Capital Press Club Podcast
Capital Press Club Podcast
CPC Legacy Podcast #23 - Media Integrity and Political Influence in Today's Landscape
What if media's silence signals a seismic shift in political influence? In this compelling episode of the Capital Press Club Legacy Podcast, I, Dr. Colin Campbell, along with my insightful guest Derek Kenney, navigate the treacherous waters of media integrity and political dynamics in light of recent U.S. election outcomes. We kick things off by drawing startling parallels between the historical 1898 Wilmington coup and today's media landscape, highlighting the unprecedented decision by leading newspapers to refrain from endorsing a presidential candidate. This bold step raises questions about political pressures and the challenges journalists face in maintaining their independence amidst a backdrop of divisive rhetoric from the reelected president.
Our exploration doesn't stop there. We confront the troubling rise of "alternative facts" and the increase in racially charged messaging that threatens journalistic freedom and truth. This discussion delves into the ways extremist groups have been emboldened, and how media reporting, particularly by networks like Fox News and OAN, can skew public perception. Despite these challenges, we celebrate the peaceful transition of power and reaffirm our steadfast commitment to the principles of responsible journalism. Join us as we tackle these pressing issues head-on and underscore our dedication to delivering truthful narratives, particularly in support of marginalized communities.
Welcome back for episode 23 of the Capital Press Club Legacy Podcast. I'm your host, dr Colin Campbell. On this day in Black history in 1898, that's right, november 10th 1898, we may have had the only coup d'etat on record in, or only white. This mob of white men were so incensed that they would have different people other than white men as part of the city council that they went crazy and decided to burn down the city and again, the only African American newspaper in the state at that time. This led to the deaths of at least 14, and some estimates put it as high as 60, or perhaps even more Black people being killed, mostly Black men. Of course, that exact number is never known, but we do know that dozens of Black people were killed on that day, which led to the mass exodus of thousands of Black Americans to other parts of the country.
Speaker 1:And now, after the most recent election here in the United States, there are more questions about not just the country, but media specifically.
Speaker 1:With more on this, and just to discuss and chop it up a bit, I'm bringing in my man, derek Kenney, who is always in front of the camera and behind the camera working his magic.
Speaker 1:Derek, you know we had an extraordinary election just this past week, with the former president now being the next president again beating Kamala Harris, who rose to ascent as probably the woman who has gotten the farthest or the closest to being elected as president of the United States, and the reason why we're discussing this is not to just talk about politics but the future of media. We're being faced with a former president, soon to be president again. President elect, I'll call him from now on. The president elect is a person who's been pretty adversarial with the media, coining the term fake news. He's also said that he would pull licenses from various news productions that he didn't agree with, and most recently, I think that you have a clip that you wanted to show about his reference to media and how deleterious that could be for members of media going forward, yeah, and it might need to lend to an overall discussion of the power of the words from who might be a person that might be arguably the most powerful person in the world.
Speaker 2:So his words inspire action from top, very top of government or world policy to John Q America, just residents and citizens. So it's very disturbing when we look at something like this where at a rally, he talks about or speaks jokingly about placing journalists and media organizations in harm's way.
Speaker 1:The former president begins a swing state blitz this morning in North Carolina, the day after telling supporters, he quote should not have left the White House after the last election.
Speaker 3:In Pennsylvania yesterday, trump expanded on the dark rhetoric that has marked the final weeks of his campaign. He repeated false claims of election fraud, while calling the Democratic Party quote demonic, and he suggested he wouldn't be bothered if another attempted assassination put reporters covering his campaign in harm's way. I have this piece of glass here, but all we have really over here is the fake news, and to get me somebody would have to shoot through the fake news, and I don't mind that so much.
Speaker 4:I don't mind. In the past, trump has called for shutting down TV networks over news coverage he didn't like and suggested that if the Washington Post went out of business it would be good for the country.
Speaker 1:A campaign spokesman said yesterday's remarks had quote nothing to do with the media being harmed out of that. When he mentions the Washington Post, that he also has already created a ripple effect in media even before he's been inaugurated, and that is with the Washington Post not endorsing a candidate for the first time in 36 years something we've spoken about previously in our podcast.
Speaker 1:We had Gannett newspapers also not endorsing, which included USA Today. We had the LA Times refusing to endorse a candidate, and this broke from tradition for many newspapers. So we're already seeing an effect a Trump-like effect on how media are making decisions, not to mention that this is someone who has been shot at before, so for him to make those seemingly reckless comments could put media in harm's way by terrorist activity and potentially by the former, by the president elect himself, who may try to pull licensing or shut down media outlets that may not always frame him most positively, may not always frame him most positively. And furthermore, derek, I don't want to filibuster this whole thing, but could this affect media in a way that it would skew or be biased towards him for fear that they could be shut down? So, instead of giving us the truth and looking at his policies in a more critical way, they look at it in a more favorable way, so that they think it will protect them from being shut down or disrupted in some way. One might argue that it's already happening.
Speaker 2:You know, the evidence is that these major, major, highly influential media organizations that have been trusted for many years and we've talked about the need for America to lean on institutions like the Washington Post, like the LA Times, that have journalistic integrity, to find real and true information, to possibly be affected by the President of the United States, to do something, make decisions that are not based on editorial decisions, not based on journalism, not based on integrity, but on fear or undue influence. For instance, as you head into an election, people look towards these organizations for some type of leadership and in past years probably the last 70 years, the last 40 years or so they'd get that in the form of those recommendations from the LA Times or the Washington Post, from the Gannett newspaper group. And I'm not sure if you were, and we're not a political, we're not a political experts and we're not assessing the politics of this, we're not looking at how this may have necessarily affected the election, but we have to say it did. You know how many thousands. These are all local newspapers, but they have a national readership and leaders in the industry really are affected. And then Gannett, when we found out that Gannett News followed suit along with all the others and decided that they're not going to make a recommendation as well.
Speaker 2:And this is even this is, I would say this is a harder hit because Gannett's not only a national news organization but it has a network of smaller papers that provide hyper local news and influence across the country. So it's really, it's really disturbing in some way that he's willing, he's able and I guess the president's always been able to affect this type of change in organizations and businesses of all types, but he's willing and kind of flippant about calling for change or intimidating these mighty institutions. Intimidating these mighty institutions and I'm not saying they were intimidated, because perhaps they weren't, perhaps there are good business reasons for why they did what they did and maybe there are reasons that are outside what looks to be intimidation or trying to curry favor from the incoming president-elect.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he's definitely very cavalier about the way that he spoke about being about somebody possibly shooting through the fake news media or fake news to get to him.
Speaker 1:Very reckless speech, considering that he has been a target before. And one of the hallmarks of our democracy, or what we call a democracy in our nation, is a free press, something called the fourth column or the fourth institution, one that keeps all of the other branches of government held to account. And we're looking at an election now where the president-elect may have political and may be politically leaning towards him in all the branches of government. So it's almost like could he possibly start to control media without any accountability, because he has a heavy influence over Congress and the Supreme Court and, of course, him being a part of the executive branch, so this could have some serious implications about media going forward. We're not hearing this conversation a whole lot in legacy media. I wonder if they're afraid to talk about it because again we have seen the president threaten to pull licenses from various broadcast outlets. We saw him try to ban reporters from the White House because of what were antagonistic questions. So this won't be a president who is unfamiliar with being disruptive or antagonistic towards media.
Speaker 2:No, not at all.
Speaker 2:Not at all, and this is not an indictment of the president.
Speaker 2:No, he's free to speak his mind, as any resident or citizen of the United States of America is willing to speak their mind, but we'd love to see him show a bit more responsibility when he's talking about the lives of people that are only doing their jobs or ensuring that America has access to a free press and news that's delivered with integrity, with thought and with skill, that tells the whole story, a complete story done by people that are good at doing that. There's just a world of fake news out here. Colin, and these legacy organizations may be the last bastion of truth for America and for them to be in jeopardy physically as individuals covering the news or as larger organizations that are being threatened to face some type of retribution for how they report the news. It's startling, it's scary. I can't imagine. I don't want to live in an America where there is no truth or people are afraid to speak the truth, especially those that have been able to speak the truth for the duration of our democracy, like the large part of our democracy, post-industrial revolution.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I would dare to say that when we have these breaches of trust in government, when we see this disruption, it's really the communities, minority communities, that are affected most impactfully. Where you know you have the greater majority is able to buffer some of the less appealing overtures from the government. You have many Black Americans who could be at risk, especially when we already have challenges with our media as it is trying to get different messages out there. We have to remember that in the Trump, during the Trump administration, the term fake news was very popular and so was the term alternative facts. What exactly are alternative facts? I really don't know. That was something that Kellyanne Conway said, one of the, I guess, spokespeople. I wouldn't say she was the official White House spokesperson, but she was kind of like an advocate or a Trump whisperer, so to speak, administration right. She kind of put into words what the president at that time was thinking, and alternative facts was something that I remember her saying.
Speaker 1:So are we in for another era of this kind of mindset where the truth can be altered in a way that doesn't even really represent the truth anymore but is to be accepted as such? And I think that's what a lot of people are worried about, as well as the accessibility and the proliferation of freedom of speech when it comes to our media, or will it be controlled, much like in an autocrat nation which he also has, in the past, aligned himself with? This is not me trying to take a political side or anything, but he has spoken very friendly of Vladimir Putin, of Kim Jong-un, of Xi Jinping. These are all people who have really cramped down on any type of opposition news or opposition media to them, which is really antithetical to the ethos of America. But under new leadership, with this in mind, we may be faced with a new paradigm.
Speaker 2:Yeah yeah.
Speaker 2:And I think I can't talk about it enough. Yeah, yeah, and I think I can't talk about it enough. The term leadership, kind of how important it is, and when I speak about him being more responsible with his words, is that when he speaks with such recklessness, in some ways in a manner that hurts some audiences directly, it kind of emboldens the darker side of America that we thought might be part of the past or that have descended so far in our past that they're not relevant anymore. But I think, as we'll talk about later, they are still very relevant and maybe they are a bit more relevant and emboldened thanks to in no small, I guess attribution to the way that the president communicates or perhaps what his presidency means to many Americans. But it saddens me as an American that he doesn't realize how powerful he is. I'm not saying he's a bad person. I just don't know if he fully realizes that his words can hurt people. His words can affect action in people that really see him as they should, as the most powerful man in the nation and the leader of one of the most powerful countries in the world.
Speaker 2:He is our leader. You know all of us, but it's his responsibility to us, as our president, to be responsible with what he says. You know if it's a joke. You know make sure people know it's a joke. You know you don't want to have some 16-year-old going around thinking he needs to eliminate fake news because he heard Donald Trump say something about make some innuendo about it during a speech. You know he has to be a lot more responsible with his words.
Speaker 2:He has the most powerful words in the world right now and it's not always been aligned, associated with the truth, and that's a sad day. But I'm praying for him as a president. I hope that he does good for the country and does a lot better than he's done in the past. But it's concerning for me, especially when he attacks the media and puts the media in a position where it seems that they are making decisions that aren't based on what's best for the American public or for their media organizations. So I'm very. It's an interesting time that we live in. So I'm very it's an interesting time that we live in.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know, one of the things that we did discuss was how this can impact members of Black society, and we're already seeing, just again, a ripple effect of just the way that communications are coming up when it deals with members of our society, of our community. And one of the things going back to North Carolina they're looking at are allegedly some racist texts or messages coming out of the Ku Klux Klan in North Carolina that would antagonize Black women from now until the inauguration, and who's to say that they wouldn't do it afterwards. But part of this messaging was that these attacks, rhetorical attacks would be harassing to Black women from now until towards the end of January. So this again we were seeing, and why are we tying this into again the political realm? Well, they said, until the inauguration. So obviously this has a political tie to it, and these messages came out around November 2nd. So this is just a few days before election day, where these things were disseminated and where people started to read them.
Speaker 1:Now, again, the FBI, local law officials, law enforcement officers are investigating this, but of course, so far they have not said who is responsible for these messages. They do believe that they're connected to the Ku Klux Klan which, as we know, has a history of being antagonistic and murderous towards black people. Very biased negative propaganda about Black Americans and also people of other racialized groups who are non-white. Again, this is a very sinister group that is still in existence. Go figure, A few years ago when Jeff Sessions was the Attorney General, again during the Trump administration, where he wanted to go after Black extremists Black identity extremists was going to be the focus of that administration to go after them.
Speaker 1:I don't know what a Black identity extremist is. I haven't heard any arrests of any Black identity extremists in recent days, but I can tell you that Ku Klux Klan allegedly is sending out messages, and we've heard about the Ku Klux Klan since the post-reconstruction era at the beginning of the 20th century. So it's very interesting how this group is now digitally sophisticated enough to send out terrorist messages to Black women. But Black identity extremists was the focus of the first Trump administration as far as threats to our society. So this is something else we'll be looking out for as far as communication and media in our space for, conceivably, at least the next four years.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it is. I feel like I'm about to break the fourth wall, but those tweets pissed me off. Saying Mass is going to lead you to be at the plantation at 12 am and sending these tweets to women in Georgia, and then a little 14-year-old girl receiving some type of tweet referring to her indirectly as a slave or that she needs to act accordingly and have this type of harassment take place only days before an election, the major election.
Speaker 1:No, derek, are we able to bring up that tweet? So now this is in reference to another tweet that was sent out after the election. So now, this is in reference to another tweet that was sent out after the election, so that was just happened before the election, where you had possibly tweet messages disseminated by the KKK where they're plotting against black people. This is out of North Carolina. But then you had tweets, racist tweets after this and this one is saying do you have it?
Speaker 1:Are you able to bring it up DK? And I could read it if you have it.
Speaker 2:I don't know if I have the actual tweets.
Speaker 1:Okay, let me read it really quick. This is what the tweet said. Greetings to the addressee. I won't say the name. You have been selected to pick cotton at the nearest plantation, starting 11-7-2024. Please be ready at 8 am sharp with your belongings. Our executive slave catchers pick you up in a brown van. Be prepared to be searched once you've entered the plantation. You are in Plantation Group 7. Listen, I don't know what the what plantation group seven means and I read it as it was typed.
Speaker 1:As you could tell, probably not the most literate person writing these tweets, but again, these were tweets that were sent out to various women, uh, and, as you said, derek, somebody who was 14 old, so you had children who were very upset by this learning that in what is supposed to be a post-racial America that George Stephanopoulos said many years ago, I think after Obama was elected that they are not in anywhere close to a post-racial America, that it's still very racialized. At the same time, you hear politicians saying that we don't live in a racist country. I think that's aspirational, but the reality of it is in media and communications that we're getting every day, especially on our cell phones and tablets, we're seeing this uptick in racist messaging and I think that's very concerning, especially, you know, in an upcoming administration that has not been too sensitive to those types of situations.
Speaker 2:And I wonder how the president's administration will respond, if indeed this is a trend where native terrorist organizations feel emboldened to use technology to harass and intimidate and terrorize residents, citizens all over the country. How will Trump's Justice Department deal with that? How will Trump, as a leader of our country, deal with attacks on members of its citizens? This is what we'll have to find out of its citizens. This is what we'll have to find out, we as a Well, we as Capitol President, but I will say that we need to see what happens and maybe we need to make sure that we hold the president accountable for dealing with these type of things that he may have inadvertently or indirectly caused by the way he carries himself or the way he messages or the way he leads, maybe without purpose. I'm not saying he's trying to guide people towards any organizations or any actions, but it seems to be rising in the wake of his popularity and incoming presidency.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it definitely has. I mean, we're talking about it right now is that it surrounded the election and it surrounded a person who has been elevated by lots of racist characters. Let's be frank. There have been videos of people flying Nazi flags and aligning themselves with the KKK, as they also fly a Trump flag or an American flag zipping around in a boat. I think this happened in Jupiter, florida, recently.
Speaker 1:So this is again almost like a way of saying, hey, we have a safe space during my presidency to talk about whatever you feel like saying to minority groups, no matter how racist it is. We can only hope. Right now, again, we're speculating, so I do want to put that out there. We don't know for sure what the president-elect is going to do, but if passed this prologue, it does seem like he would probably not pursue some of these more racialized or racist incidents that seem to target people based on their ethnicity or their race. Again, we'll have to see.
Speaker 1:We don't know exactly right now and I think that's what is raising a lot of concerns and also the media coverage surrounding it.
Speaker 1:When you look at some of the more conservative media, say Fox News, for example conservative media say Fox News, for example looking at these incidents of racist tweets, it's not being covered as much as it is in other media outlets.
Speaker 1:You're getting a majority of the population who may not even be aware that this is going on, if they indeed care, but they wouldn't know if they cared or not, because they're not even being introduced to that information. The reason why I say that for those who may not be following my train of thought here is that Fox News is the largest or most watched cable news program in the country. So therefore, the majority of the population watching news coverage is watching what's happening on Fox News and they base their reality on what they're seeing on Fox News or OAN. So if they're not seeing that there's an uptick in racist rhetoric, that the racist tweets were sent out just after Trump was elected, they're not accepting that as part of the reality of what's happening in America, which can make things a lot more difficult for those who are experiencing this as part of their reality. So, again, that's why it's kind of troubling, right? Dk?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and the trouble with that is exactly what you said is that earlier or like last year, sometime was it the last couple of years Fox News was sued and, as a result of that suit, fox News was sued and, as a result of that suit, they now proclaim themselves to be an entertainment news or entertainment TV organization do they proclaim themselves as a news? Organization.
Speaker 1:I thought they reverted who they are as an organization but this is after the lawsuit involving Dominion, the voting machines where they said that they were vandalized and that they gave out skewed information.
Speaker 1:And then, of course, dominion was losing money over this because of these were unverified statements. They later sued Fox News for the tune of, I believe, $78 million. It was a lot of money that Fox News lost. I know it was about as much money as the TARP, wasn't it? I don't know, I don't want to get into those figures, but I do believe it was close to a million dollars that Fox lost because of the fact that they were spreading mistruths about the Dominion voting machines.
Speaker 1:But again, they're spreading mistruths and misinformation about that. What else do they spread misinformation about that the public is absorbing as truth? And again, that's something that we in the media are definitely concerned about. Going forward when you have an administration that doesn't seem as committed to the truth as past presidents, as past politicians have, and again, black people would be getting the worst end of the stick because of the disparities that we already face, that we need to report on. If they are underreported or misreported or misrepresented, that could cause further damage to Black society. So, dk, I hate to end this broadcast on such a sad and almost discouraging note, except that we still have to do our part as journalists, to keep delivering the truth, spreading the truth and committing ourselves to representing the truth about situations that can be very challenging to our society and our experience as humans on this earth.
Speaker 2:All right, colin, thank you so much for that. As you close it out, let's end it on an up note, or upt of time. From being a vice president to being a really legitimate president, contender for the most powerful office in the entire world, she conducted herself a class all the way to the very end, where she gave a concession speech without calling for any type of anarchy. I'm not going to say that that's something that's happened before in our country A peaceful transition. We will see a peaceful transition.
Speaker 1:I will say they both ran, I guess effective campaigns. We're a nonpartisan organization.
Speaker 2:Of course we are, yes.
Speaker 1:Campaigns, because obviously the president-elect is now the president-elect, even though she didn't run a very good campaign herself. So apparently they both did. But we will be faced with these circumstances starting in the end of January 2025. And we'll have to keep going forward, regardless of who is in office, to keep providing the truth as journalists, especially in the interests of Black society and other underrepresented groups. With that, we hope to see you for episode 24. Take care.