The Listening Post

Is the media ‘normalising’ Donald Trump?

We examine the media’s softening criticism of President Trump. Plus, Peru launches first Quechua-language news show.

On The Listening Post this week: Isn’t it time for the media to stop playing victim and double down on reporting Trump’s America? Plus, Peru’s newest news show is in one of its oldest languages.

The two faces of Trump

In the space of five days, Donald Trump presented two very different versions of himself to the American public and the media. How the media reacted to both told a tale of its own.

Contributors:
Callum Borchers, reporter, The Washington Post
Michael Calderone, senior media reporter, The Huffington Post
Barbie Zelizer, professor, author, former journalist
Hamid Dabashi, academic, Colombia University
Jeff Mason, white house correspondent, Reuters

On our radar:

– German news magazine discovers nearly two-decade-long campaign of spying on foreign journalists
– Editor of a leading Turkish newspaper steps down following a controversial headline
– Crackdown on protests over media freedom in Togo turns violent

Nuqanchik: First Quechua-language newscast launches in Peru

The Listening Post travels to Peru to speak to journalists behind a new show broadcast in Quechua – one of the region’s oldest languages.

With around eight million speakers across the South American continent, and 13 percent of the Peruvian population itself fluent in the language, Quechua is the most widely spoken indigenous language in the Americas.

And its appearance on Peru’s public broadcaster – Canal Peru – is being seen as a significant moment in the country’s media history.

Contributors:
Clodomiro Landeo, presenter, Nuqanchik 
Marisol Mesa, presenter, Nuqanchik
Hugo Coya, director, National Institute of Radio and Television
Raul Castro, media anthropologist
Patricia del Rio, host, Radio Television Peru