title:  REPORT: Team Trump Tried To Bribe Networks For More Pro-Trump Coverage (DETAILS)
text: It s no secret that there is no love lost between Donald Trump and the media. However, a new report regarding how his son-in-law Jared Kushner tried to manipulate the press into covering the Trump campaign in a better light is downright disturbing. According to The Hill, Kushner offered better access to the campaign in exchange for more pro-Trump news pieces.The first attempt to control messaging in this way was done by asking Sinclair Broadcasting   an outfit that owns local stations nationwide   to have anchors refrain from commenting on Trump s rallies, statements, and interviews, and just air footage of the rallies and interviews instead, and in the most flattering light possible. Kushner revealed this tactic while speaking to New York City business people. The trade off was that the Trump team would be more cooperative with friendly networks.In fairness, it seems that Sinclair Broadcasting s efforts here were noble, and likely if it were anyone but the highly manipulative Team Trump, it would likely be fine because no other campaign would ever make such demands. Sinclair Vice President Scott Livingston said of the deal: Our promise was to give all candidates an opportunity to voice their position share their position with our viewers. Certainly we presented an opportunity so that Mr. Trump could clearly state his position on the key issues. Our commitment to our viewers is to go beyond podium, beyond the rhetoric. We re all about tracking the truth and telling the truth and that s typically missing in most political coverage. Okay, fair enough, but it seems Livingston underestimated Trump and his campaign. They have no respect for journalists, do not tolerate voices that are critical of Trump, and they refuse to cooperate with media outlets that are not explicitly pro-Trump. This attitude is never more apparent than what happened when Trump s team tried to get CNN to have more Trump supporters included in their famously heated political panel debates. This was a request from Jared Kushner as well, and when CNN s Jeff Zucker shot that request down, the Trump people became increasingly difficult for the network to deal with.CNN s refusal to kowtow to his request seemed to irritate Kushner so much that he couldn t stop talking about the network at the New York business meeting. One person who was in the room said of Kushner s CNN remarks: He kept going on and on about it. It was around this time when Trump started calling CNN the  Clinton News Network  and trashing them on Twitter.This does not bode well for the free press and the First Amendment in general under a Trump Administration. Clearly, these people want to control the message   and that message better be pro-Trump or else. Likely, Breitbart will be a Trump propaganda arm, and he will, slowly but surely, sow distrust in any press that is not explicitly flattering and supportive of him. He already has a head start, as most of his supporters do not trust anything that isn t said by Trump himself.Welcome to your Banana Republic, America. It s going to be a rough four years.Featured image via Drew Angerer/Getty Images