The Trump Administration’s Use of State Power Against Media: Keeping Track of the Big Picture
Streaming Media
Abstract
Faced with a barrage of breaking news out of the Trump administration, it is easy to become paralyzed. This is arguably intentional: Flood the zone to ensure the news cycle is so overwhelming that the media (not to mention, the public) cannot keep up. In this information ecosystem, it is crucial that people retain the ability to track how State power is being used. This, in turn, requires systematically identifying linkages between individual developments and broader trends.
The graphic below offers one method, or practice, of resistance to a “muzzle velocity” news cycle that makes it hard to think about, let alone understand, the ways in which the Trump administration is wielding State power. This focuses on threats to press freedom, but the concept can be applied to other broad issues, too. By absorbing each additional news item as a data point for or against a threat to a particular democratic norm, rather than as a singular development, it becomes possible to keep sight of the big picture – and direct action accordingly. (cont’d below…)
External Links
https://www.justsecurity.org/112792/trump-administrations-state-power-big-picture/
Source Publication
JUST SECURITY
Repository Citation
Rebecca Hamilton,
The Trump Administration’s Use of State Power Against Media: Keeping Track of the Big Picture,
JUST SECURITY
(2025).
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/pub_disc_media/635