Published online by Cambridge University Press: 30 August 2023
Chapter 6 examines two case studies from the Trump years involving allegations of “fake news” – Russiagate and Ukrainegate. I review the historical timelines of each case study, documenting the allegations made against Trump. With the social construction of reality, the way presidential scandals are reported is integral to reinforcing or contesting Americans’ beliefs regarding perceptions of a given scandal. With Russiagate, the president’s critics speculated with worst-case scenarios about collusion with Russia, and much of the media coverage of the controversy was heavily critical of Trump, despite right-wing media downplaying the notion that a scandal occurred. Regarding concerns with fake news, I document how critical reporting on Russiagate had significant consequences in terms of cultivating increased suspicion of a sitting president. For Ukrainegate, I document how the president engaged in an abuse of power, and that critical reporting recognized this abuse, thereby undermining Trump’s claim that reporting on the scandal was “fake news.” Critical reporting was associated with increased suspicion of the president among heavier media consumers. Finally, I document the role of social media in impacting how people think about scandals of the Trump era, with evidence of a balkanization–“echo chamber” effect between Democratic and Republican users.
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.