Trump’s Fake News and Media Bias

Joyce Krawiec is a conservative activist, former North Carolina Republican Party Vice-Chair, and retiring North Carolina Senator. Christian, wife, mother, small business owner, and conservative. She has endorsed Dana Caudill-Jones for North Carolina Senate

If you have never been to a Trump rally, you have missed a lot of fun. The rally in Winston-Salem last week was no different than all the other rallies the President has had. Lots of people and lots of patriotic Americans showing their love for their country.


I was honored to deliver the prayer at the event. The pledge followed and a beautiful rendition of The Star-Spangled Banner. From that moment on, it was one big party. (See Joyce lead the prayer in a video embedded at the end of this post.) 


One report I read had a headline that started with “Hundreds show up for Trump Rally.” The official estimate was 15,000. If you had been there, you would have no problem believing that number.


It always amazes me how the media just cannot seem to figure it out. They cannot believe that there really are so many people who will take time out of their day, stand in line, sometimes for hours to hear the President speak. Many others will stand outside and watch it on screen because there is not room to get it. It is pretty Amazing.


Much of the media decided long ago, this idea of not taking sides was not working. Not only did they choose sides, they became the MVP. The media’s job is to shine the light of truth so the people can find their way. That went out the window long ago.  


President Trump is quick to call out “Fake News.” There is some validity to it. Coverage for the current administration has been overwhelmingly negative. Even when the economy was humming and the President was making wonderful trade deals and bringing jobs back to America, the media coverage was negative.  Negative coverage of the administration has consistently been above 90%.

A recent Gallup survey had some troubling findings. Eighty four percent of Americans believe that the media is necessary to preserve a functioning Democracy. Two thirds of the people surveyed also believe that the media is biased. Fifty four percent of respondents think that reporters intentionally misrepresent facts and 28 percent believe that reporters make the facts up entirely.


The report says, “As such, Americans have not only lost confidence in the ideal of an objective media, they believe news organizations actively support the partisan divide.” The survey found that attitudes toward the news media have gotten worse. The report said these findings have “left open the possibility for dangerous false narratives to take root in all segments of society.”


The report also found that 84% of respondents believe that the media is responsible for political division in the country.


Its not difficult for most of us to see what is happening. There is story after story in which a member of the media calls Trump a liar. Did they ever call President Obama a liar? Even when there were obvious instances of untrue statements. A few examples, “If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor” and “The Benghazi attack was caused by an internet video.”


Hillary Clinton was never called a liar by the media. There were some real obvious ones there. “I never received or sent any classified emails” or “I turned over all classified emails.” These were proven lies but the media let it slide.


The media has a responsibility to point out untruths. But it should be consistent and not just on one side.


It appears that the more the media bashes President Trump, the more people rally for him. Remember when the media was bashing Chic-Fil-A over their religious beliefs. They were under tremendous fire and a boycott was initiated. Big mistake. Folks rallied to Chic-Fil-A. I remember you could not even get in for months. Pretty much the same thing happened with Hobby Lobby when they stood on their principles. People rallied despite the news media’s attempts to paint the company as somehow not compassionate and wrong.


People just want the facts; they can make their own decisions. Since they no longer trust the media for accuracy, there is no loyalty to listening to the news. It is no secret that the large newspapers have been losing readership for many years. It appears to be escalating.


If you are reading this, you are reading my favorite newspaper, Kernersville News. I trust it completely. I think small local papers still have the trust of their readership. Too bad, major news outlets do not look to the local hometown newspapers to see how it is done right.