The role of the media in US foreign policy: Russian relations in the Donald Trump era

After the emergence of modern state structures, the process of revealing the policies that the governments planned to follow turned into a more and more painful process. Decision makers have been under the influence of many internal and external factors with the increase in institutionalization while determining their policies in the process. These factors may be in specialized parts such as government and existing ministries, or they may be in non-governmental structures. Non-executive organizations such as non-governmental organizations, autonomous and high-budget multinational firms, community leaders and the media have had significant influence over policy makers. The media, which has the opportunity to work for freedom and public interest with democratic values, has become a very important policy shaping factor with the development of transportation and communication opportunities. The importance of public opinion by politicians who are worried about re-election has given the media a direct influence. The media acts as a bridge between policy makers and the public. However, there is no direct transfer. The American media, which also constitutes the study area of the study, examines policy makers from a perspective whose policy rules were determined by the founding fathers and has been going on for decades, and conveys the information received from this perspective, which has been determined from the past to the present. In other words, the news in question reaches the public through a filter that prioritizes liberal hegemon values, and conveys the steps contrary to the established rules to the reader in the form of an error. The mainstream media, which went through one of the most critical periods in the Trump presidency, examined all kinds of Trump's past relationships and conveyed his campaign and the compatibility of his presidential term with the US values to the public as a guardian of these values. Trump's relations with Russia and Putin, which is the most important topic of the Trump presidency, were constantly scrutinized, and as many politicians from the Trump administration said, even routine steps that should be taken could not be taken because of this attitude of the media. The study, shaped in this way, tries to reveal the influence of the American mainstream media on the policy steps taken against Russia under the Trump presidency.