A nearly universal tactic of totalitarian regimes is to control the “truth”. This can be done directly through the seizure of media assets or indirectly though attacking and discrediting the press Only yesterday, in reaction to the coverage of his meeting with Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, the President tweeted:
“I got severely criticized by the Fake News Media for being too nice to President Putin. In the Old Days they would call it Diplomacy. If I was loud & vicious, I would have been criticized for being too tough. Remember when they said I was too tough with Chairman Kim? Hypocrites!”2:50 PM – 20 Jul 2018
“The liberty of the press is essential to the security of freedom in a state: it ought not, therefore, to be restrained in this commonwealth.” John Adams, Samuel Adams, James Bowdoin, 1780 Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
This idea was carried forward to the US constitution in the first amendment that forbids limiting the freedom of the press.
Amendment I. Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
What is a president to do when you can’t control what people say or write? For President Trump, who appears to immensely enjoy attacking and bullying those who disagree with him, the answer was simple, attack the messengers’ credibility. And so, the “Fake News” moniker was born, or more technically correct, reborn.
Attacking the credibility of the press to neutralize the opposition is a tactic that has been used before. Most notability, this type of assault on the media was used by the Nazis in their seizure of power. The Nazis used the term “lugenpresse” (or lying press in English) to attack the press and, once weakened, dismantled it (reuters).
The Nazis were successful in bringing down the free press in 1930’s Germany and, although it is unclear if this approach ultimately will work as well in the US in 21st century, it certainly raises concerns. A recent poll found that about 46% of Americans believe that traditional major TV and newspaper media outlets report “fake news” occasionally and that 31% believe this happens regularly (monmouth.edu).So at a minimum, Mr. Trump has introduced the seeds of doubt and they are growing as the overall percentage of American who think the major outlets report fake news at least occasionally, rose by 14 percentage points between 2017 and 2018.