President Trump (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)
The lead of a Washington Post report on Friday is that President Trump personally pushed the U.S. postmaster general to double the delivery fee charged to Amazon.com, but a possible key to understanding the president's pressure campaign appears in paragraph five.
“Some administration officials say several of Trump's attacks aimed at Amazon have come in response to articles in The Post that he didn't like,” reported Damian Paletta and Josh Dawsey.
“Fake news” might be Trump's rhetorical weapon of choice in his war on the media, but when he really wants to show off his might, the president takes aim at business interests.
The Washington Post and Amazon are separate companies. But Amazon's founder and chief executive, Jeffrey P. Bezos, is The Post's owner. One way to retaliate for tough coverage by Bezos's newspaper would be to hit Bezos's technology empire with increased shipping expenses that could run into the billions of dollars.
As Trump threatens to raise Amazon's mail tab, the Justice Department is suing to block AT&T's acquisition of Time Warner, parent company of CNN, the television network the president derides most often.
Trump said as a candidate that his administration would not grant regulatory approval of the deal. Trump attorney Rudolph W. Giuliani told HuffPost last week that “the president denied the merger,” referring to the Justice Department lawsuit.
Giuliani later backtracked, saying Trump “told me directly he didn't interfere,” but it was a little late to combat the perception that Trump is carrying out a personal vendetta against CNN — a perception reinforced by the president's support for a similar media merger between Disney and 21st Century Fox, parent company of his favorite TV network, Fox News.
In the latter deal, Rupert Murdoch, who calls Trump a friend, would retain ownership of Fox News and fetch $52.4 billion for most of 21st Century Fox's entertainment assets.
“I know that the president spoke with Rupert Murdoch earlier today,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said at the time, “congratulated him on the deal, and thinks that — to use one of the president's favorite words — that this could be a great thing for jobs.”
By contrast, a deal that could create a larger, stronger parent company for CNN is “a deal that's not good for the country,” Trump said in November.
[Two reasons Trump loves one media merger but hates another: Fox News and CNN]
The president tweeted last month that CNN, NBC, ABC and CBS “are worried about the competition” from Sinclair Broadcast Group, the right-leaning owner of the nation's largest collection of local TV stations. The Trump administration could, in fact, help give national networks a new competitor to worry about by easing Federal Communications Commission regulations and approving Sinclair's acquisition of Tribune Media.
Beyond expanding Sinclair's local footprint, the deal would give Sinclair the WGN America cable network, which reaches about 80 million U.S. households.
WGN airs mostly entertainment programming but could be converted to a news channel. Sinclair considered launching a cable news network in the past, and Politico reported this week that the company's executive chairman, David Smith, has been courting talent, including Fox News host Jeanine Pirro, former Fox News host Greta Van Susteren and the executive producer of Sean Hannity's Fox News show.
Trump talks often about coverage he likes or loathes, but when it comes to concrete attempts to reward or damage media outlets, he means business.
Read again Trump means business when he attacks the media : https://ift.tt/2k7yp0fBagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Trump means business when he attacks the media"
Post a Comment