TELEVISION & POLITICS
How television networks benefited from Donald Trump and how Trump benefited from television networks
After Trump's inauguration on January 20th 2017, Press secretary Sean Spicer spoke about the dishonesty from the media , after reports came out that the number of people who showed up to the inauguration were far less than past ( Guardian,2017,Levin). Following the speech made by Spicer, Kellyanne Conway , counselor to Trump, spoke to NBC's Chuck Todd about the truth in numbers at Trump's inaguration. Conway dogged Todd's question saying that Spicer gave alternative facts. In response to Conway , Todd said alternative facts are not facts they are falsehoods ( Global News, Frisk, 2017). Conway also called out Todd saying his job is to be a news reporter and not have an opinion (Global News,Frisk,2017). This dicussion on national television showcases the realationship between Trump and the press throughout the election and now post election. Trump has said over and over that the media had been dishonest, but this time Trump's team should be the ones under attack for dishonesty.
Kellyanne Conway ,Trump's counselor dodges questions from reporter Chuck Todd of NBC News.
So what is the effect on television networks post election? In an article by Washington Times Jennifer Harper examines the aftermath the election has left on the media. It was found that 27 percent of the country is trying to avoid television news broadcast since the election results (Harper,2016, Washington Times). And 11 percent say that watching or reading the news has made them happy (Harper,2016, Washington Times). The stats presented by the Washington Times are interesting because it shows that less people are tuning in now that the election is over. I think that the power of the election coverage was the dynamics between Hilary Clinton and Donald Trump. The reason why 27 percent of the country are avoiding their television sets is because of the overwhelming amount of political media that has been broadcast over the last year. For instance, the amount of money collected by television networks, such as CNN and Fox News due to the high amount of viewership was a major increase for them compared to previous election years. NPR, National Public Radio, reported that CNN made around $100 million more then they did in past televised elections (Huddleston, Fortune Entertainment, 2016).
The increase of viewership clearly helped television networks such as, CNN and Fox News, but the question is will the ratings decrease since Trump has taken reign as president? I think that with the recent news of the travel ban television networks have a good chance at keeping up their ratings from the election campaign. I think that the networks will lose some , but not all viewership. The travel ban put in place bans people from the seven muslim-majority countries: Syria,Iran,Iraq,Yemen,Sudan,Somalia and Libya. When news about the travel ban came out people started protesting across the United States.
Lauren Gabino, Sabrina Siddiqui, Paul Owen and Edward Helmore from the Guardian all covered different protest going on across the United States. One story they mentioned was a lady in New York, Fauzia Khanani, who came from Uganda to Canada as a refugee with her family and then moved to the States shortly after. She said she was there to protest because,“a Muslim, a product of refugees, a naturalised citizen. I’m appalled and scared and angry and I’m sad about what’s happening and the people that support it but when I come to a place like this, it gives me hope" (Guardian,2017). I think it will be stories like this one that will keep the public interested in watching post election news.
The statement made by Washington relates to the relationship that the media has had with Trump. Over the course of the election campaign Trump has called out the media as being dishonest.
Streep isn't the first star to speak out about Trump. Recently at the Women's March on January,21,2017, Madonna said," well good did not win this election, but good will win in the end. She then continued to say, "So what today means is that we are far from the end.Today marks the beginning the beginning of our story the revolution starts here." ( Global News,Jancelewicz,2017).
Many stars spoke at the Women's March, but Madonna's got the most attention from Trump. Her speech was filled with passion, but she also threatened the White House. I think that Madonna's heart was in the right place, but I think the way she delivered her speech was very aggressive and unnecessary. It is speeches like hers that were played over on television networks the next day.
Shortly after in a televised interview with Sean Hannity Trump called out Madonna. Trump responded by saying, "honestly shes disgusting , I think she hurt herself very badley , I think she hurt that whole cause, and a couple of others , but inparticular I thought what she said was disgraceful to our country"(Global News,Jancelewicz,2017).
It is evident that Trump and the press are going to be battling it out until they both agree on how to work together to bring news to the public. Trump throught his campaign and again after he won presidency, stated that the press was being dishonest. Most recently after Trump was sworen in to be the 45th President of the United States, his press secretary took to the media saying that they reported falsley on the numbers at his inaguration amongst other things. This is only the beginning for the press and Trump since he had been sworen in , so it will be interesting to see how the realtionship between Trump and the media changes over the course of his reign as President. In conclusion by looking at the coverage after the election campaign it is clear that television news networks and Trump are still using each other as platforms to tell their "truth".
Trump has now put in place a travel ban, which bans people from the seven muslim-majority countries : Syria, Iran, Iraq, Yemen, Sudan, Somalia and Libya. CNN's Poppy Harlow and Trump's advisor Jack Kingston get into a heated discussion about the ban and the protest happening surrounding the ban.
Another way to help keep ratings up after the election is the attention Trump is receiving from Hollywood stars, like Meryl Streep. At the 2017 Golden Globe Awards, 20 million people tuned in and watched Streep accept her award for lifetime achievements (The Hollywood Reporter,O'Connell,2017). For her acceptance speech she decided to rehash one of Donald Trump's speeches, when he mocked a New York Times reporter. Even though Streep did not directly mention Trump's name in her speech everyone in the room and watching knew that she was. The next day it was all over news broadcast and Trump later called out Streep on his personal Twitter account saying, "Meryl Streep, one of the most over-rated actresses in Hollywood, doesn't know me but attacked last night at the Golden Globes. She is a....." (2017,Washington Post, Izadi and Wang). The controversy around the speech was the biggest talk of the week. Streep's speech was powerful, but she used her time to talk about politics instead of her own achievements.Celebrities use their platform all the time to get a message across, but I don't think award shows are the right place to do it. The Golden Globes is just the beginning of award show season and I think politics will be something people will talk about in the upcoming shows this year.
False media after Trump's Inaguration
Donald Trump meets with press: Image Collection : Loyalist College Library
Stars impact on Trump and television networks
Actress Meryl Streep: Image Collection: Loyalist College Library
The effect on television networks post election
Denzel Washington is another well-known celebrity who spoke to the media about the relationship between news networks and the past year of dishonesty within the media.
Madonna's speech at 2017 Women's March
Courtesy of YouTube/G4 ViralVideos
For example, in a tweet, he said," The dishonest media does not report that any money spent on building the Great Wall (for sake of speed), will be paid back by Mexico later!"(Twitter,2017). In another Tweet he said,"Dishonest media is trying their absolute best to depict a star in a tweet as the Star of David rather than a Sheriff's Star, or plain star! (Twiter,2016).
I think that Washignton is warning the media to stay focused on reporting the truth. I do not think that Washington is backing up what Tump is saying about the media being dishonest, but rather he is trying to help the media from getting stomped on by people like Trump. With a lot of confusion between viewers,Trump and the media in the past election, I think it is safe to say that both Trump and the media need to work on a compromise of what they define as the so called "truth".
Denzel Washington called out mainstream media in a recent video, saying...
"We live in an era of "too much information". Adding that one of the consequences is the pressure on the media to be first is greater than the need to be true.
"So what a responsibility you all have — to tell the truth," Washington exclaimed, laughing, to the pack of reporters gathered on the red carpet Tuesday for a special screening of his new film, Fences, at the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American Museum of History and Culture in Washington (Puente,2016,USA Today).