Journalist Dan Rather said Sunday that Twitter is a platform for propaganda and pointed to President Trump’s use of the social network as an example.
“This is a whole new age. And the president has the strongest, the most powerful platform for propaganda that humans have ever had,” the former CBS News anchor said on CNN’s “Reliable Sources.” “No president has ever had this kind of reach, the combination of television, radio, the internet, social media, tweet[s].”
When host Brian Stelter pointed out Trump’s prolific use of Twitter in particular, Rather described the platform as “unrelenting.”
“With Twitter, much of the time, not all the time, much of the time, I sense the public has a sense that they’re facing a manure spreader in a windstorm,” Rather said. “It just keeps coming and coming and coming at you. It’s ridiculous but it’s unrelenting.”
Rather urged Americans to be wary of what they read on the social media site, emphasizing that, “the president has the strongest and the most powerful platform for propaganda that humans have ever had.”
“The President has the strongest and the most powerful platform for propaganda that humans have ever had,” iconic broadcaster @DanRather tells @brianstelter. “No President has ever had this kind of reach.” pic.twitter.com/vrT7m7vxzK
— Reliable Sources (@ReliableSources) March 17, 2019
“For the public at large, it’s time [to] take a deep breath, say to yourself, stay steady,” Rather said. “Keep in mind that this is a tremendous tool for propaganda. See it in that context and do the best we can.”
Rather also took a jab at Trump over his views on climate change and science in general, saying that the president is “basically anti-science.”
“This administration, led by the president, is downgrading science at a very time we need to be leaping forward, keeping up with science,” he said.
Trump has been criticized by people on both sides of the political spectrum over his use of the social media platform. A prolific tweeter, Trump has over 59 million followers on the network.
