The environment around US media has shifted dramatically over the last decade. Independence in US journalism has been a source of pride and confidence to the US people, but is this still true? The rise of Donald Trump’s political prowess saw increased pushback on critical journalism and a dramatic decrease in trust of national media outlets. With this in mind, we can explore how the US’s media landscape has evolved and why we are far from the collapse of our democracy. 

Huq and Ginsberg identify in their 2018 article the importance of a robust media to defend against constitutional regression. These authors see checks & balances on a federal level and a “robust civil society and media” as key factors which have stabilized US democracy. It is the independence of media which holds would-be autocrats accountable for their actions. Is this still true today?

            With the election of Donald Trump in 2016, we saw dramatic differences in how news was broadcast. In the first 100 days of Donald Trump’s election both CNN and NBC’s coverage of the president was 93% negative, including scandals and critiques of policy. On the other hand, in this same time period Fox news reported 52% of coverage on Donald Trump as positive (Patterson). 

Fox News and CNN rank first and second for primary source of online news for Americans , but are broadcasting dramatically different analyses of the same stories. These news networks have fundamentally aligned themselves with a particular side of the political spectrum, gathering an audience they now are responsive to. When there is blind affiliation with political parties, we lose a sense of genuine public criticism. 

This does not mean they have lost all autonomy though. While these organizations are politically aligned, this is a product of catering to audiences and the polarization in American politics. Media organizations have moved towards more extreme representations of politics in the US, but still hold power over the news they cover.

With the hike in negative coverage of political actors, we’ve seen the rise in new threats to our media. In his 2015 article, Varol discusses libel lawsuits as a mechanism for democratic erosion within the US. Varol emphasizes the role of the media as crucial to “government transparency,” and the commentary of, “people’s representatives and their policies.”

Libel lawsuits are cases brought against critics, often for defamation. These lawsuits pose threats to democracy when political candidates use them to silence their opposition, which as a result can “raise the costs of criticism” (Varol). This can undermine the, “public’s ability to monitor their political leaders,” (Varol) by eliminating critical voices as a whole. Huq & Ginsberg agree with this, seeing personalized attacks on critical reporting as a source of “Casting doubt on mainstream media sources,” (Huq & Ginsberg).

            Over the last decade we’ve seen libel lawsuits take place in the US, neglecting the strength of media outlets. In 2020, Donald Trump sued The New York Times, CNN, and The Washington Post for defamation in the affirmational pieces connecting him to the Russian election interference, claiming damages in the billions. All three of these cases were dismissed, but impacts existed. 

These highly politicized controversies have resulted in a massive decrease in the perceived credibility of US media outlets. From 2016 to 2021 trust of national news organizations amongst Republicans and right-leaning Americans dropped from 70% to 35%. For Democrats and left-leaning Americans, this figure dropped from 83% to 78% (Gottfried et. al.). The majority of these decreases came in 2019/20, the year where we saw mass politicization of the election and a presidential libel lawsuit against media outlets. Libel lawsuits were used by Donald Trump and this serves as a contributing factor to the decreased reputation of major news networks. 

            Now, comparing the state of US media to those of countries in democratic decay, we can better understand the impacts this has had on US democracy. Looking at Hungary, Victor Orban, an authoritarian leader in Hungary who was praised by Donald Trump as recently as this week, led the Fidesz party into power through both systemic and legal changes. Orban has been able to limit media pluralism using legal means, such as government control over the media and punishment for insulting coverage. The party currently presides in democratic downfall, with sweeping constitutional, judiciary, electoral, and media manipulations.

            We have seen Donald Trump take similar efforts to limit media pluralism. Donald Trump has engaged in the previously mentioned libel lawsuits, hurting the public faith in national media, and continuously calls his critics liars. In a 2017 tweet, Trump said to his supporters, “Boycott Fake News CNN.” It is this form of rhetoric which motivates his supporters to limit the variety of sources which they receive their news from. This can be identified in the previously mentioned decreased trust in media amongst his own party.

            Despite the similar efforts in attacking media, the US can still hold faith in the state of their democracy. We have seen attacks on US media outlets by Donald trump, which have caused reputational damage demonstrated in the numbers. While this does impact the strength of the media, fundamentally they remain independent and free to cover news as they wish. What occurred in Hungary, while looking reminiscent, included far larger institutional changes damaging the media.

            Furthermore, in Hungary, fundamental changes took place outside of the media, which enabled the bulk of democratic erosion. The 2011 enactment of a favorable constitution by the Fidesz party and later annulment of all court rulings saw the paving of a way to erode Hungary’s democracy.

            Checks and balances play a larger role than the polarization of the media in maintaining our democracy. A robust system of checks and balances can hold US politicians accountable, enough to prevent the freefall of our democracy. There would be enormous amounts of backlash if Trump’s administration were to have taken steps to workshop the Constitution and maintain power. The massive public backlash to the January 6th capital protests from all sides of the political spectrum demonstrates the power the American public still hold and the faith of our democracy.

            While the state of US media outlets today may be a sign for concern, our democracy maintains it stability. It is important that we remain cognizant of polarizing media, and instead of punishing journalists, we should promote a culmination of independent thought in our media.