Elected president in 2016, Donald Trump, who could be reappointed for a second term, has multiplied during his mandate the abuse of the press and false information.
An attitude that forced journalists to adapt their method across the Atlantic, explains Wednesday on Europe 1 Melissa Bell, correspondent for CNN in Paris.
In four years of presidency, Donald Trump has dramatically changed the American political landscape.
But not only.
The current host of the White House, who could well be renewed for a second term at the end of a presidential election full of uncertainties vis-à-vis Joe Biden, has also, by his attitude, profoundly modified the way of working of journalists across the Atlantic.
Often targeted by the former businessmen, and faced with his many fake news, they were forced to reinvent themselves, explains Wednesday in Culture Media, on Europe 1 Melissa Bell, correspondent for CNN in Paris.
"Donald Trump opens his mouth and we must immediately rectify the situation"
"It has transformed the work of journalists or in any case of those who really do their job in the United States and who have not become organs of propaganda for the American presidency," says the journalist straight away.
For these, therefore, the real change concerns the permanent fact-checking of the presidential word.
"Donald Trump opens his mouth and we must immediately rectify the situation," explains Melissa Bell.
The discipline has also brought out a star at CNN, Daniel Dale.
"It's a machine gun", compliments Xavier Yvon, Europe 1 correspondent in the United States.
"He debriefs Trump's speeches in five minutes, he lists the 150 lies spoken by the president."
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"CNN correspondents become targets"
As an example, Melissa Bell relies on the recent declarations of the American president concerning postal votes, which he readily compares to fraud and which he would like to stop counting as soon as possible.
"It has never been the case, that the votes stop being counted at a certain time, in certain States. This is just not how the system works", exasperated the journalist.
"Our job as a journalist is simply to recall what the electoral framework is, how the system works. Until then, that had not been the job of journalists. It has become."
Another consequence, and not the least, at least for CNN, one of Donald Trump's favorite targets: the obligation to work almost hidden.
"As for our teams, we do not go out into the streets of the United States with labels on our equipment, on the cameras, as we are used to doing in the media, on TV channels", explains Melissa Bell.
"Because we can be attacked, we saw it recently during the meetings of Donald Trump. The correspondents of CNN become the targets of the crowds who come to hear it."