President Trump has been rightly critical of the mainstream media’s coverage of his administration. If you viewed CNN or any other mainstream media source you would think that the Trump White House was totally dysfunctional and the United States was being led by an unhinged lunatic one step away from plunging the nation into chaos.

The mainstream media is currently suffering relevance deprivation syndrome as more and more people turn to alternative sources of news. They did all they could to ensure that Hillary Clinton would be elected President but as we saw their bias and lies were constantly being exposed by organisations such as WikiLeaks, alternative news websites and citizen journalists.

Afterwards they tried to label alternative news sources as fake news, that backfired spectacularly as everyone has highlighted the numerous times the mainstream media reported fake news. Now that their own fake news has been exposed they now want to retire the term and get triggered when Trump or another commentator labels them fake news.

Now it is clear the mainstream media’s agenda is to tear down the Trump Presidency by any means necessary. This includes spreading misinformation that Trump is being blackmailed by the Russians, colluding with the intelligence communities and other parts of the deep state to obtain classified information about the workings of his administration. The mainstream media successfully tore down a President they did not like in the past in Richard Nixon, but that was before the age of the internet where citizens didn’t have any alternatives.

Despite this veracious campaign against Trump they are shocked when he decides to fight back and defend himself and his administration. They have now decided to interpret his calling out of the media’s agenda as somehow threatening freedom of the press and a violation of the First Amendment.

This accusation started when Trump at a press conference addressing the fake intelligence dossier refused to take a question from CNN as they had given the most coverage to this fake story. They were enraged again last week when Trump on Twitter labelled the fake news media the enemy of the American people. This resulted in John McCain claiming that this is how dictatorships start. The media hit back by trying to manipulate Trump’s remarks about the rape and crime epidemic in Sweden to claim he made up a terrorist incident.

Now the mainstream media are triggered by the fact that in the White House on Friday some of the worst offenders in spreading fake news about Trump were excluded from an off-camera press briefing with Press Secretary Sean Spicer. News organisations excluded include the New York Times, CNN, BuzzFeed, the BBC and the Guardian.

It should be stressed that this briefing is different from the normal televised White House Press Briefing which occurs on regular basis. At those press conferences the Trump Administration has no control over who has press credentials in the White House. That falls under the jurisdiction of the White House Correspondents’ Association, a completely independent body which has been in place since 1914. There is no talk from the Trump Administration about this arrangement being changed.

CNN released a statement raging that “This is an unacceptable development by the Trump White House,” complaining that “Apparently, this is how they retaliate when you report facts they don’t like. We’ll keep reporting regardless.” The leader of CNN’s on air Trump smear team Jake Tapper who had previously described Trump as ‘unhinged’ spoke in more hysterical terms ‘This White House does not seem to respect the idea of accountability, this White House does not seem to value an independent press. There is a word for that line of thinking. The word is un-American.’

Media organisations do have the right to report on the Trump Administration in a way they believe is accurate, nobody has stopped them doing so. But the President also has the right to not talk to any media organisation, as is the right of any other citizen. If organisations such as CNN, BuzzFeed and the New York Times are continually going to falsely portray his administration as being in a state of crises why should he waste his time providing access to them?

Most of Trump’s supporters believe he is doing an outstanding job given that he is implementing everything he promised he would do during the election campaign. Apparently keeping your election promises is outrageous according to the mainstream media. Surely if Trump believes the media are trying to paint a false narrative then isn’t it reasonable that he looks to alternative sources to get his side of the story out? That is why he is so active on Twitter so he can bypass the media filter which his opponents hate.

Also, what makes the mainstream media players so special? There are thousands of news media organisations in the United States who would love access to the White House. Why should only a select few because they have been around for decades or have billionaire owners be the only ones with access? If these journalists are so worried about media organisations being excluded from White House press briefings, they should be advocating for every media outlet who wants access to be granted it.

Trump during his address at CPAC explained what his problem with the media is “I am against only the fake news media or the press. Fake,” stating “I’m against the people who make up sources and make up stories’’ however he stressed that “I love the First Amendment. Nobody loves it more than me. Who uses it more than I do?”

This accusation of censoring the press is nothing but a desperate attempt by a dying mainstream media to stay relevant and legitimate. It allows them to argue that they are carrying out their noble journalistic duty to hold power to account. What they are really doing is trying to destroy somebody they don’t like who actually threatens their power over the minds of the American people. Don’t be fooled by the headlines, any media organisation can still say what they want about Trump. CNN will not be shut down and Jake Tapper and Don Lemon will not be thrown in jail. All that will happen is less people will consume their media which is the free market at work.

Author Details
Tim Wilms is the Founder and Editor in Chief of https://theunshackled.net. the Host of Tim’s News Explosion, the WilmsFront interview program and The Theorists with Andy Nolch. He based in Melbourne, Australia where he also conducts field reports.
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Tim Wilms is the Founder and Editor in Chief of https://theunshackled.net. the Host of Tim’s News Explosion, the WilmsFront interview program and The Theorists with Andy Nolch. He based in Melbourne, Australia where he also conducts field reports.