On the Media: Digital Media Dynamics in a Time of Trump

The role of a free, open and critical press has always been central to democracy. In this chapter the changing structure of modern media industries are examined – print, broadcast and digital – to see how traditional functions of editing, story selection and reportorial investigation have been short-circuited in a new business environment devoted more to audience engagement than to citizen information. We also explore in detail how Trump in particular mastered the process of making himself newsworthy while simultaneously circumventing critical scrutiny of his actions. The chapter ends with an exploration of the ambiguous nature of new digital and independent social media outlets: susceptible both to conspiratorial alt-right community building and, at the same time, to a viable, critical community of independent investigative journalism.