SEAToday.com, Jakarta - It has indeed been an interesting day in which Donald Trump attained the presidency and returned to a pronounced task. His victory over Kamala Harris in the 2024 election, on (11/5), has thrown up questions of media influence and trust.

The most surreal thing, though, is that the media is taking a beating for its role; many Trump supporters think that news outlets didn't echo their views. "If half the country has decided that Trump is qualified to be president, that means they're not reading any of this media," one TV executive said, as reported by CNN. 

His victory has cemented distrust in mainstream outlets and changed how journalists will go about framing such a divided electorate.

Many have interpreted the Trump victory as a reflection of how the media are detached from the voters and even dwell on issues that failed to move the public one way or another. 

CNN's Scott Jennings reproached that "we were told all these gimmicks were going to somehow push Harris over the line," and indeed, he was reflecting that media narratives missed the leading issues, such as inflation.

But with the tensions between Trump and the media continuing to escalate, there's a perhaps more fundamental question: how his administration might seek to curtail press freedoms-e.g., revoking licenses or limiting access. This portends a new, polarizing phase of hostility in the political landscape.

The road ahead for the media is tough because it has to live through these tensions and come out with the principles of independent journalism intact. It would, therefore, appear as if the question was one of whether the press could rebuild its credibility among such a divided audience.

Writer: Fariz Ahmad Luthfi