Diplomacy through DM’s: Politicians in the media

In the seventh grade, my parents agreed to let me get Tiktok on one condition: no posting, especially nothing controversial. It seemed like a reasonable compromise, and sure enough I agreed and installed Tiktok on my phone. As I have gotten older and earned my parents' trust, they have naturally become more lenient. I occasionally post, but nothing too public or permanent. Keeping those rules in mind, I think of Donald Trump publicly threatening to “blast” Iran “back to the Stone Ages” and warning that “a whole civilization will die tonight” on an account with over 100 million followers. To this day, almost every "controversial" thing I’ve seen online feels insignificant compared to that social media post.

Days after Trump posted this statement, those who saw it thankfully learned that these words were nothing more than pressure on the Iranian president to re-open the Strait of Hormuz. It made me wonder if such an out of pocket statement is necessary to get his point across? A politician's public image matters because it’s the part of them that most people actually see. Social media is one of the few things that connects virtually everyone on the planet, therefore presenting yourself professionally to billions of people is critical to a politician's image. Since their work depends on earning the voters’ support, how they present themselves can, therefore, affect their ability to get elected and succeed. When millions of people are watching, then logically, even small details in their image can shape public perception.


Politicians posting inappropriate things in the media takes up all the attention and time that would go towards more substantial news. For instance, the world has seen time and time again news coverage on Trump’s social media posts and tweets, which has led to a decreased amount of information on, for instance, tensions in Syria, which has been undergoing several changes since the Assad Regime fell around two and a half years ago. It’s not necessarily anybody's fault, in fact as a journalist it’s difficult to not report on something as outrageous as threatening to wipe out an entire civilization. However, this leads to news channels having less time to report on other pressing events in the world. It’s not that other news is less substantial than what politicians are posting in the media, or that it simply doesn't matter. It does matter, and there are so many insane things going on in the world right now, so as a society we should want to be in the know.