Talk: The Fourth Estate, President Trump & the U.S. Election

With the primaries right around the corner, the 2020 U.S. presidential election is picking up speed.

It’s sure to be another exciting election cycle with the Democratic hopefuls ready to receive the Democratic nomination and the question of impeachment still looming. Whatever the outcome of the election, it will have a massive impact on the future of the U.S. and beyond. Additionally, the media will yet again play a crucial role.

With the Trump presidency, the media landscape and politics in general have been transformed significantly. Government policies are now announced on Twitter while popularity is measured by social media presence.

How has the growing relevance of social media impacted the 2020 elections so far and has the role of the fourth estate, i.e. the media, evolved from the 2016 elections?

John Nichols, U.S. journalist and pioneer political blogger, dissects critical issues of modern-day journalism in a time when America’s freedom of the press is in jeopardy.

We look forward to welcoming you to the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung in Mainz.

Picture: "President Trump Departs for Williamsburg" (Public Domain) by The White House

John Nichols, a pioneering political blogger, writes about politics for The Nation as its national-affairs correspondent. His posts have been circulated internationally, quoted in numerous books, and mentioned in debates on the floor of Congress. Nichols also hosts Next Left, The Nation‘spodcast featuring interviews with rising progressive politicians who explain how they plan to change our country for the better.

Nichols is a contributing writer for The Progressive and In These Times and the associate editor of the Capital Times, the daily newspaper in Madison, Wisconsin. His articles have appeared in The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, and dozens of other newspapers.

Nichols is a frequent guest on radio and television programs as a commentator on politics and media issues.

He is the author of the Trumpocalypse: A Field Guide to the Most Dangerous People in America(Nation Books) as well asGenius of Impeachment (New Press); a critically acclaimed analysis of the Florida recount fight of 2000, Jews for Buchanan (New Press); and a best-selling biography of former vice president Dick Cheney, Dick: The Man Who is President (New Press), which was also published in French and Arabic. He edited Against the Beast: A Documentary History of American Opposition to Empire (Nation Books), of which historian Howard Zinn said: “At exactly the time when we need it most, John Nichols gives us a special gift—a collection of writings, speeches, poems, and songs from throughout American history—that reminds us that our revulsion to war and empire has a long and noble tradition in this country."