.com/media/washington-post). He could break even, or lose money on the Washington Post, and he would be just fine, but it could make trouble for him and his other business enterprises, so heâd rather toe \[Trumpâs\] line.â
It wasnât always this way. Hendershot drew a comparison with how CBS handled a complaint in the 1970s, over its The Selling of the Pentagon documentary. Back then, CBS was ordered to hand over all film and sound recordings from the film, but the president of CBS, Frank Stanton, [refused the subpoena](https://library.cqpress.com/cqalmanac/document.php?id=cqal71-1254672) from the House commerce committee, risking going to jail.
The current-day CBS leadership appears to be less stout. In January, CBS [decided to comply](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cbs-news-fcc-60-minutes/) with the FCCâs request to release the âfull, unedited transcript and camera feedsâ of the Harris interview.
[âFight backâ: journalist taking Trump administration to court calls for media to resist attacks Read more](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/05/patsy-widakuswara-voice-of-america-lawsuit-trump-administration-press-freedom)
[Semafor reported](https://www.semafor.com/article/04/22/2025/shari-redstone-kept-tabs-on-60-minutes-segments-on-trump) that the potential for Redstone to meddle in 60 Minutesâ reporting is what led Bill Owens, the showâs executive producer, to leave the flagship news program earlier this year.
âOver the past months, it has become clear that I would not be allowed to run the show as I have always run it, to make independent decisions based on what was right for 60 Minutes, right for the audience,â Owens said at the time.
Last week, eight US senators, including Bernie Sanders, [wrote a letter](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/07/bernie-sanders-paramount-60-minutes) to Redstone and Paramount Globalâs board describing the lawsuit as âan attack on the United States Constitution and the First Amendmentâ and urging them not to settle with Trump.
âIt has absolutely no merit and it cannot stand,â the senators said. They said Trumpâs lawsuit is âa blatant attempt to intimidate the media and those who speak out against himâ.
CBS News does not appear to have allowed the lawsuit to affect its coverage. Earlier this month, 60 Minutes ran [a long report](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-orders-target-law-firms-some-lawyers-say-that-threatens-rule-of-law-60-minutes-transcript/) on Trumpâs presidential orders targeting law firms.
âIn recent weeks, President Trump has signed orders against several law firms â orders with the power to destroy them,â 60 Minutes host Scott Pelley said at the start of the show. âThat matters because lawsuits have been a check on the presidentâs power.â
Matt Gertz, a senior fellow at Media Matters for America, a watchdog group, said [CBS](https://www.theguardian.com/media/cbs) News âcontinued to do hard-hitting reporting on the Trump administrationâ.
âWill they still be able to do that six months, a year, down the road? We donât know,â Gertz said.
âThe fact that we need to have these conversations, the fact that we have the president openly pushing for investigations into particular media outlets â and that we have those institutions, apparently in response, trying to find ways to assuage him â all of that is not something we should be comfortable with in a liberal democracy.â
Gertz said some owners made a miscalculation in bowing to Trump, overestimating his support among voters and thus his ability to target whichever institutions he chooses. But recent polling has shown that Trump is deeply unpopular, with even his support among [Republicans](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/republicans) falling.
[The loss of editorial freedom at 60 Minutes is a sorry milestone for US media Margaret Sullivan  Read more](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/may/01/60-minutes-press-freedom)
âThe landscape is moving quickly under the feet of some of these corporate media owners, and they should recognize that and grow spines and try to protect the crown jewels of the US free press that they are overseeing,â Gertz said.
There is also the sense that settling with Trump over a particular issue could be a foolâs errand. Trumpâs insistence on fawning, unquestioning coverage means even he is likely to continue to be upset by mainstream media coverage â even if an organization has cowed to him on a previous story.
While Trump-soothing movements may continue in the background, journalists have largely resisted the direction their outletsâ owners have taken. The Washington Post and [Los Angeles Times](https://www.theguardian.com/media/los-angeles-times) have continued to interrogate the excesses of Trumpâs presidency, as have reporters elsewhere, although the threat of interference in the editorial process is higher than ever.
Gertz said âwe will never really be able to knowâ whether editors are forced to bow to ownersâ pressure.
âSo much of what happens in the media happens in small, private discussions, where editors and reporters try to decide on what to cover and how to cover it. These stories that are left unpublished, we generally just wonât be able to tell if they should have run, if there was enough support for them,â he said.
âI think that to some extent, we wonât know whether weâve lost the free press until itâs gone.â
Explore more on these topics
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| Readable Markdown | In the telling of [Donald Trump](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/donaldtrump) and his [Republican](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/republicans) colleagues, the US media is fake news, stocked with â[radical-left monsters](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-administration/trump-signs-executive-order-stop-federal-funding-npr-pbs-rcna204375)â who are guilty of [âillegalâ reporting](https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20250314-trump-blasts-foes-and-media-in-speech-at-department-of-injustice) on the president.
The reality is different.
Since the presidentâs election, a number of [US news organizations](https://www.theguardian.com/media/us-press-publishing) have appeared to bend to his will, with a growing number of examples of billionaire owners seemingly setting aside journalistic independence in favor of staying in Trumpâs good grace.
Despite that acquiescence, Trump has continued to threaten journalists, branding pollsters ânegative criminalsâ who âshould be investigated for election fraudâ. In April, he attacked âradical lunatic Democrats and their comrades in the fake news mediaâ, [adding](https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114372349322321344): âThose lying to the American People on behalf of violent criminals have to be held responsible by the Agencies and the Courts.â
The attacks overlook the ways in which some outlets have submitted to Trumpâs will â either by executives settling frivolous lawsuits or wealthy owners interfering to avoid upsetting Trump.
Jeff Bezos, the Washington Post owner, ordered an overhaul to the paperâs editorial pages in February that effectively muzzled the newspaperâs criticism of Trump. The Los Angeles Times [dropped its endorsement](https://www.theguardian.com/media/2024/oct/23/la-times-editor-resigns-presidential-endorsement) of Kamala Harris under pressure from Patrick Soon-Shiong, its billionaire owner.
In December, ABC News [settled a Trump lawsuit](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/dec/21/trump-media-assault-silence-criticism), in a move first amendment experts said could foster more attacks on the media. And in another blow, the owner of CBS News is said to be considering settling a \$10bn lawsuit brought against the network over the editing of a Kamala Harris interview.
The New York Times [reported](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/29/business/media/paramount-cbs-60-minutes-trump-lawsuit.html) that lawyers for Paramount were planning to mediate with Trump over the issue, despite legal experts dismissing the lawsuit as frivolous. CBS said its show 60 Minutes edited one of Harrisâs answers for time, a normal journalistic practice. Paramount is in talks to be sold to Skydance, a sale that needs approval from the Trump administration. Shari Redstone, Paramountâs controlling shareholder, would land a huge windfall if the deal went ahead, and has told Paramountâs board of directors she is in favor of settling with Trump, according to the Times.
âThe people bowing to Trump are the owners of all of these media outlets, or top management,â said Heather Hendershot, a professor of communication studies and journalism at Northwestern University.
âItâs hugely problematic, and itâs absolutely driven by their bottom lines. Jeff Bezos doesnât need to make money off of the [Washington Post](https://www.theguardian.com/media/washington-post). He could break even, or lose money on the Washington Post, and he would be just fine, but it could make trouble for him and his other business enterprises, so heâd rather toe \[Trumpâs\] line.â
It wasnât always this way. Hendershot drew a comparison with how CBS handled a complaint in the 1970s, over its The Selling of the Pentagon documentary. Back then, CBS was ordered to hand over all film and sound recordings from the film, but the president of CBS, Frank Stanton, [refused the subpoena](https://library.cqpress.com/cqalmanac/document.php?id=cqal71-1254672) from the House commerce committee, risking going to jail.
The current-day CBS leadership appears to be less stout. In January, CBS [decided to comply](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cbs-news-fcc-60-minutes/) with the FCCâs request to release the âfull, unedited transcript and camera feedsâ of the Harris interview.
[Semafor reported](https://www.semafor.com/article/04/22/2025/shari-redstone-kept-tabs-on-60-minutes-segments-on-trump) that the potential for Redstone to meddle in 60 Minutesâ reporting is what led Bill Owens, the showâs executive producer, to leave the flagship news program earlier this year.
âOver the past months, it has become clear that I would not be allowed to run the show as I have always run it, to make independent decisions based on what was right for 60 Minutes, right for the audience,â Owens said at the time.
Last week, eight US senators, including Bernie Sanders, [wrote a letter](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/07/bernie-sanders-paramount-60-minutes) to Redstone and Paramount Globalâs board describing the lawsuit as âan attack on the United States Constitution and the First Amendmentâ and urging them not to settle with Trump.
âIt has absolutely no merit and it cannot stand,â the senators said. They said Trumpâs lawsuit is âa blatant attempt to intimidate the media and those who speak out against himâ.
CBS News does not appear to have allowed the lawsuit to affect its coverage. Earlier this month, 60 Minutes ran [a long report](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-orders-target-law-firms-some-lawyers-say-that-threatens-rule-of-law-60-minutes-transcript/) on Trumpâs presidential orders targeting law firms.
âIn recent weeks, President Trump has signed orders against several law firms â orders with the power to destroy them,â 60 Minutes host Scott Pelley said at the start of the show. âThat matters because lawsuits have been a check on the presidentâs power.â
Matt Gertz, a senior fellow at Media Matters for America, a watchdog group, said [CBS](https://www.theguardian.com/media/cbs) News âcontinued to do hard-hitting reporting on the Trump administrationâ.
âWill they still be able to do that six months, a year, down the road? We donât know,â Gertz said.
âThe fact that we need to have these conversations, the fact that we have the president openly pushing for investigations into particular media outlets â and that we have those institutions, apparently in response, trying to find ways to assuage him â all of that is not something we should be comfortable with in a liberal democracy.â
Gertz said some owners made a miscalculation in bowing to Trump, overestimating his support among voters and thus his ability to target whichever institutions he chooses. But recent polling has shown that Trump is deeply unpopular, with even his support among [Republicans](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/republicans) falling.
âThe landscape is moving quickly under the feet of some of these corporate media owners, and they should recognize that and grow spines and try to protect the crown jewels of the US free press that they are overseeing,â Gertz said.
There is also the sense that settling with Trump over a particular issue could be a foolâs errand. Trumpâs insistence on fawning, unquestioning coverage means even he is likely to continue to be upset by mainstream media coverage â even if an organization has cowed to him on a previous story.
While Trump-soothing movements may continue in the background, journalists have largely resisted the direction their outletsâ owners have taken. The Washington Post and [Los Angeles Times](https://www.theguardian.com/media/los-angeles-times) have continued to interrogate the excesses of Trumpâs presidency, as have reporters elsewhere, although the threat of interference in the editorial process is higher than ever.
Gertz said âwe will never really be able to knowâ whether editors are forced to bow to ownersâ pressure.
âSo much of what happens in the media happens in small, private discussions, where editors and reporters try to decide on what to cover and how to cover it. These stories that are left unpublished, we generally just wonât be able to tell if they should have run, if there was enough support for them,â he said.
âI think that to some extent, we wonât know whether weâve lost the free press until itâs gone.â |
| Shard | 99 (laksa) |
| Root Hash | 4161074618625082499 |
| Unparsed URL | com,theguardian!www,/us-news/2025/may/11/trump-media-journalists-60-minutes s443 |