I would love to be a fly on the wall in the morning meetings at CNN and MSNBC. The future may not be bright for them.
If Trump happens to lose the presidential election in two weeks, they may have to go back to presenting the news again.
For the past six years,
Mr. Trump has succeeded in hijacking the major cable news networks. Having achieved fame for his Apprentice TV
show, Trump knows a thing or two about what drives the media and he has taken full
advantage of that expertise.
Cable news has been transformed into Trump cable news. Instead of showing a full display of national and international news and issues, we are inundated with a reality show of wall-to-wall Trump, Trump, Trump.
The underlying question of each hour of programming has been – how outrageous can our president be and isn’t it all so awful? To fully explore that query, the news shows play the same game all day long; assemble a panel of left leaning good talkers to try to outdo each other on why Trump has finally proven that he has gone crazy.
Trump is their raison d’etre – their reason to exist.
Although the President constantly rails against the “mainstream media”, in fact he loves TV – because he has learned how to control them to his advantage since the beginning of his 2016 presidential run. After years of practice, Trump plays the media with the artistry that Perlman plays the violin.
During that campaign, CNN and MSNBC used to broadcast many of his rallies live – giving Trump 30 minutes or more of free airtime. To make the most of it, Trump sometimes delayed those rallies, catching the stations by surprise. To fill up space, the networks gathered their teams together and talked about Trump (more free air time) until the rally finally took place. No wonder Trump did not have to spend many dollars for paid TV ads.
Things have not changed much over the years. During a typical newsday, from morning till night, talk about Trump dominates the the screen. When Trump recently called Dr. Anthony Fauci a “disaster” and his fellow scientists “idiots”, we heard about it ad nauseum. Every little offensive statement gets that level of coverage.
If cable news did not find a juicy Trump tidbit to exploit on one day and are forced to report real news (little things, like China’s economy or the Mideast peace agreement), the president always finds something crazy and new to spew forth to upend and take ownership of the next news cycle. He’s a master of the game. And the networks play along.
His base doesn’t pay much attention to what he says but revels in observing the Left getting red-faced over Trump’s antics. They understand what the President is doing, but cable news is caught in Trump’s trap and can’t find a way out.
Brian Stetler during his CNN media commentary show on Sunday, commiserated with fellow media types about how to solve their ongoing dilemma of covering Trumps shocking verbiage and actions without going overboard. They couldn’t find the magic bullet.
It’s not easy. TV folks as well as the listeners love the shiny object. We love stuff that’s shocking, scary, and despicable. Ratings go up and it creates a social media stir.
By comparison, Biden is a calm, even-tempered guy. He’s a nice person who is an expert at making deals and making friends. He was a perfect partner for no drama Obama, but he doesn’t make compelling TV.
So, after the first presidential debate, who got all the airtime from the panel of pundits? The shiny object, of course. The bad boy, the disrupter, the bully. Although the buzz proclaimed Biden as the debate’s winner, the media didn’t waste much time talking about him. They just couldn’t help themselves. Outrageousness sells.
I have a friend who loves to play with his cat. For fun, he has a flexible stick with a fake feathery bird hanging from a string. The cat is mesmerized by the bird and constantly jumps and paws at it as my friend is springing the colorful thing up and down with glee. The cat no doubt knows that this is not a real bird but cannot help itself from trying to catch it for hours on end.
That’s us. Imagine that my friend who controls the stick is Trump, the bird is his appalling behavior, and the cat is the media and us. Trump is controlling us all – AND WE JUST CAN’T STOP WATCHING.
But here’s the question. Now that we are all addicted by Trump’s never ending flow of shenanigans, will we be able to watch the news if things are ….reasonable? If government works pretty well, if the President conducts respectable news conferences and treats his enemies and friends with dignity. How will CNN and MSNBC bring those much-needed eyeballs to its programs? I’m betting that their ratings will go down as well as their revenue, and they will have to change their method of presenting the news.
FOX news will have to make changes also, but I feel the biggest shock will be with CNN and MSNBC
My prediction. Trump will create another platform where he will continue to present Tweets, speeches and dramatics that will feed the cable news shows. So even if Biden wins, Trump will still dominate the airways and we will see the former president more than we will see the current one.
Although we hate bullies and provocateurs, we love to watch and discuss their antics. We want to entertained.
4 comments:
Nicely put, Ken. I was thinking about that -- I listen to a lot of BBC because I actually hear what is going on around the world and not just the political scene! It will be interesting to follow. Holding my breath that we get some sanity and get to find out!
Well noticed Ken. In the 70's when someone told Transcendental Meditation founder Maharishi Mahesh Yogi that he and TM had some bad press, MMY is reported to have said,"that's OK. Bad press is better than no press". The question is,"Is the press the culprit or are the people who watch it and make it their entire life focus the problem?"
The same Maharishi said the news us just a reflection of national consciousness. It's
kind of like my friend and i are 'against' movies with graphic violence. But he votes in favor of them every time he buys a ticket.
Ken, everything you’ve said here is true and you expressed it in your usual, very professional style. I really believe that Trump will continue to have a very strong presence in the news for many months, if not years, as you have stated. The news stations will continue to highlight his tweets for two reasons. First, he is someone their viewers love to hate. Second, it will keep strong viewership, which ensures strong advertising revenues. In many respects, we have created our own monster. Even Fox will continue to benefit for similar reasons. We are addicted and need a cure.
Interesting angle, Ken. Thanks for your thoughts. CNN, MSNBC, FoxNews, etc are a real joke, sadly. I hate all of them. All the cable news stations are completely unhinged, screechy, preachy and not practicing journalism. Mostly true at the Big4 networks as well. There is literally no news source I can find that applies objectivity other than the Wall Street Journal. They have the courage to criticize Trump but also praise some of his results. They’re the only news source I follow that calls it both ways. I also discovered this site and it is helpful: https://usafacts.org
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