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The collapse of the United States’ mainstream media in confronting power is not an isolated event but a reflection of deeper systemic flaws, argues Mohamad Elmasry in his recent Al Jazeera opinion piece. He contends that the erosion of press independence under the Trump administration exemplifies how American democracy has long relied on media institutions that are structurally tied to corporate and state power, making their current submission less a shock than an inevitability.
At the centre of the analysis is the Trump administration’s aggressive handling of information. Officials have released only partial or heavily redacted documents, such as the so-called “phase one” Epstein files, while dismissing demands for greater transparency. This, Elmasry writes, represents a broader pattern of secrecy and control. Instead of challenging such practices, many media outlets have retreated. Lawsuits are quietly settled, critical voices are sidelined, and editorial policies shift to avoid antagonising those with influence.
This capitulation, the article notes, is not without precedent. For decades, scholars of journalism have highlighted the limits of US press freedom, pointing to corporate consolidation, advertising pressures, and close ties to government as enduring weaknesses. What is new is the speed and bluntness with which those weaknesses are now exposed. Institutions that once claimed the mantle of watchdog are increasingly seen as complicit in the very systems they should scrutinise.
The implications are stark. A press unwilling or unable to hold leaders accountable undermines the foundations of democracy itself. Citizens are deprived of full information, elections are contested on distorted terms, and public trust in media continues to erode. Elmasry suggests that the narrative of US journalism as a “beacon of freedom” masks the reality of a fragile system vulnerable to authoritarian encroachment.
For the TJC Project, these developments underscore why documenting global threats to journalists is urgent. The erosion of press independence in the United States, long considered a model, reveals that no democracy is immune to decline. Safeguarding journalism requires not only exposing external attacks but also confronting structural weaknesses that enable capitulation from within.
References –
https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2025/9/8/the-capitulation-of-the-us-media-is-not-an-aberration