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Donald Trump
This Week in AsiaOpinion
Keith B. Richburg
Keith B. Richburg

Asian Angle | Trump’s media war: straight from the playbook of communist China

The US is losing the moral authority to speak out the next time a journalist is arrested, a newspaper shut, or foreign correspondent deported

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Donald Trump has said he will not attend the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, breaking with an annual tradition in which the US president attends a light-hearted roast held by journalists and attended by celebrities. Photo: AFP
Keith B. Richburg
President Donald Trump, in his first speech to a joint session of Congress last Tuesday night, managed to project a softer, more sober tone after his chaotic first five weeks in office. Gone was the bombast and the insults, and he even managed to look presidential as he asked his opponents to join him in seeking common ground.
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“The time for trivial fights is behind us,” Trump declared, addressing the Democrats in the chamber. And he can afford to be magnanimous. Their ranks are depleted, and they have little power in Washington to block Trump’s agenda.

But there was no olive branch or call for compromise with that other group Trump and his White House minions have determined are “the real opposition party” – the mainstream news media. Trump’s self-declared battle with the press seems likely to go on, and that fight is anything but trivial. Vital American values and traditions, and the nation’s role in the world, are at stake.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer holds a press briefing at the White House in Washington. Photo: Reuters
White House spokesman Sean Spicer holds a press briefing at the White House in Washington. Photo: Reuters
Consider; less than a week before his “conciliatory” address before Congress, Trump delivered another speech in Washington, to a group of riled up conservatives, where he declared the press – or “fake news” as he calls the media – “the enemy of the people”.

Calling reporters “very dishonest people”, Trump said: “They say that we can’t criticise their dishonest coverage because of the First Amendment,” his voice dripping with sarcasm. “You know, they always bring up the First Amendment.”

WATCH: Trump cuts off reporter asking about travel ban

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