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Truth, Transparency, and Tech: The Trump Administration’s Impact on Independent Media

2025
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As President Donald Trump begins his second, non-consecutive term, his administration’s relationship with the media landscape has taken center stage. In this term, his administration’s support for independent media over traditional legacy outlets is becoming increasingly evident, as the latter grapples with declining influence and relevance.

 

At the same time, prominent tech figures such as Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg are aligning themselves more closely with the new administration, signaling potentially stronger ties between the media and technology landscape.

 

Tech Giants Aligning with Trump Administration

 

Tech moguls Musk, Bezos, and Zuckerberg have publicly aligned with the new administration, and their attendance at Trump’s inauguration ceremony sent a clear signal of this evolving relationship.

 

Musk, tasked to lead a new Department of Government Efficiency, reportedly donated over $270 million to Trump and the GOP, according to documents reviewed by the Business Insider.

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Bezos, the founder of Amazon and owner of The Washington Post, has shown support for the current administration’s initiatives in deregulation. Zuckerberg, Meta CEO, has also shifted Meta’s policies to align with deregulatory trends, including ending its third-party fact-checking program in favor of a community-based approach.

 

Musk’s recent acquisition of X (formerly Twitter) has also transformed the platform into a space for open political discourse, a move that aligns with Trump’s advocacy for freedom of speech and less content moderation.

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The Decline of Legacy Media: Credibility Crisis
 
Traditional networks have faced unprecedented challenges in the wake of social media domination and the audience's growing distrust in their ability to report news fully and fairly.
 
A 2024 Gallup poll found that only 31% of Americans have a “great deal” or “fair amount” of confidence in the media (newspapers, television, and radio) to report the news “fully, accurately and fairly.” This is a 19-point drop from two decades before when the trust quotient was at 50% in 2005. Those who said they did not trust media "at all" also soared from 12% to 36% in the same period.

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Republicans have also grown increasingly distrustful of news sources over recent years, citing biased reporting and perceived narrative filtering. In fact, a 2020 survey found that 58% of Republicans and GOP-leaning individuals distrusted CNN; 47% found the New York Times not trustworthy, up 12% from 2014; and The Washington Post scored 39%, from 22% years before.

 

The decline in public trust has compounded financial woes, forcing some outlets to downsize and lay off staff.

 

Historic Viewership Declines

 

A week after Trump's decisive win over former Vice President Kamala Harris, MSNBC prime time's ratings took a stunning drop--down 53%, according to Neilsen data cited by the New York Times. CNN suffered the same fate, falling 43% in prime time since the elections. According to Benzinga, these are historic declines, some of the lowest in nearly 30 years.

 

The viewership drop has forced networks to lay off staff. Last week, CNN let go of over 200 employees (6% of its workforce) as it shifted its focus on streaming, amid the ratings decline. Shakeups in its show and host lineup have also been rumored, including moving Jim Acosta to a midnight timeslot--a decision seen by some as a gesture of goodwill to Trump, who's known to have a zesty relationship with the anchor.

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Legacy media also struggles to capture younger demographics, with the growing importance of visual and video-led social media platforms in news consumption, with significant percentages of users relying on them as their primary sources for news.

 

The decline in public trust has compounded financial woes. This mistrust has fueled the rise of smaller, independently funded outlets that often bypass traditional editorial norms.

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Independent Media’s Growing Influence

 

Independent media’s audience continues to grow, as more Americans turn to alternative sources for unbiased, truth-based information.

 

Turning to alternative media, a 2024 Pew Research Center study showed that 54% of U.S. adults now get news at least sometimes from social media platforms. Facebook leads with 33% regularly obtaining news there, followed by YouTube at 32%.


Another Pew Research study found that 1-in-5 (21%) U.S. adults--and 37% of those under 30--regularly get news from news influencers. Most (65%) say influencers have helped them understand current events and civic issues better. According to the data, 27% of news influencers explicitly identify as Republican.

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This consistently growing distrust in traditional and legacy news platforms helped independent media platforms like Substack and podcasts see unprecedented growth.

 

"The Joe Rogan Experience," hosted by comedian and commentator Joe Rogan, is the top podcast on Spotify in 2024 and the top 3 on Apple Podcasts. As of March 2024, the show which covers a wide variety of topics--from sports to politics--had 14.5 million followers on Spotify.

 

Interestingly, in October 2024, at the height of the U.S. election, Joe Rogan's podcast and another independent media platform held the top spots for most watch-time in the U.S.--Rogan was third with 1.2 billion minutes, and Meidas Touch, a "pro-democracy" independent news platform, was number one with 1.3 billion minutes.

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Initially a lifestyle blogger, content creator Jessica Reed Kraus gained prominence through her coverage of politics and trials, amassing 1.3 million Instagram followers and 452,000 Substack subscribers.

 

Outlets like Turning Point USA also saw online audience growth from an average of 83,000 to 111,000 in 2020. It now has 2.7 million followers on Instagram.

 

Biohack Yourself Media, an independent health news platform that started in 2024, reaches over 500,000 accounts on Instagram monthly, with views hitting 3.4 million in the past month. Its success has been evidenced by being chosen as the exclusive health press of the successful MAHA Inaugural Ball.

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Trump's Media Movements on His First Week

 

Trump has long criticized major media networks, branding them as purveyors of “fake news” during his first presidency. Now, he has taken proactive steps to bolster alternative voices in the media landscape.

 

Positioning himself as the champion of free speech, Trump signed an executive order on his first day in office, mandating a comprehensive investigation into potential violations of Americans’ free speech rights during former President Joe Biden's administration, including possible censorship on social media platforms.

 

The move was warmly received by independent media outlets, many of which have accused legacy media and Big Tech of stifling dissenting voices.

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Trump also nominated L. Brent Bozell III, a prominent conservative activist, to lead the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which oversees entities like Voice of America.

 

Bozell is the founder of the Media Research Center, an organization dedicated to identifying and combating perceived liberal bias in mainstream media. His appointment has sparked controversy due to his son’s involvement in the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot, for which he was pardoned by Trump.

 

Bozell has supported Trump’s argument that the media is biased against him, even calling the 2020 election coverage “the most wildly imbalanced in history.” Bozell also co-authored the book "Unmasked: Big Media’s War Against Trump."

 

In a major change to the White House briefing room, new White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced that they’re opening seats for “New Media” coverage, including non-traditional outlets like Axios and Breitbart News. 

 

The new administration is also offering press credentials to TikTok content creators, bloggers, and podcasters. 

 

“Whether you are a TikTok content creator, a blogger, a podcaster — if you are producing legitimate news content, no matter the medium, you will be allowed to apply for press credentials to this White House," Leavitt said on her first day as Trump’s press secretary. 
 

Biohack Yourself Media's Commitment to Truth-Based Reporting

 

Biohack Yourself Media has emerged as a pioneering platform in truth-based reporting, championing transparency and accuracy in an era marked by skepticism toward traditional media.

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Aligning with the Trump administration’s renewed focus on combating misinformation, the company has positioned itself as a reliable source of unbiased news, particularly in the field of health and wellness. Through fact-checking, reliance on peer-reviewed scientific studies, and partnerships with independent experts, Biohack Yourself Media ensures that every report upholds high journalistic standards.

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Under the Trump administration’s push for open discourse and a reduction of censorship on critical topics like public health, Biohack Yourself Media emphasizes delivering information free from undue influence by special interest groups.

 

By committing to truth-based reporting, the platform reflects the administration’s mission to restore public trust in media through honesty and openness.

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