President Trump's brash communication style — combined with a societal shift towards streaming, where there are no regulatory restrictions on speech — has forced the entire media industry to present information in a more candid and less polished way.
Why it matters: It’s no longer uncommon to hear cable anchors use foul language or for TV or radio personalities to make indecent remarks on air. Now that the standard has been set, it’s hard to see how networks and news outlets could go back to their postured presentations of the past.
Driving the news: Beginning with Trump's campaign in 2015, networks had to consider how to cover obscenities associated with his speech.
- The Access Hollywood tape forced networks to grapple with how to cover Trump remarks that were newsworthy, but not previously considered acceptable for broadcast television.
- When The Washington Post reported in 2018 that Trump asked a group of lawmakers why the U.S. should protect immigrants from “shithole countries,” networks again faced a difficult decision about how to report about that language.
- The Federal Communications Commission, for example, received complaints about both NBC and CNN referencing that word in their coverage.
This year's barrage of unusual behavior and events also pushed networks to throw previously-held standards out the window.
- Following the nightmare first debate between Trump and Joe Biden, CNN's Dana Bash told millions of viewers, "That was a shit show."
- CNN also reported on a secret recording of Melania Trump in which she swore multiple times.
Yes, but: Not all consumers are comfortable with...