My theory on why the media is turning on Trump

[Yavin4]

Trump is not spending money on ads. In the Republican primary, that was okay because Bush, Rubio, and Cruz were all spending money, but now that the general is here, Trump is not doing any major ad buys. He relied on free media coverage in the primaries and thought he could do the same in the general.

Because he's not spending any money, the media's coverage will grow increasingly negative and even hostile.

--On Edit--

Please don't read my post as somehow being pro-Trump. Far from it. The point of my post is that favorable/unfavorable media coverage is tied to how much money the candidates spend on ad buys. If Trump were dumping millions into ad buys, his coverage would be a lot more positive than it is now without him changing anything.

[brooklynite]

1. Disagree...

Trump is still good for ratings, and that delivers eyes to the ads they already have booked.

Besides, political ad sales are usually at the local station level, not the network.

[onenote]

2. +1

[Yavin4]

3. The networks own many local stations

A big cable companies like Viacom own TV networks and cable outlets. Yes, ratings may be higher with Trump, but they have to share those ratings. They all have the same content. Ad buys are direct sales that can be booked today.

[kimbutgar]

4. Perhaps his attacks on the media calling them sleazes might also be a factor?

[eastwestdem]

10. It certainly couldn't have helped them feel better about him! nt

[radical noodle]

5. Maybe so but..

I think some of them, who are actually citizens of this country, have begun to realize what a disaster a Trump presidency would be for this country and therefore for them. Many are people who are in groups he's targeted or have been targeted as media personnel.

[Yavin4]

13. MSNBC just ran a graphic showing that Trump spent $0 on ads in June.

If he spent the same as Hillary, $23 million, or more, they would be talking about how close the race is, and Trump's appeal. The stories would be very positive about him.

[radical noodle]

31. I saw that

But they fell all over him in the primaries and he wasn't spending money on ads then, either. Your conclusion is certainly worth looking at, though.

[Yavin4]

32. In the primary, you had all of the other Republicans, Hillary, and Bernie all spending money on ads

So, it was no big deal at the time that Donald wasn't spending money, and they probably thought that giving him favorable coverage early on would lead to some big time ad buys like Bloomberg spent in his race for NYC mayor.

But that hasn't come to pass. Now the networks feel suckered.

[radical noodle]

37. Plus Trump made it clear that he was expecting free coverage

when he said he'd just appear on a lot of shows, do call-ins and such for the general. I don't think that's going to work out for him as a positive.

[cwydro]

6. Well, he tore them a new one during that veterans donation brouhaha.

I think that left a mark.

[Yavin4]

14. That was the print media

They're a different animal entirely. They don't rely on campaign spending as much as the broadcast/cable media.

[The_Casual_Observer]

7. Maybe it's just that he is polling badly and there is nothing

But bad news to report. NPR is trying really hard to be "balanced" saying there is still a chance he could shore things up.

[Blanks]

8. I don't care WHY they've turned on him...

It's just good news that they have. I saw him on a couple of interviews with Stephanopalous (sp?) where Trump told him that Hillary was his former boss.

George obviously bristled and I doubt there's anything Trump could say to get him back on his side.

[bettyellen]

9. Well he WAS a winner in his field of GOP and now he is no longer the front runner...

That is going to help HRC and hurt him as the media try to explain the reasons why she is winning.

[uponit7771]

11. Might be something there... who knows

[GulfCoast66]

12. 2 reasons I think

1. During the primaries they covered him in the context of the Republicans he was running against and frankly Cruz is more batshit crazy than him.

2. Most importantly, He is now going completely off the rails. Starting with the judge all the way to pretty much saying Obama is supporting terrorism. He gets worse by the day.

I worry he is imploding too soon. Cause while at this point if the republicans replaced him their convention will be a war zone and they will suffer a historic defeat, they will survive.

If he keeps on like he is acting till the GE, I think the right on the US will have a major realignment. And while I welcome republicans who have seen the light(many here including me in this category) I do not want a ton of moderates coming in now just when we have a chance to recover from the Reagan realignment and become what we were pre1980.

[moonscape]

15. I think they're embarrassed they let Trump

get this far without calling him to task on his crazy. That they didn't do their job.

They didn't expect him to win, so not alienating him meant they could continue to get access to the bully. But now, the stakes are higher, he truly is all the negative adjectives and nouns we've been saying on these pages.

They don't want to let him slip through their fingers again.

[stevenleser]

22. There is a lot of that to go around. The GOP establishment is pretty embarrassed too

Last edited Tue Jun 21, 2016, 06:23 AM - Edit history (1)

They could have taken him out early on but thought he would implode and didn't want to offend his supporters hoping they would eventually become Rubio/CruzKasich or whomever supporters.

I didn't attack Trump prior to him securing the nomination because I always saw him as the easiest to beat. Why would I work to tear down the easiest candidate to beat on the other side until he actually is the nominee.

[yardwork]

16. Very good point!

[Tarc]

17. I think the media didn't take Trump seriously til it was too late.

The media is infotainment, they will put on the air whatever they think will attract the most eyeballs. I do think they got a bit pinched on just how to cover Trumpy, though. At first they thought he was the kind of the entertaining and funny racist (like the "Drunk Uncle" sketch SNL does).... "hehehe, look what outrageous thing said today, hahaha!", and it was doubly funny because he was saying it to Cruz, Rubio, and Jeb. Trump was an Infotainment Gold Mine...until someone finally realized that he was whipping up an dangerous and fascist white populist movement.

[stevenleser]

23. Depends, see my #22 above. I'll bet more than a few fellow Liberal pundits were

playing it the same way.

[Scurrilous]

18. Great point.

The torrent of money Citizen's United unleashed was flowing directly into the pockets of corporate media and they get cranky when they don't get their cash.

[Yavin4]

28. Exactly. If Trump was doing major ad buys, his coverage would be much more positive

There's no doubt about that.

[BootinUp]

19. Journalists reacted very negatively to his treatment of the WP

I think its a bigger factor.

[FSogol]

20. Nah, America likes to build celebrities up, but enjoys tearing them down even more.

See Woody Allen, Martha Steward, Tiger Woods, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Kobe Bryant, Bill Cosby, OJ Simpson, Barry Bonds, Paula Deen, Tom Brady.....

[laserhaas]

21. You guys....Mitt's coming.. He's always been coming

Romney owns Clear Channel (iHeart) shows of Glenn Beck, Hannity, Limbaugh and the main stream media has made many billions giving Trump $2 Billion in free advertising.

The freebie advertising season...is now Over!

Mitt only needs to stop Hillary from getting the 270 Electorals....then ...guess who picks the POTUS?

Congress!

[stevenleser]

24. In a two person race stopping someone "from getting 270 electorals" means a

269-269 tie.

That's pretty difficult to try to engineer.

[laserhaas]

25. It has always been a battle ground for 4 states

Ohio
Michigan
Virgina
Florida

Mitt losr all 4....and will not lose Michigan and Florida

It comes down to Virgina and Ohio

And......possibly....a surprise (rig) swing of another state

[randome]

29. It's already too late to make up for lost ground.

Trump has 30 staffers to cover the entire country. He isn't doing any advertising. Clinton has 150 full-time employees in Ohio alone.

This is going to an epic GOP failure this year. Epic.

[laserhaas]

30. Its possible...its possible

l

[athena]

26. I think his narcissistic reaction to the

Orlando massacre turned people against him.

[liberalnarb]

27. Or maybe they're turning on tRump because they look at him

and say "Holy fucking shit! What the hell have we done? Look at the monster we've created, we've gotta fix this!" Please. The reason they're turning on him is because they are starting to realize that they're reckless "journalism" may actually make him President. They're waking up.

[emulatorloo]

33. No. It is because he picked too many fights with reporters and they got pissed at him.

They were then no longer willing to allow him to get away with his bullshit.

I understand what you are saying about "lost ad revenue" but reporters are actually somewhat isolated independent from the bottom line bean counters.

Beside there are no shortage of big superpac anti-HRC ads and ad buys.

Remember Mark Twain: "Never pick a fight with people who buy ink by the barrel."

[TeamPooka]

34. No, they just realized recently that Trump will change the rules on them and end the 1st

amendment and lock their asses out of the white house to stop coverage of him if he wins.

[Cha]

36. The US M$M giveth and taketh away.. glad to hear they're not trying to make trump "normal"

for whatever reason.

Thanks, Yavin~

[Yavin4]

38. Don't sleep on that.

If Trump reverses course and starts buying ads, his coverage will improve.