In a recent tweet, president Donald Trump tweeted about his “THE MOST DISHONEST & CORRUPT MEDIA AWARDS OF THE YEAR” (caps included) and it immediately received a variety of responses.

Many supporters responded to the tweet with excitement or even some suggestions for nominees. However, there was still a large portion of people with disapproval of this idea and disbelief that the president would take time to make this happen.

As a student journalist, I feel like it is important for the president to support the media and its opinions. Throughout Trump’s entire presidency, he has called the news out for being “fake.” There will always be disapproval of the president’s work and his actions, but that isn’t an excuse to lash out against the media.

The media has always been very harsh on political leaders, and this presidency has been no exception as every day, there are countless articles posted on Trump’s whereabouts and agenda. This may be viewed as beneficial for the people who want to know what our leader is up to but could cause people to be close minded about what the end result of his presidency may be.

After delaying the awards from Jan. 8 to Jan. 17, Trump finally posted who the “losers” were, and announced and posted the list on the GOP website.

CNN took the lead on the list with a total of four stories making the list, followed by The New York Times with two stories nominated.

The hashtag #FakeNews immediately began to trend on Twitter as many people expressed their opinions on who received awards. There is even an additional link where you can vote for who you believe is the “2017 King of Fake News.” Although many oppose the whole idea of an entire blog posted by the president on this particular topic, many brought more attention to topic by voicing their opinion all over social media.

Despite all of the opposition this event has created, no one is actually violating the Constitution or First Amendment. The First Amendment promises the freedom of speech and press but there is no direct amendment or law about fake news. All of the media establishments are not breaking any laws there aren’t any legal penalties following these stories. However, these stories could have a different effect on the establishment as a news outlet.

Trump also has the right to comment on as all laws apply to the president, as well as the people and media companies.

However, his methods haven’t been proven effective. There are still plenty of news outlets that continue to criticize Trump’s every move.

While fake news damages the credibility of many news sources, Trump’s comments on the actions of the news over the past year doesn’t improve the situation.

As both sides continue to take shots at one another and argue, it’s not accomplishing anything positive. Instead, they’re creating a divide in the nation. We need to create an environment where people trust the news and the president and don’t fear criticism from one another.