Media owners in the crosshairs as Trump craves retribution

Think ahead to the fall of 2024. The Republican party nominee for president pledges that his administration will open investigations into media companies that make statements his voters don’t like to hear. This nominee has a very real chance of winning the election. And he has promised to act not on his own impulses, not on his own delusions, but on the tear-it-all-down demands of his supporters. “I am your retribution,” he says.

How should the owners of the targeted media companies react? How will they?

Hopefully, board members, CEOs, and chief communications officers are already thinking through these questions. The threats from Donald Trump and his allies are not going to dissipate. Trump is redefining normal news coverage as “election interference” and “illegal political activity.” He is telling his fans that the government should intervene and make the parent companies of these outlets “pay.” He is calling out CEOs by name.

I worked at CNN when Trump used his presidential bully pulpit to hound CNN’s parent AT&T. I remember the day when he suggested a boycott of AT&T and there was a collective shrug in response. The company’s stock ticked up 1.67% that day. The big difference now is that Trump’s anti-press tirades are also campaign promises. The words of Trump’s first term will translate to actions in a second term. That’s why media owners will face severe scrutiny — both from Trump’s camp and pro-democratic forces.

I know, after twenty years on the TV beat, that moguls like Lachlan Murdoch do not want to be mentioned in the press, unless it’s about charitable giving or canny dealmaking. I know that owners do not want to be questioned about how they will stand up to a wannabe autocrat. But the recent controversy involving Univision and its cozy interview with Trump proved that media power structures are not exempt from interrogation.

I also know that punching back is not always the answer. Trump wants to be punched. There are far more sophisticated ways to respond. By the fall of 2024, it may be too late.