If one quote conveys the cornerstone message across the readings, I think it can be found in the Just Security Article by Rebecca Hamilton where she references Viktor Orbán, the prime Minister of Hungary whom she describes as “autocratic”. The quote reads “Whoever controls a country’s media controls that country’s mindset and through that the country itself.” I highlighted this quote specifically because after first reading Edward Helmore’s piece in The Guardian, it echoed a statement I had heard in another context. After going through reading by reading, a quote by Jim Morrison that was recently featured in Beyonce’s Renaissance Tour came to mind. The quote reads “Whoever controls the media, controls the mind.”
The similarities between Morrison’s words, who is a poet and a singer, and then Orban, a politician, emphasize that media control extends beyond simply the end goal of manipulating public opinion. Rather, it raises additional questions about how this manipulation is achieved: through the framing of information, the access certain outlets are granted, and others aren’t, and the channels by which consumers encounter it, whether through social media, television, or personal networks.
President Trump is a contemporary example of this dynamic. Through both of his administrations Trump has tried to gain support from groups his policies often hurt the most and talks down upon including immigrants, women, LGBTQ+ individuals and more. Yet his approach is effective as he was re-elected to the office the country voted him out of nearly five years ago and made inroads with some of the very groups he targeted in his first presidential campaign and administration.
While President Trump tends to be more transparent and blunter than his predecessors through his use of Twitter and Truth Social and has “expanded” press access to nontraditional media outlets in the name of expanding freedom of speech, particularly in his second administration, his approach is more selective. By dismissing legacy media as “fake news” because they hold him and his administration accountable through threats of legal persecution and restricting press credentials, Trump has instead created a different media ecosystem. An ecosystem that resembles celebrities who tip off paparazzi to generate favorable coverage, making him and his administration look open and accessible while being calculated behind closed doors.
This ecosystem of manipulation is designed to counter dominant narratives that cast him in an unfavorable light, helping keep his supporters under his spell so they remain loyal, while drawing in new ones. This strategy fuels disinformation and echo chambers, but its influence now extends beyond voters to corporations.
As Omarosa Manigault Newman once predicted 2016, there may come a day when Trump’s detractors must “bow down” to him, a warning increasingly reflected as more companies fall in line. At his inauguration, tech leaders like Tim Cook, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Sundar Pichai, and Shou Zi Chew attended, signaling cooperation in exchange for what looked like a “get out of jail free card.”
With recent settlements from ABC, and deals like Paramount’s $8 billion Skydance merger on the line, Trump is attempting to prove that he can orchestrate both the fourth estate and government to control the country’s mindset and through that the country itself.
