Media and Trump in 2021

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Donald Trump will be a problem for the media after Biden’s inauguration because he is not Rihanna. He won’t take a bow like her song, work on his memoirs, golf to his heart’s content and live quietly like all former presidents.

His modus operandi will be to destabilize the new administration, through Twitter and other digital platforms. Yes he can. The current strategy to nullify voters’ wishes that led to Biden’s victory, is just a test drive. The destabilization drone will be in full throttle in 2021.

Nothing can be done about his Twitter soapbox. Anybody can have a  account. What about American-based electronic media: CNN, ABC, NBC, Fox etc.? How will they handle him, because his tweets are bound to multiply, when he is without a formal job?

The first item on the agenda for news directors is classification. Will they classify Trump’s tweets as news, in the traditional sense of the word? If they do, they’ll rehash them, which is a countless exercise, because  haters and adoring fans re-tweet faster than a heart beat.

Opinion, is the second classification. An opinion is subjective. It is not the truth. It is not breaking news. It is what one thinks. For example, Trump thinks he made ‘America great again.’ People who voted for the Biden/Harris ticket have an opposing opinion.

The Biden administration is in trouble, if in 2021, most American television networks think Trump’s tweets are ‘news’. The new president and his staff will be saddled with daily or hourly questions about their take on his tweets.

Biden’s team will sleep better if television networks regard the former U.S. President’s tweets as opinion and nothing else. It will gladly welcome media questions about policy, and reconstruction.

This is another ‘written podcast’ by Nonqaba waka Msimang.

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