Daily Times

Even if Trump takes media as an opposition party, and does not mind launching blistering attacks against all hues of American media, including ‘fake news,’ there are plenty of lessons which we can learn living here in our part of the world. The dramatic clash between news and views, and the Presidential power, is at once disturbing as it holds a mirror to our, what V.S. Naipual called ‘half-baked’ societies. First of all, it has be acknowledged that media has in fact worked as an opposition, right from the day he appeared to be within catching distance of the White House. An opposition party that seems to be, and is actually holding, extreme views to that of the incumbent President. The media has applied the pressure of facts on power. The top news broadcasters of the world from the CNN to the BBC, all those organisations whom we conveniently and very categorically link with Jewish lobbies as and when it suits our interests, waged a kind of intellectual war against him.

It must be amusing to many people to know that these ‘Jewish funded’ media organisations are attacking the American President and yet the same President resolved to defend Israel. How can the radical factory explain this to themselves and their favourite pupils? Why is the ‘Jewish controlled’ media at war with a President who is increasing friendship with the Jewish country? In addition to that he has slapped further humiliation on Iran, a country traditionally close to the Palestinian cause. The top news anchors have lampooned him, used cuss words against him, exposed his sexist life style, unearthed the dark alleys of the Trump business empire, and done all those things which lend credence to the belief that the fourth estate in the US is literally at war with the Trump presidency.

The President has also rolled up his sleeves against the ‘dishonest’ media, the ‘enemies’ of American people. He regularly points fingers into the camera to let the man behind the camera know that the mutual hate is unrestrained. So there is deep animosity between him and the mainstream media, but there is more to the confrontation than what is visible on the surface.

There may be a war between Trump and the media but there is no sign of fire. There is not even a single case of any media network being asked to shut down for writing or saying things against the President. No anchor or broadcaster has been served any notice of controlling his tongue, no writer from the Washington Post or The New York Times has been asked to stop writing against the new President. There is biting satire from both sides, and newspaper pages are awash with scathing mock, lampoon and caustic satire against the political naiveté of Trump. However, there is no sword of PEMRA (Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority) looming against the Washington Post or the CNN. On the contrary the media is invited to functions to be told in their face that you are harming the country, and the media in turn implants his speeches and snippets amidst the stories to remind him that he is harming the country beyond repair. There is a game underway, for shaping the opinion.

No bullet has been fired against anyone; no one has been physically harmed. No family of any journalist has received a death warning. Neither has any journalist been abducted. The spy agencies are not haunting the members of journalistic community. All the diatribes and attacks are limited within the verbal domain, and within the permitted boundaries. Unlike Pakistan and India, where the media regulatory authorities can wipe away the wages of media men in the name of national interest, or bump them off for unpalatable views, the restraint displayed in the ongoing war in US is exemplary.

The confrontation has now crossed over even into the threats of secession. The state of California with over 40 million population is mobilising for secession. One of the reasons given is that the rise of Trump has endangered the structure and composition of California. There are now open campaigns for secession from the USA. The long term aim is to repeal the ‘inseparable’ part in the state constitution. However, a critical link between this campaign for secession and the incitement by Trump for the same, is the ubiquitous media. The penetration of the perceptions and viewpoints given out through the media has ensured a change of opinion in an important state of the federation. What should come, ideally, as a surprise to the holders of power here in the sub-continent that instead of clamping down on the secessionists and imprisoning, and slapping draconian laws against them, there is a freer breathing space for them to canvass and get the support of people for putting the issue of secession on the ballot.

Either way it does not matter for Trump whether California goes away or stays with the US, so long as a branch of his business empire finds space in the ‘new’ country. However, what certainly should hold up some lesson for us is that the media which has shaped him in such a way, which inspires secession, is out doing what it has been doing since the day Trump assumed power, and even before. The media is throwing up the possibility of secession in the face of Trump yet there is no handcuff on journalists and lockdown of news agencies. Instead of demonising Trump, there is a reason to isolate the realm of law, above which is neither media nor Trump, and which allows both to survive, not at the expense of other, and certainly not allowing either to run down taking recourse to extra-legalistic measures. From what appears to be their worst, there is some good for us to cull.

The writer is a columnist, author, and lecturer at the University of Kashmir, Srinagar. He can be reached at javjnu@gmail.com