Under the Trump administration, the media landscape seems to be changing for the better. While some legacy media journalists continue to push a biased narrative, their audiences are shriveling and influence is shrinking. Meanwhile, the White House pressroom is welcoming free-thinking, nontraditional media in droves.
But those of us who care about truth-seeking journalism should not get complacent. The country’s media environment could easily slide backwards. And let’s not kid ourselves. Left-wing reporters who put political correctness above all else don’t have a monopoly on sidelining the truth or holding water for the government.
I’ve experienced firsthand what can happen if the press is wholly captured by the state. Growing up in China, I lived through Mao Zedong’s reign of terror and the government’s tight grip on newspapers, radio, literature, and art….
