‘Trump has grown into key figure in global anti-journalism movement’
PICTURE: Unsplash/Foreign Press Correspondents USA
Six months into United States President Donald Trump’s second term, his administration has become increasingly hostile towards the press, both mimicking and inspiring authoritarian and quasi-authoritarian regimes around the world.
RSF warns of the dangers of a transnational anti-press movement that shares tactics across borders and has found in the American president one of its most powerful proponents yet.
Trump has grown into a key figure in a global anti-journalism political movement that has contributed to a recent decline in press freedom globally, and is currently on full display in the U.S. just six months into his second administration.
Anti-press regimes around the world frequently borrow tactics from one another, from the verbal harassment of journalists to dismantling independent media outlets. Whether intentional or not, they share a playbook to control, bully and punish independent media
‘Donald Trump may be erecting barriers to international trade, but when it comes to attacking the press, ideas are flowing freely between countries with poor press freedom records,’ says Clayton Weimers, Executive Director, RSF USA.
‘Since taking office six months ago, Trump has matched years of verbally attacking journalists with new, concrete actions to limit press freedom. Many of these tactics are nothing new – it’s the same playbook we’ve seen press freedom predators employ around the world. But it’s clear that Trump has amplified this phenomenon, emboldening and inspiring other leaders to crack down on their own domestic media.
‘The result is a disaster for press freedom globally.’
One of Trump’s preferred tools for dealing with any problem, the frivolous lawsuit, is a hallmark of his war on the press. He has repeatedly sued media organisations for coverage he dislikes.
‘Lawfare’, or the strategic use of laws to impede an opponent – in this case press freedom – is commonly used against the media by despotic leaders, such as the self-proclaimed ‘world’s coolest dictator’, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, who has been stifling journalism since he declared a State of Emergency in March 2022, subjecting journalists and news organisations to costly lawsuits and audits.
Cronies taking over media organisations
Trump’s lawsuit against Paramount, which owns the news broadcaster CBS, ended in a settlement that cleared the way for Skydance CEO and Trump-connected David Ellison to take over the company.
Installing cronies at the head of major media organisations is a common tactic for bringing the media to heel. In Hungary, President Viktor Orban has benefited from similar media buyouts by government-connected ‘oligarchs’ that allowed his party to assume control of around 80% of the country’s political information market.
In 2020, almost the entire staff of Hungary’s largest online news site Index.hu resigned after its lead editor was fired under political pressure.
Dismantling independent public media
Trump has made public media a target of his attacks by attempting to revoke congressionally-approved funding for National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcast Service (PBS), and has threatened funding for local, independent public radio and television stations.
Similarly, figures like former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, whose administration illegally surveilled journalists, media outlets and RSF, sought to dismantle the public broadcaster, Empresa Brasil de Comunicação.
Trump’s cuts to foreign aid and his dismantling of the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) have cut off U.S. support for independent media abroad, prompting jubilation from authoritarian regimes who are seizing the opportunity to fill the void
Russian state media lauded the closure of USAGM outlet Voice Of America (VOA) as an ‘awesome decision’. Hu Xijin, former Editor-in-Chief of the Global Times, China’s state-run outlet, called the freeze ofVOA and USAGM outlet Radio Free Asia operations ‘really gratifying’ and ‘[hopefully] irreversible’.
A top aide to Orban said that he’couldn’t be happier’ about the USAGM cuts.
Violence against journalists covering protests
RSF tracked at least 60 acts of violence against journalists during recent protests in Los Angeles against Trump’s immigration policies. This aggression towards journalists has been a staple of Trumpist politics.
The brutalisation and detention of journalists covering anti-government protests is also common in countries such as Serbia, Turkey and Georgia. For example, four journalists were arrested in Istanbul while reporting from anti-government demonstrations in March 2025. In Georgia, more than 70 journalists were attacked while covering protests in 2024.
Banning ‘undesirable’ words and phrases
On 11 February, the White House banned the Associated Press from access to the Oval Office, Air Force One and various official events because the administration objected to the press agency’s use of ‘Gulf of Mexico’ to refer to the body of water along the country’s southern coast that Trump renamed the ‘Gulf of America’.
White House press staff have also refused to respond to emails from reporters who include pronouns in their email signatures. More broadly, the government has purged key phrases the administration considers ‘woke’ or progressive.
The policing of language echoes Kremlin tactics. In 2022, days after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Kremlin ordered the media to remove reports labelling the aggression on Ukraine as an ‘assault’, ‘invasion’ or ‘war’, minimising the invasion by referring to it as a ‘special military operation’.
Publishing information about the Russian armed forces that is deemed to be ‘false’ or to have ‘discredited’ them is punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
Journalists and media who deviate from the Kremlin’s narrative face fines, prison and are forced into exile.
Russia subsequently blocked, banned, censored and fined numerous national and foreign media outlets, and jailed individual journalists for violating this law, and independent journalists in the occupied territories of Ukraine were arrested.
Baseless accusations against the media
Shortly after Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) began dismantling the US Agency for International Development (USAID) – which the billionaire referred to as a ‘criminal organisation’, despite the fact it funded independent outlets around the world – the Serbian government raided the offices of the Center for Research, Transparency and Accountability, the non-governmental organisation behind the fact-checking website, Istinomer.rs.
The public prosecutor justified the raid by citing Trump administration accusations that recipients of aid from USAID may have ‘misused funds’ and ‘laundered money’.
Smear campaigns against journalists
Trump also stands out for his antagonistic rhetoric toward the press. On the same continent, this tendency can also be found in Argentine President Javier Milei. In April 2025, Milei started publicly using the slogan, ‘We don’t hate journalists enough’.
Like Trump, he has unleashed smear campaigns against journalists and amplified online harassment against them. In May 2025, Milei filed libel and slander complaints against three journalists for their coverage of him.
This exchange of ideas, tactics and rhetorical techniques to attack the press has created an apparent authoritarian feedback loop. Sometimes it is difficult to determine exactly who is inspiring whom, but the end result is clear — a heightened risk for journalism around the world.
- This article was first published here
