When is fake news not fake in the world of President Trump

He’s a man used to getting his own way. And when things don’t run smoothly he throws a tantrum like a child.

After the dignified politics of Barack Obama we are now exposed to the politics of the playground.

Trump deals with critics by drowning them out. His strategy is: if I speak louder than everyone else, if I bully my opponents, I control them.

Trump isn’t listening to the chorus of disapproval. He might as well stick his fingers in his ears and say la-la-la.

During press conferences, he dismisses news organisations he dislikes and moves to the next journalist’s question.

That’s censorship. That’s not openness. That’s not inclusiveness. That’s not democracy.

But in the opening days of Trump’s presidency, openness, inclusiveness and democracy are not words that spring to mind.

Shifts in the temperature of the world’s politics in the past year have put me in mind of George Orwell.

Nineteen Eighty Four was a terrifying vision of a future society, a totalitarian state governed by Big Brother.

Some of the past week’s events (not least Trump’s inauguration) are starting to feel Orwellian. But the most chilling development has been the use of the phrase ‘fake news’ which, for all the world, could be the work of Orwell’s Ministry of Truth and the art of double-speak.

Let’s be clear, just because Trump doesn’t like a news report doesn’t mean it is ‘fake news’.

Labelling a legitimate news story as ‘fake’ is another example of Trump muddying the waters and dismissing his critics.

In any society where freedom of expression and a free press are sacrosanct, facts are vital. The citizens of such a society mustn’t allow bullies to ride roughshod over values, no matter how much money they have or how loud they shout.

The concept of ‘fake news’ isn’t new. The excellent online magazine The Atlantic has an article this week on this very subject.

It reveals that in 1896, William Jennings Bryan stood for election to be US President. He was unhappy with the press coverage (mainly because he wasn’t portrayed favourably). In that pre-internet age, what did he do? He set up his own newspaper to shake a fist at all the ‘fake news’ out there.

Propaganda, in other words. These days, Donald Trump takes to Twitter to shout down all those ‘dishonest’ journalists he so loathes.

That’s not to say we shouldn’t be critical of all the data and information that is paraded in front of us in the name of ‘news’.

But let’s see through the phrase ‘fake news’ for what it is. A dirty tricks technique used by people with something to hide.