The Media Learns Nothing As They Give Trump Millions Of Dollars Of Free Coverage
The corporate media showed its addiction to Trump drama and rewarded the indicted former president with millions of dollars in free coverage of his travel to New York.
The big media companies demonstrated that they would allow Trump to pull their strings for profit, which is why newsletters like The Daily are vital. Corporate media can show Trump, but you don’t have to watch. You can support this newsletter that stands for facts and democracy and stop rewarding those who pander to Trump. Please consider becoming a subscriber.
Just Like in 2016, The Media Gave Trump A Free Coverage Lifeline
Before he was indicted, Donald Trump was struggling to raise money for his presidential campaign. Trump was also virtually frozen out of mainstream media and limited to popping up on conservative shows, mostly Newsmax. Fox News had virtually cut him off since the 2022 midterm election.
That all changed on Monday, as cable news descended into self-parody with wall-to-wall coverage of Trump flying from Florida to New York to turn himself in.
The coverage was so ridiculous that at one point, the cable networks spent 20-30 minutes showing Trump’s luggage being unloaded from his plane after it arrived in New York.
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Trump dominated the news cycle just like it was 2016 again.
The former president has dug his claws in and refused to leave the public eye after losing the 2020 election. Even inciting and leading a deadly plot to overthrow the government did not cause him to retreat from his bottomless need for a spotlight.
In contrast to cable news, Sarah talked about actual life and death news on Monday:
Trump gambled that nothing had changed. The cable news cameras would come running if he gave them a show.
Donald Trump used his arraignment to create a circus, and he was right, cable news fell into line behind him.
Below we’ll discuss how much Trump benefited from all of the free coverage and what we can do to discourage this behavior.
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