Former CNN Anchor Campbell Brown ripped her former colleagues in the TV news business and laid the responsibility for Donald Trump’s rise smack-dab at their feet.
In a must-read Politico article, Campbell describes the “Faustian bargain” between TV news and Trump that has swapped journalistic integrity for ratings. Instead of reporting on Trump, TV airs what amounts to Trump infomercials:
“I really would like to blame Trump. But everything he is doing is with TV news’ full acquiescence. Trump doesn’t force the networks to show his rallies live rather than do real reporting. Nor does he force anyone to accept his phone calls rather than demand that he do a face-to-face interview that would be a greater risk for him. TV news has largely given Trump editorial control. It is driven by a hunger for ratings—and the people who run the networks and the news channels are only too happy to make that Faustian bargain. Which is why you’ll see endless variations of this banner, one I saw all three cable networks put up in a single day: ‘Breaking news: Trump speaks for first time since Wisconsin loss.’ In all these scenes, the TV reporter just stands there, off camera, essentially useless. The order doesn’t need to be stated. It’s understood in the newsroom: Air the Trump rallies live and uninterrupted. He may say something crazy; he often does, and it’s always great television.”
Interestingly, Brown doesn’t mention Fox News, which has worked tirelessly to promote Trump’s candidacy and has generously contributed to the disproportionate coverage. I suspect it’s because she wants to spread around the guilt equally. But it may be because her husband, Republican Dan Senor, is a former Fox analyst. Or maybe she just wants to keep her own options open.
“We all know how it started. Early on, even before he was the front-runner, TV news was giving Trump far more attention than other candidates and far more than he deserved. The coverage itself has helped create him, and has exposed those systemic weaknesses in television journalism. Based on data from the Internet Archive’s TV News Archive and analysis by Republican pollster Jan van Lohuizen and analytics expert Luke Thompson, Trump gets about six appearances on the major networks for roughly every one his rivals Ted Cruz or John Kasich get. […]No campaign’s advertising budget can compete…
The TV anchors and senior executives who don’t deliver [ratings] are mercilessly ousted. The ones who do deliver are lavishly rewarded. I know from personal experience that it is common practice for TV anchors to have substantial bonuses written into their contracts if they hit ratings marks. With this 2016 presidential soap opera, they are almost surely hitting those marks. So, we get all Trump, all the time.”
Campbell concludes by applauding some journalists, such as MSNBC host Chris Matthews and conservative radio host Charlie Sykes, who have vigorously challenged Trump. Then she urges others to follow their example because making sure that Americans get the full truth “has never been so important.”
Granted, Brown probably comes from the establishment wing of the GOP, given that her husband worked for the George W. Bush administration and the Mitt Romney/Paul Ryan campaign. And I don’t think you can give a pass to the Republicans (as she does) for their failure to call out Trump until what may have been too late.
But Brown’s voice of experience is a powerful indictment of our media.
Watch the video below for more on the news media’s dilemma in covering Trump.
https://youtu.be/Hun2y1RjzaQ
Featured image screengrab via YouTube
