Enemies of the People: Trump and the Political Press

October 15, 2020
Has lesson plan

In this hour-long film, nominated for two 2021 Emmy Awards, journalists who covered Donald Trump during the 2016 race for the White House critique their role in the former president’s rise to power.

This film, nominated for two 2021 Emmy Awards, is an hourlong examination of the national political press and its coverage of Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. Top reporters lift the veil on the former president’s toxic relationship with the national news media – and the role they played in the drama. The film explores questions that continue to resonate today about the decline of the public’s trust in the press.

“He got the car crash coverage,” said Chuck Todd, who covered the campaign for NBC news. “You’re like, ‘Wait until you see what he’s gonna say next!’

This Retro Report documentary video, created in collaboration with Vice TV, examines how Trump’s rhetoric, and the response to it by mainstream news organizations, have reshaped journalism.

From the moment Trump stepped onto an escalator to make a dramatic entrance into the 2016 presidential field, the press played a central role in his candidacy. His tumultuous relationship with reporters became one of the defining themes and conflicts of the campaign.

“We didn’t report correctly,” said Jorge Ramos, a Univision news anchor. “We didn’t see reality as it was, but as we wanted it to be.”

As Trump rose to power, members of the news media were accused by critics of being complicit, mocked and physically threatened by Trump supporters, and derided by the candidate himself as “fake news.”

“It needs to be a ruthless telling of the history if we’re going to learn anything from it,” David Remnick, editor of The New Yorker, told Retro Report.

Remnick is interviewed in the documentary, as are journalists Maggie Haberman, Jeff Zucker, Jorge Ramos, Chuck Todd, Jake Tapper, Katy Tur, Megyn Kelly, Lydia Polgreen, Dana Bash, David Fahrenthold, Brian Stelter, Soledad O’Brien, Jay Rosen, Nancy Gibbs and others.

Educators, check out this videos accompanying lesson plans.

Browse through dozens more lesson plans and videos here.

For teachers
  • Director and Producer: Susie Banikarim
  • Co-Director and Editor: Bret Sigler
  • Senior Producer: Karen M. Sughrue
  • Producer: Victor Couto
  • Additional Producer: Matthew Spolar
  • Archival Researcher: Jennifer Latham
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For Educators

Subjects
Civics & Government English Language Arts Media and News Literacy U.S. History
Topics
Politics U.S. Presidents
Introduction

In this hour-long documentary, nominated for two Emmy Awards, journalists who covered Donald Trump during the 2016 race for the White House critique their role in the former president’s rise to power.

Content Advisory: This documentary contains some adult content. Teachers should preview prior to showing students. 

Lesson Plan 1: The Media’s Role in Campaign Coverage
The Media’s Role in Campaign Coverage
The Media’s Role in Campaign Coverage
Journalists and Press Freedoms – Quantitative Analysis FRQ
Trust in Mass Media – Quantitative Analysis Practice FRQ
Overview
▼

Students will hear how the nation’s leading reporters and media figures who covered Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign offer a candid critique of their role in the former president’s rise to power.

Objectives
▼

Students will:

  • Identify and give examples of loaded language, issue framing and agenda setting.
  • Analyze the role and interaction between media and politics today.
Essential questions
▼
  • What role does the media play in covering political campaigns?
  • How do candidates and media entities use rhetorical techniques and strategies to attempt to influence media consumers’ perceptions?
Additional resources
▼
Standards
▼

College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies

  • D2.Civ.2.9-12. Analyze the role of citizens in the U.S. political system, with attention to various theories of democracy, changes in Americans’ participation over time, and alternative models from other countries, past and present.
  • D3.2.9-12. Evaluate the credibility of a source by examining how experts value the source.
  • D3.3.9-12. Identify evidence that draws information directly and substantively from multiple sources to detect inconsistencies in evidence in order to revise or strengthen claims
  • D1.5.9-12. Determine the kinds of sources that will be helpful in answering compelling and supporting questions, taking into consideration multiple points of view represented in the sources, the types of sources available, and the potential uses of the sources.

Common Core Literacy Standards

  • CCSS.ELA-Speaking and Listening.6–12.3:Evaluate a speaker’s point of view, reasoning, and use of evidence and rhetoric, assessing the stance, premises, links among ideas, word choice, points of emphasis, and tone used.
  • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.11-12.9: Integrate information from diverse sources, both primary and secondary, into a coherent understanding of an idea or event, noting discrepancies among sources.
Lesson Plan 2: News Media and Politics
Film Viewing Guide
News Media and Politics
News Media and Politics
Overview
▼

Students will hear how the nation’s leading reporters and media figures who covered Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign offer a candid critique of their role in the former president’s rise to power.

Objectives
▼

Students will:

  • Examine the role of the political press in covering the 2016 presidential election.
  • Evaluate the impact of media coverage on politics past and present.
  • Discuss the role of news media in the political process and how the actions of media and politicians shape/and are shaped by public opinion.
Essential questions
▼
  • What is the role of the press/media in a free society?
  • What should be the role of the news media in the political process?
  • What factors affect the relationship between news media and politicians?
Additional resources
▼
Standards
▼

College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies

  • D2.Civ.6.9-12. Critique relationships among governments, civil societies, and economic markets.
  • D2.Civ.5.9-12. Evaluate citizens’ and institutions’ effectiveness in addressing social and political problems at the local, state, tribal, national, and/or international level
  • D2.Civ.7.9-12. Apply civic virtues and democratic principles when working with others.
  • D2.Civ.9.9-12. Use appropriate deliberative processes in multiple settings.
  • D2.Eco.3.9-12. Analyze the ways in which incentives influence what is produced and distributed in a market system.
  • D2.His.1.9-12. Evaluate how historical events and developments were shaped by unique circumstances of time and place as well as broader historical contexts.
  • D2.His.3.9-12. Use questions generated about individuals and groups to assess how the significance of their actions changes over time and is shaped by the historical context. 
  • D2.His.4.9-12. Analyze complex and interacting factors that influenced the perspectives of people during different historical eras.
  • D2.His.5.9-12. Analyze how historical contexts shaped and continue to shape people’s perspectives.
  • D2.His.10.9-12. Detect possible limitations in various kinds of historical evidence and differing secondary interpretations.
  • D2.His.14.9-12. Analyze multiple and complex causes and effects of events in the past.
  • D2.His.15.9-12. Distinguish between long-term causes and triggering events in developing a historical argument.
  • D2.His.16.9-12. Integrate evidence from multiple relevant historical sources and interpretations into a reasoned argument about the past.
  • D3.2.9-12. Evaluate the credibility of a source by examining how experts value the source. 
  • D4.1.9-12. Construct arguments using precise and knowledgeable claims, with evidence from multiple sources, while acknowledging counterclaims and evidentiary weaknesses. 
  • D4.4.9-12. Critique the use of claims and evidence in arguments for credibility. 
  • D4.5.9-12. Critique the use of the reasoning, sequencing, and supporting details of explanations.

Common Core Literacy Standards

  • CCSS.ELA-INFORMATIONAL TEXT.11-12.3. Analyze a complex set of ideas or sequence of events and explain how specific individuals, ideas, or events interact and develop over the course of the text. 
  • CCSS.ELA-WRITING.11-12.9. Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research
  • CCSS.ELA-SPEAKING LISTENING.11-12.1. Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 11–12 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.