Business Insider spoke with London School of Economics fellow Brian Klaas, author of "The Despot's Apprentice: Donald Trump's Attack on Democracy."

Klaas said Donald Trump threatens the press by undermining their ability to make money and singling out reporters.

Klaas said that Trump is borrowing and mimicking tactics that you normally see in authoritarian states.



Read the full transcript below:

"So Trump is not a "despot," but I call him a 'despot's apprentice' because he's borrowing and mimicking tactics that you normally see in authoritarian states. So you have things like 'the cult of personality' where Trump's ego comes into play, classic hallmark of despot like behaviour. Then you have attacks on the press, demonizing the press. Trump's called them not only 'fake news' but also 'the enemy of the people' and 'a stain on America.'

One of the ways that authoritarian leaders try to attack the press is, they try to undermine their ability to make money. So, Trump is threatening the licenses of various organisations or criticising them publicly on Twitter, and trying to get his supporters to boycott certain organisations is going after the revenue streams.

Then you also have things like the 'Department of Justice' which is in charge of approving or not approving mergers. And there's a media merger under consideration now with CNN — who Trump's favourite target on Twitter - is owned by Time Warner one of the merger parties.

And Trump is basically holding that up it seems, partly we don't know, but potentially partly as a result of his disdain for their reporting. He singles out reporters and attacks them if they ever give him negative coverage.

And the way that this has blurred the line is that Trump is not criticizing them and calling them 'fake news' for incorrect reporting most of the time, it's just critical reporting. And so the clear aspect of 'fake news' that Trump sees is any time they say something Trump doesn't like it's 'fake.' Same with polls. He's literally said on Twitter 'All negative polls are fake.'

So, this aspect creates a 'chilling effect' that causes journalists to consider: 'Do I want to invite the Presidents ire on Twitter?'

And if I don't, then I obviously need to tone down my reporting, maybe choose a different word than I would of otherwise.

And over time this has an insidious effect on the free media because people start to check themselves, understanding that critiquing the president can actually hurt their bosses, or their media conglomerates bottom line. And that's where the freedom of the press erodes, and you have a much more cowed state media type environment that exists."

Produced by David Ibekwe. Research by Fraser Moore.