A former USAGM general counsel warned: “The firewall protects the editorial independence of Voice of America… As with any news organization, the absence of a robust firewall… risks the credibility and ultimately the effectiveness of the enterprise.”washingtonpost.com. Pack brushed aside such concerns. Only a change in administration stopped his actions – he was fired by President Biden on Inauguration Day 2021, and the firewall was restored. But the episode revealed Trump’s willingness to politicize even U.S. public media outlets. As one VOA whistleblower attorney summed up, Pack’s campaign to erode editorial independence was “sad and outrageous and plainly violate[s] the Constitution”washingtonpost.com. It showed how fragile institutional safeguards can be when top officials are determined to break them.
Using Government Agencies to Punish Media Enemies
Beyond direct attacks on journalists, the Trump administration tried subtler means to bend media to its will via federal agencies. The Department of Justice (DOJ) under Trump took actions that many viewed as politically motivated interventions in the media landscape. A prime example was the DOJ’s 2017 lawsuit to block AT&T’s $85 billion acquisition of Time Warner (CNN’s parent company). Historically, such vertical mergers (between a content producer and a distributor) were usually approved. Trump, however, had railed against CNN repeatedly and even vowed during the 2016 campaign to block the merger on the claim that it concentrated too much powerpolitico.compolitico.com. Once in office, the DOJ did sue to stop the deal – ostensibly on antitrust grounds of protecting competitionpolitico.com. But suspicions of interference ran high. Sources indicated that DOJ gave AT&T an ultimatum: sell off CNN (Time Warner’s Turner Broadcasting) or DirecTV to get approvalpolitico.com. “It’s clear the government’s main sticking point is CNN, which Trump often maligns as ‘fake news’,” Politico reportedpolitico.com. AT&T refused to sell CNN and fought the case in court. A federal judge ultimately rejected the DOJ’s arguments and allowed the merger, finding no evidence of antitrust harm. Yet to observers, Trump’s shadow loomed over the case. The timing and Trump’s own tweets (such as celebrating being “forced” to watch “how bad, and FAKE” CNN was while abroadpolitico.com) suggested the lawsuit may have been de facto punishment aimed at CNN’s coverage. “Trump… has loomed over the deal since the companies announced it,” noted Politico, and AT&T indeed planned to cite Trump’s anti-CNN statements as evidence of improper motivepolitico.compolitico.com. While the White House and DOJ denied any interference, the episode was widely seen as a warning to media companies that the administration was willing to weaponize regulatory powers against disfavored outlets.
The Federal Communications Commission, though an independent agency, also pursued deregulatory moves that aligned with Trump’s media allies. Early in Trump’s term, the FCC eased ownership rules in a way that benefited Sinclair Broadcast Group, a conservative-leaning local TV chain known for injecting “must-run” pro-Trump segments into its newscasts. Although a planned Sinclair merger fell apart due to other issues, the climate at the FCC signaled that media consolidation favoring friendly voices would be welcome. At the same time, under Trump’s pressure the FCC took steps that worried journalists: it launched inquiries into whether certain network content violated indecency or fairness rules, and it was reportedly “reopening FCC investigations into CBS, ABC, and NBC”, moves that free-press groups blasted as politically motivated harassmentcpj.org. For instance, newsrooms covering hot-button issues like immigration felt they were under “increased scrutiny” and risked “possible retribution” if their reporting displeased the administrationcpj.org. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) later catalogued these trends, noting how Trump officials even barred reporters from some federal agencies and events, choosing to “open doors to some journalists while excluding others because of their viewpoints” in a manner courts have deemed unconstitutionalcpj.org. By 2020, Attorney General William Barr also stepped up prosecutions of government leakers and even secretly seized reporters’ phone records in leak investigations – a tactic last used in the Obama years but accelerated under Trump (and prompting President Biden, once in office, to ban the practice)firstamendment.mtsu.edufirstamendment.mtsu.edu. In sum, through appointments and directives, Trump signaled that independent news coverage could invite regulatory payback. As CPJ summarized, Trump’s presidency “begun to exert its power to punish or reward [the press] based on coverage”, creating “uncertainty and fear” among journalists about what might trigger official retaliationcpj.orgcpj.org.