By Kevin Ford
Student Reporter
National Presidents’ day will be celebrated this Monday. Presidents ‘day was originally established in 1885 in recognition of President George Washington.
While several states still have individual holidays honoring the birthdays of Washington, Abraham Lincoln and other figures, Presidents day is now popularly viewed as a day to celebrate all U.S. presidents, past and present.
However, Presidents day has also opened the door for news and media platforms to publicly scrutinize presidents. Media is known as the 4th estate of power and not much has changed since the birth of the United States.
Donald Trump is the current President of the United States. As you may know, he is no stranger to being all over the headlines since he has been in office. He is featured in headlines of both the printed press and TV networking. Half the time Trump is mentioned, there always seems to be some kind of negativity associated with him. Let’s dive deeper into why that may be the case.
The president is thought to be an important figure. American citizens as a whole believe in supporting the president, despite how bad the government tends to handle domestic and political conflicts. Media has consistently given presidents a hard time while in office, this was evident with several former U.S. presidents.
President Lyndon B. Johnson was heavily criticized for deploying so many troops during the Vietnam War. Domestic support for the Johnson’s decisions decreased as live video footage from the war aired in millions of American homes. The graphic violence turned the public against the war , because media exposed the brutal nature and killings of civilians down in Vietnam, which would lead to the rise of the peace and hippie movement in the late 1960s.
President Richard Nixon also had a shaky relationship with the press. Nixon became the first president in history to resign from office as a result of the media coverage of the infamous Watergate Scandal.
Each American president has had their own unique relationship to the media. Some used it to their advantage, others spent their terms butting heads.
President Theodore Roosevelt understood he could use the power of the press to communicate and engage with the American people in a way that presidents before him hadn’t. One of Roosevelt’s most notable press campaigns focused on reforming the meat industry after the publication of Upton Sinclair’s “The Jungle.” He proposed the Pure Food and Drug Act, which focused on regulating the meat packing industry. Roosevelt coined the term “muckrakers,” which refers to investigative journalism.
Truth is media should stay on top of reviewing and reporting the actions of the government, but the amount of scrutiny directed towards the president alone is not fair.
The president may not be perfect, but he is guaranteed trying. It is hard to rebuild trust between the people and the government if the press continuously shines light on all the negative that goes on in society.