Has The Media Lost Its Mojo And Money?

Wilde's postulation has been turned into a political burlesque.

- PRABHU CHAWLA

Roles have been reversed. Now, it's the President of the United States of America (POTUS) who rules and reigns in the media. As Donald Trump berates, slays and humiliates the journalists and their organizations, the Fourth Estate has been painted as the Filth Estate. The messenger is now the most vulnerable and convenient pilgarlic for the political class worldwide. Editors, reporters, owners and even thought writers face calibrated calumny unleashed by those controlling money and power.

The information and communication industry, which survived and thrived only on exposing the truth, reporting without fear or favor and questioning the mighty political monarchs, has been reduced to a medium for distributing handouts, printing press releases, airing pre-scripted and edited interviews and devoting prominent space for the opinion pieces ghost written for top leaders from politics and the corporate world. The press and politicians have never been compatible cohabiters before.

Unfortunately, the battle against the free press has been launched ferociously from a nation which swears by freedom of expression. Irked by adverse and unpalatable reporting about his style and substance, a defiant and revengeful POTUS has set the tone for an anti-media tirade all over the world. Soon after winning a decisive mandate in 2024, he was back to what he considers himself to be the best at—media bashing. When a leader of the most powerful and affluent democratic country, like Donald Trump, denigrates media professionals from every platform, it acquires the shape of a contagious disease which spreads like wildfire.

In February 2025, President Donald Trump, following a televised clash with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, remarked, "The fake news media twists everything—they're a threat to our democracy when they lie."