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Tag: Democrats

  • Twitter permanently bans Donald Trump

    Twitter permanently bans Donald Trump

    NEW DELHI: After years of hectoring allies, attacking opponents and disseminating disinformation, US President Donald Trump’s favourite online mouthpiece has been shut down. Twitter on Friday permanently suspended Trump’s account citing “risk of further incitement of violence,” thereby effectively cutting him off from his 88 million plus followers on the microblogging platform.

    Twitter’s move comes days after hundreds of pro-Trump protesters stormed Capitol Hill in Washington DC and unleashed chaos in the very seat of American power. The service clearly stated the incident was the trigger leading to the permanent ban on Trump, especially since the president had taken to Twitter to further propagate false claims about the 2020 US elections.

    Initially, in the wake of the Capitol riot, Twitter had locked Trump’s account for 12 hours following three tweets that violated the company’s terms of service. It restored his handle after 12 hours had elapsed, even as Facebook indefinitely suspended Trump’s page as “the risks” of allowing him to post on the platform are “too great.”

    No sooner was his Twitter account restored that Trump took to it and posted a video message telling his supporters to go home. He not only did not censure them for their actions, but instead, referred to them as “special people” and told them “we love you.” While he eventually posted another video statement saying he would support a peaceful transition of power, he followed it up with a tweet stating his intention to skip president-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration on 20 January.

    And while many commentators agree that it was a long time coming, Jack Dorsey gave Trump the boot from his platform as “in the context of horrific events this week, we made it clear on Wednesday that additional violations of the Twitter Rules would potentially result in this very course of action.”

    Trump, of course, did not take the snub lying down, and accused Twitter of having “coordinated with the Democrats and Radical Left” to suspend his @realDonaldTrump account. He also, according to several media reports, tried multiple times to post from alternate handles, like the official @POTUS account, but these tweets were promptly deleted by the platform.

    Apart from Twitter and Facebook, other social media networks have also shown some spine and are finally cracking down on Trump. Instagram, Snapchat and Twitch barred access to the president’s account, while YouTube enacted a stricter misinformation policy which makes it easier to suspend Trump for posting false election claims.

    Calls for Trump’s impeachment have been gaining momentum over the last couple of days, as bipartisan lawmakers and the common people alike hold the president responsible for spewing unfounded lies of voter fraud and provoking the mob that broke into and defaced the US Capitol. Five people, including a policeman, died in the riot.

    Democrat and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said the House would move ahead with the process to impeach Trump if he did not resign immediately. A CNN report stated that "multiple Republicans" and former Trump allies are considering supporting his impeachment. And while Trump was the third US president to have impeachment proceedings initiated against him (in January 2020), he may well be the first leader of the free world to be impeached twice.

  • News reporting in the US is perceived as biased

    MUMBAI: Over six in 10 adults in the United States agree that there is a bias in the reporting of news. However, there is less agreement as to whether there is a liberal or conservative bias. Furthermore, viewers of talk shows say that the hosts of these shows are equally critical of Republicans and Democrats. Greater numbers of adults say they turn to CNN and Fox News mostly when seeking news or information about public affairs or politics.

    These are the results of a Harris Poll of 1,179 US adults surveyed online by Harris Interactive between 7 to 13 June 2006. Specific results from this poll include:

    * Almost four in 10 US adults (37 per cent) listen to talk shows on the radio at least once a week and about three in 10 (29 per cent) watch political or public affairs TV shows at least once a week.

    * CNN (20 per cent) and Fox News (18 per cent) are the television channels adults most often turn to when they want news or information related to politics or public affairs. These are followed by the networks, including ABC (nine per cent), NBC (eight per cent) and CBS ( seven per cent). Other channels include MSNBC (five per cent), C-Span (three per cent), PBS (three per cent) and CNBC (one per cent).

    * When comparing those who are ‘heavy’ users of the media (including talk radio and television) to ‘light’ users, a slightly different profile emerges. Among “heavy” media users, Fox News is the leading channel at 39 per cent, followed by CNN at 22 per cent. Among ‘light’ media users, CNN is at the top (21 per cent) followed by ABC (13 per cent), NBC (11 per cent), CBS (nine per cent) and Fox News (eight per cent).

    * When looking at the profile of viewers of TV channels that are watched most often for news about politics or public affairs, preferences emerge based on political affiliation and political philosophy. CNN’s viewers are more likely to be Democrats (42 per cent) or Independents (29 per cent) than Republicans (19 per cent.) Not surprisingly Fox News viewers are more likely to be Republicans (63 per cent) as compared to Democrats (12 per cent) or Independents (20 per cent).

    The potential biases associated with the media’s reporting have been discussed a great deal. This Harris Poll explores whether the public thinks that talk show hosts are more critical of Democrats or Republicans. Among those who watch talk shows at least once a month, 22 percent think that talk show hosts are more critical of Democrats and 25 percent say that hosts are more critical of Republicans. The remaining 52 percent say that the hosts are equally critical of both parties.

    However, over six in 10 (63 per cent) of Republicans agree that there is bias in the news reporting, with the remaining 36 per cent saying they are not sure (31 per cent) or think there is no bias (fiv per cent). Interestingly, the adult public overall thinks that there is more of a liberal bias (38 per cent) than a conservative bias (25 per cent). While this may not be altogether surprising, the fact that the findings don’t show an even greater liberal bias is noteworthy.

    * Furthermore, among those who are ‘heavy’ users of the media, a majority (54 per cent) say that there is a liberal bias in news reporting, compared to 24 per cent who say there is a conservative bias. Among “light” media users there is less of a difference, with similar numbers saying that there is
    a liberal bias (31 per cent) or conservative bias (25 per cent).

    * CNN viewers are split on this issue, with a third (33 per cent) saying that there is a liberal bias and another third (32 per cent) saying there is a conservative bias.

    * Fox News viewers, however, strongly feel that there is a liberal bias (69 per cent) as compared to 12 per cent who say there is a conservative bias. Among adults who say that there is bias in the media, television is perceived as having the ‘greatest bias in the reporting of news’ (41 per cent).

    17 per cent say that print media and seven percent say that radio is biased in their reporting. Three in 10 (31 per cent) say that the media overall are equally biased.