Donald Trump has taken media by storm, and according to veteran journalists, has done so in a way no other presidential candidate has in the past.
The New York Times’ latest Trump piece looks at exactly that…
Trump coverage has brought in millions for media companies, to say the least. Quoting data compiled by Kantar Media, the NY Times noted that prime-time advertising rates “spiked” in the first quarter of this year, “rising 45 percent at CNN and 23 percent at MSNBC.”
It’s all about the money.
NY Times wrote, “[T]he presence of Mr. Trump can be irresistible, especially in an election in which viewership and advertising rates have soared, generating tens of millions of dollars in additional revenue for an industry threatened by digital competition.”
John Dickerson of CBC’s “Face the Nation” told NY Times that he’s never seen a candidate who “tweets as much as he does, who speaks as colloquially as he does, on his own terms.”
Dickerson described Trump’s hoarding of the news cycle as “the shiny object moments,” which distract viewers from other stories.
The NY Times added that Trump’s ability to “hijack a news cycle” is even something news producers are “not yet sure how to handle.”
Trump has put news outlets in unchartered territory.
Bret Baier, chief political anchor at Fox News, said all of the Donald’s “provocations in interviews” and Twitter rants seem to be part of his plan to “contort the day’s media stories.”
“For good, or bad, or however you look at it, he’s been successful at doing that,” Baier added.
The fact that Trump is so easy-to-get while opponent Hillary Clinton isn’t so welcoming is, in part, working in his favor. The NY Times even pointed out two occasions where Trump got all the attention while Clinton fell to the sidelines.
“Last week, none of the three major cable news networks — CNN, Fox News, or MSNBC — carried Mrs. Clinton’s speech to a workers’ union in Las Vegas, where she debuted sharp new attack lines against Mr. Trump. Instead, each chose to broadcast a live feed of an empty podium in North Dakota, on a stage where Mr. Trump was about to speak,” they wrote.
“The same discrepancy occurred earlier this month, when the cable networks aired Mr. Trump’s address to the National Rifle Association live from start to finish. A speech by Mrs. Clinton in Detroit days later, to a labor union, did not receive the same coverage; all three networks skipped the speech, with Fox News airing a lighthearted segment about a nationwide backlog of cheese,” they added.
The NY Times goes as far to say that Trump may even be personally calling media outlets’ control rooms to pitch stories.
The Washington Post beautifully depicted what we are witnessing from both candidates in the media:
Donald Trump is addicted to media. Hillary Clinton is allergic.
Cover image credit: thewrap.com
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