Reprinted with permission from MediaMatters.
Journalists should expect no respite from President Donald Trump’s war on the press from his new campaign manager, Brad Parscale, whose role as head of Trump’s 2020 re-election campaign was announced Tuesday. Parscale, who served as the digital media director of Trump’s 2016 presidential run, regularly uses his Twitter feed to go after the “fake news” media, and has written that “the media is the enemy of this country.”
Trump and his administration are engaged in unprecedented attacks on the press, regularly accusing journalists of deliberately fabricating stories out of political animus and declaring reporters the “enemy of the American people.”
At the same time, Trump has eschewed transparency. He held only one formal press conference in all of 2017 and has not sat for a TV news interview with a legitimate journalist since May, preferring instead the softball questions of sycophantic supporters, especially those who work for Fox News.
Parscale’s commentary promises more of the same:
# 1 lesson I’ve learned. The media is the enemy of this country. Everyday citizens are the heros. We deserve the truth. #MoneyHungryMedia
— Brad Parscale (@parscale) May 20, 2017
Another day, another fake news story created by excluding the facts. The news media industry has become so sad and pathetic. I feel bad for the few great journalists who are surrounded by these biased fake “so-called” journalists.
— Brad Parscale (@parscale) December 15, 2017
No media bias at all today. Articles are so clearly just reporting the news and demonstrating their real love for average Americans. #NOT
— Brad Parscale (@parscale) June 1, 2017
Crazy feeling reading dozens of fake stories a day. Complete fabrication. It is weird to know the truth and watch everyone be manipulated. pic.twitter.com/MW7N3PlZbI
— Brad Parscale (@parscale) May 28, 2017
Like many others on the right, Parscale has focused his criticism, in particular, on three news outlets:
The New York Times:
So the #fakenews @nytimes will now have related articles around all their stories? https://t.co/QQYzZnALP3
— Brad Parscale (@parscale) August 5, 2017
Again the NYT! @alexburnsNYT this story has straight out fabrications. So #FakeNews https://t.co/eAr66cHsQy
— Brad Parscale (@parscale) August 5, 2017
You do a great job reporting on made up stories. Shocker. #FakeNews https://t.co/1dTmAsYoc7
— Brad Parscale (@parscale) May 26, 2017
The Washington Post:
.@washingtonpost struggles with spell check. This has to mean they are completely incompetent and have no idea how to report news. pic.twitter.com/spuWqUDGit
— Brad Parscale (@parscale) March 4, 2017
CNN:
SO #FAKENEWS. I know more staffers than anyone. No more anonymous stories! Just a way to make fake news. Let’s fight back against @CNN https://t.co/BmZBMohvlk
— Brad Parscale (@parscale) May 20, 2017
Nobody said the weather is fake. #FakeNews is @cnn really acting like a Super PAC and not a news outlet. https://t.co/HBUhBDVvgg
— Brad Parscale (@parscale) August 25, 2017
#FakeNews protest @CNN. MSM is out of control. Profit and power has overcome integrity and trust. https://t.co/oDWS9t3XNL
— Brad Parscale (@parscale) June 17, 2017
.@CNN has officially gone off the edge. They’re in need of an intervention. I can’t even figure out what they are saying now and I lived it!
— Brad Parscale (@parscale) May 30, 2017
Parscale was particularly angry with CNN in May after the network refused to air an ad from Trump’s re-election campaign that “featured the words ‘fake news’ superimposed over several TV journalists.” CNN had requested that the campaign remove that section from the ad because it was not true. Parscale claimed that CNN had violated Federal Communications Commission regulations (it hadn’t):
.@CNN epitomizes the meaning of fake news and has proven it by rejecting our paid campaign ad! pic.twitter.com/y80eSTAHG6
— Brad Parscale (@parscale) May 2, 2017
So who will be the first media outlet to call out @CNN censorship of FCC regulated political ads? Will another media outlet step up?? #MAGA
— Brad Parscale (@parscale) May 2, 2017
So the world knows, @CNN chose to censor a PAID political ad. There are FCC regulations preventing this. https://t.co/h01l2fDLmp
— Brad Parscale (@parscale) May 2, 2017
In contrast, like Trump himself, Parscale is more comfortable with employees at Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News and The Wall Street Journal:
Nice to see a reporter actually write the truth. @WSJ continue to hire reporters with integrity! I am finally hopeful of one media outlet. https://t.co/Hqj3T7soQf
— Brad Parscale (@parscale) October 25, 2017
Header image by Sarah Wasko / Media Matters
