6 months later: Trump’s war on the press, by the numbers

Written by Julie Alderman

Published


Sarah Wasko/Media Matters

President Donald Trump and his administration have waged an unprecedented war on the media since he took office. Here’s a look at some numbers that exemplify the conflicts, six months after his inauguration:

  • Over 200: number of times Trump or his administration have attacked the press, per Media Matters’ running tally. [Media Matters, accessed 7/20/17]

  • 69: number of times Trump has used the phrase “fake news” or “fakenews” on Twitter. [Trump Twitter Archive, accessed 7/20/17]

  • 16: number of national TV interviews the president has done between his inauguration and the six-month anniversary of his inauguration, according to a Media Matters count.

  • 10 out of 16: number of Trump’s national televised interviews that aired on Fox News or Fox Business in his first six months in office, according to a Media Matters count.

  • 21: number of days since the last on-camera White House press briefing, according to The Associated Press. [The Associated Press, 7/17/17]

  • 46: number of times Trump has either tweeted at the program Fox & Friends or retweeted the show’s tweets in his first six months in office. [Trump Twitter Archive, accessed 7/20/17]

  • One: number of solo press conferences Trump has held since inauguration. [The American Presidency Project, accessed 7/20/17]

  • 43: percentage of people who trust Trump more than CNN, according to a SurveyMonkey poll. [Axios, 7/4/17]

  • 50: percentage of people who trust CNN more than Trump, according to a SurveyMonkey poll. [Axios, 7/4/17]

  • 22: percent of the accounts Trump follows on Twitter that are or have been affiliated with Fox News. [Twitter, accessed 7/20/17]

Methodology

To determine how many times Trump has tweeted the words “fake news” since his inauguration, Media Matters searched the Trump Twitter Archive database for Trump’s tweets containing the phrase “fake news” and “fakenews.”

To determine how many national televised interviews Trump has conducted since his inauguration, Media Matters searched ProPublica’s database for the interviews Trump conducted.

To determine how many tweets Trump has sent about Fox & Friends since his inauguration, Media Matters searched the Trump Twitter Archive database for mentions of the show’s Twitter handle, “@foxandfriends,” in Trump’s tweets.