From Congress to Courts, Now Media Falls to Trump’s Control

United States President Donald Trump is dismantling the foundations of American media, targeting its role as a watchdog over power. Known as the fourth estate, the press has historically held government accountable, alongside the other three estates: Congress, the executive branch, and the judiciary. Trump has already weakened these institutions—his Republican Party dominates Congress, his administration is filled with loyalists like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Pete Hegseth, and the Supreme Court, stacked with his appointees, consistently rules in his favor. Now, the media is his primary target.

Trump’s assault began with defunding public broadcasters. In March 2025, he slashed federal support for Voice of America, Radio Free Europe, and Radio Free Asia, labeling them “anti-Trump.” By July, he eliminated funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, crippling National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service. These moves silenced key outlets of American soft power and independent reporting.

Turning to private media, Trump has wielded lawsuits and financial pressure to intimidate. In October 2024, he sued Paramount for $10 billion, alleging CBS, its subsidiary, deceptively edited an interview with Kamala Harris. After his inauguration, he doubled the claim to $20 billion. Legal experts dismissed the case as baseless, but Paramount, seeking regulatory approval for a merger with Skydance Media, settled for $16 million in July 2025. Days later, CBS canceled The Late Show after host Stephen Colbert criticized the settlement. The Trump administration promptly approved the merger, raising questions of coercion, now under investigation by Congress.

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Trump’s legal attacks continued with a $10 billion defamation suit against The Wall Street Journal over an article linking him to Jeffrey Epstein. Experts say the case lacks merit, requiring proof of malice—a high bar for public figures. Yet the suit serves as a warning. Similarly, Trump targeted The New York Times with a $15 billion defamation lawsuit over its endorsement of Harris, calling it a “Radical Left” mouthpiece. While the Times has not yielded, other major outlets have faltered. The Washington Post and Los Angeles Times, owned by Jeff Bezos and Patrick Soon-Shiong, respectively, declined to endorse any candidate in 2024, likely fearing Trump’s retribution against their owners’ broader business interests.

Television networks face similar pressure. Disney’s ABC pulled Jimmy Kimmel Live after Kimmel challenged White House claims about the assassination of Charlie Kirk. The decision followed a vague threat from Brendan Carr, Trump’s appointee to the Federal Communications Commission, hinting at “action” against the network. MSNBC fired analyst Matthew Dowd for suggesting Kirk’s rhetoric contributed to his death. Trump escalated the threat, stating that networks like ABC and CBS, which he accuses of being Democratic operatives, could lose their licenses—a move that may test the First Amendment before a sympathetic Supreme Court.

With two of the three major newspapers and two of the four major TV networks cowed, only The New York Times and a few others resist. Fox News, a Trump ally, remains untouched. As Trump’s tactics—lawsuits, financial pressure, and regulatory threats—intensify, the fourth estate’s ability to hold power accountable hangs in the balance.

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