Media Relations in the Trump Era

President Donald Trump continued to air his grievances with the mainstream media this week. First, he filed a $20 billion defamation suit against The Wall Street Journal. The suit claims that a “bawdy” birthday letter to Jeffry Epstein that the paper attributed to Trump is a fake. The president took to Truth Social to demean the paper and its owner Rupert Murdoch. Amid his social media rant, he celebrated previous victories over ABC News and CBS. Should we be concerned about the stability of press freedoms under the second Trump administration?

Masked ICE agents have become a frequent sight around the United States since Trump’s return to office. Democratic leaders across the country are pushing legislation that would ban federal law enforcement from hiding their identities. Is it a distraction from deeper questions about the standing of immigrants in America?

Plus, KCRW discusses who the president is really speaking for when he calls for the return of some controversial sports team names.