Millennial Journalism and its Ideological War with Donald Trump.

Abstract

This chapter reveals a hidden ideological war concealed in the relationship between Donald Trump and the media. It is argued that historical and generational forces have led to the emergence of Millennial Journalism – a form of journalism characterized by the use of news narratives. News narratives are simplified, explanatory stories featuring casts of morally good and bad actors. Millennial Journalism casts Donald Trump as a villain – a narrative captured by the popular meme, “orange man bad”. However, journalism’s “narrative turn” did not occur in a vacuum. What is harder to see, is the accompanying ideological shift which continues to play out around us, and of which narrative-led journalism is merely a symptom. Millennial Journalism developed during the late 20th Century to support and legitimize a particular set of values and assumptions which I refer to as the Millennial Ideology. Donald Trump rejects this worldview and seeks to replace it with an alternative set of values, which I refer to as Trumpism. Trumpism therefore poses an existential threat, not just to Millennial Journalism, but also to the Millennial Ideology. It is in this context that the debate around “fake news” should be understood. This hypothesis is tested by examining how the BBC portrayed Donald Trump in the weeks following the 2020 election. What is found is a tendency towards narrative-led journalism. This implies that the mainstream media, and the professional journalists who create it, are heavily invested in the Millennial Ideology. This chapter thus shines a light on the ideological dynamics of the relationship between Donald Trump and those responsible for shaping the public’s perception of him.