U.S. President George W. Bush (R) before awarding the Presidential Medal of Freedom to American novelist Harper Lee (L) in the East Room of the White House, in this November 5, 2007, file photo. Lee, who wrote one of America's most enduring literary classics, "To Kill a Mockingbird," about a child's view of right and wrong and waited 55 years to publish a second book with the same characters from a very different point of view, has died at the age of 89, local Alabama news site reported on February 19, 2016. REUTERS/Larry Downing/Files
“I consider the media to be indispensable to democracy. That we need the media to hold people like me to account,” Bush told NBC’s “Today” programme. Trump’s inflammatory remarks have been criticised as authoritarian, but the media remains a popular whipping boy for his supporters. Amid wave after wave of leaks from his White House and probing reports on his campaign’s links with Russia, Trump has repeatedly decried the media as “fake news.” Influential Trump aide Steve Bannon is fond of referring to the media as the “opposition party.”
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Bush responded to that sentiment by saying “power can be very addictive and it can be corrosive, and it’s important for the media to call to account people who abuse their power.” Bush also described Trump’s comments as undercutting America’s efforts to promote democracy and the free press abroad.
