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Article published In:
Discourses of Fake News
Edited by Scott Wright
[Journal of Language and Politics 20:5] 2021
► pp. 676–695

More than “Fake News”?

The media as a malicious gatekeeper and a bully in the discourse of candidates in the 2020 U.S. presidential election

ORCID logo | University of Liverpool
| Syracuse University
| Syracuse University

While the debate around the prevalence and potential effects of fake news has received considerable scholarly attention, less research has focused on how political elites and pundits weaponized fake news to delegitimize the media. In this study, we examine the rhetoric in 2020 U.S. presidential primary candidates Facebook advertisements. Our analysis suggests that Republican and Democratic candidates alike attack and demean the news media on several themes, including castigating them for malicious gatekeeping, for being out of touch with the views of the public, and for being a bully. Only Trump routinely attacks the news media for trafficking in falsehoods and for colluding with other interests to attack his candidacy. Our findings highlight the ways that candidates instrumentalize the news media for their own rhetorical purposes; further constructing the news media as harmful to democracy.

Keywords: fake news, 2020 U.S. election, social media, Trump
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The evolving concept of fake news
  • 3.The discursive power of the fake news frame
  • 4.“Fake News” on the campaign trail
  • 5.Methods
  • 6.Analysis
    • 6.1The media as a gatekeeper
    • 6.2The media as a purveyor of falsehoods
    • 6.3The media in collusion
    • 6.4The media as a bully
    • 6.5The media as out of touch
    • 6.6Media appearances / Endorsement and others
  • 7.Discussion
  • 8.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • References
Published online: 29 June 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.21033.ros
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