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babylonsister

(170,960 posts)
Wed Mar 23, 2016, 09:24 AM Mar 2016

Keith Olbermann’s Guide to Surviving the Media Coverage of Donald Trump

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/03/keith-olbermanns-guide-to-surviving-media-coverage-of-donald-trump-213751

Keith Olbermann’s Guide to Surviving the Media Coverage of Donald Trump

The longtime cable news anchor begs for some perspective.

By Keith Olbermann

March 21, 2016

snip//


1. STOP ASKING “WHY ARE THEY COVERING TRUMP ALL THE EFFING TIME?”

They’re doing it for the money.

Duhhhh.

Save yourself the aggravation of looking for journalistic malfeasance, political motives, secret cabals or sinister corporations acting stealthily behind the curtain.

No stealth. No curtain. No apologies.

“Man, who would have expected the ride we’re all having right now?” asked a giddy CBS Chairman Les Moonves late last month. “The money’s rolling in and this is fun.”

Moonves—to my experience the most honest executive in media (not that it’s a suffocatingly full elevator)—summed it up: “It may not be good for America, but it’s damn good for CBS. … This is going to be a very good year for us. Sorry. It’s a terrible thing to say. But, bring it on, Donald. Keep going.”

What else do you expect from commercial-based broadcasting? Or commercial-based digital and print journalism?

And Moonves is just talking about ad revenues here. He hasn’t even touched on the subjects of ratings, or of all the free news product that Trump—and the Fight To Save Us From Trump—has generated. From networks to the net, the mantra “If it bleeds, it leads” has been replaced by “If it’s Trump, the numbers jump.”

Debates and these horrifying Town Halls (which reveal to the world that American public education failed circa 1960) cost more to produce than do candidate speeches—but they also kill off even more hours. And better yet, they produce ratings approaching 10 times the ordinary high water mark. And you can keep talking about these debates or Town Halls the next day on your other news shows—even if the event wasn’t on your network.

And don’t point the finger only at television. You. Are. Reading. This.

The effect the Trump magic wand has had on the web is a little more difficult to quantify, but it’s there. I truly worry about the future of mankind every time Donnie opens his Clutch Cargo mouth, but he has been right once in this campaign: The news organizations should be paying him for filling all this time and space. Of course, only Trump would fail to recognize that just as assuredly, those news organizations should also be billing him for all the free advertising. The two figures would presumably be a wash.

You want to ask a pertinent question? Don’t ask “why are they covering him so much?” Ask “why are we listening/reading/watching them cover him so much?”


2. REMEMBER THE MATH

Sure, Donald J. Trump could be elected. Like Barry Goldwater could have been elected. Or like Huey Long could have been elected. Or like George W. Bush might have been elected.

But here’s some context you rarely hear: Trump’s numbers still pertain to just 42 percent of the country. That’s the latest reliable number of self-identified Republicans and Republican-leaners. Even with the collective media Trumpathon, he has a little over a third of them. Generously, that’s 20 percent of the whole country.

Will it grow? Certainly. If he adds all of Marco Rubio’s support, he’d be up to about 51 percent of Republicans and several pundits would self-defenestrate. But—generously—that’s still only 25 percent of the whole country.

You need other easy-to-digest numbers to suggest orange objects in your mirror may be smaller than they appear? Try Trump’s boast—and its unquestioned repetition everywhere—that he was “Number 1 with Hispanics” in Nevada. David Damore of Latino Decisions remembered the math and put out a nice little pie chart that indicated that if you considered all the Nevada Hispanics who caucused for Trump, and compared them to all the Nevada Hispanics who caucused for another Republican plus all the Nevada Hispanics who didn’t participate or aren’t Republicans, and Trump lost among Nevada Hispanics, 93 percent to 7 percent. Not all of the seemingly Trump-positives are that truly Trump-negative, but there’s a lot of loose numbers flying around there.

Still think he could win? How about the calculation that to be elected in a general election, Trump would need to win about 70 percent of the White Guy vote. I believe the last time anybody did that well in votes by White Guys was when only White Guys had votes.


3. KEEP AN EYE ON THE RATINGS

On the largely uneventful evening of Friday, March 4th, 2016, during the two key cable news hours of 8 and 9 p.m. ET, Nielsen reports that the three networks averaged a combined 4,866,500 viewers.

A week later, in the same hours, at the peak of coverage and awareness of Trump’s cancellation of his Chicago conclave, the three networks averaged a combined 6,579,500 viewers.

That’s only a 35 percent jump.

Good grief, a well-photographed car chase can make the combined audience grow 35 percent faster than you can say “O.J. and A.C. are road tripping again.”

It seems to me that this—along with the steadily dropping GOP debate ratings—may be the early harbingers of Trump Fatigue.

Trump Fatigue has happened before. Donnie’s “The Apprentice” launched on NBC in January 2004, averaged 20,700,000 viewers an episode, and at season’s end ranked as the 7th highest-rated show in broadcast television. Three-and-a-half years later the show’s average viewership had thinned out to 7,500,000 and it was in 75th place. Even with the lipstick of “celebrities” added to the pig in question, the show never again cracked the Top 40 and by the spring of 2013 was 84th in the rankings.

And that was just when Trump was on TV once a week. Now, he’s on every night.

In short, television ratings may actually be useful for once. Keep an eye on them. While still rummaging for your passport.


4. REMEMBER THERE’S STILL A CHANCE A REPUBLICAN TAKES TRUMP DOWN WITH HIM

Marco Rubio may have chickened out, but that doesn’t mean Ted Cruz will.

Pundits have actually been reasonably convincing about the likelihood that Republican leaders are facing a choice between disastrous defeat on November 8, and disastrous defeat on November 8 plus the destruction of the party as they know it.

As you watch and read, remember what many have noted: Trump’s loss could be assured half an hour from now with the utterance of one sentence by the right person. If Rubio had been smart, he would’ve responded to the first question he received at the Miami debate by complimenting the moderator and apologizing for having not answered the question—and then saying, “Donnie, I’m dropping out. And I’m endorsing John over here. And what’s more, Donnie, if you get the nomination, I’m voting for Hillary, because you’d actually be worse than she would.” That bucket of cold water would shock the conservative base out on their Trump fever dream.

Now, Marco would have to go into hiding for awhile. But after the latest extraordinary popular delusion fades, Rubio would’ve been a lead-pipe-cinch for the 2020 presidential nomination. Now it’s left for Cruz and Kasich to contemplate it.

Likely? No. But if you’ll recall a point I made elsewhere about the Republicans of 1864 actually thinking about de-nominating Abraham Lincoln two months before that election, or how the Democratic National Committee abandoned Harry Truman in mid-train trip in 1948 to save money—it has happened and you have to admit, it would be funnier than seeing Trump’s hair revert to it’s actual configuration.

Good grief, for a quarter century now, the Republicans have been doing nothing but gerrymandering and jerry-rigging and Jerry-Springering who can and can’t run and who can and can’t get elected. This is finally the time for them to step up and cut somebody’s legs out from under them!


5. TRY TO IMAGINE WHAT TRUMP LOOKS LIKE WHILE HE’S DOING PHONERS ON TELEVISION

Phoners? There are no phoners! There are no phoners in television!

Yet there you see him—correction, hear him—every day, calling in to every live show except “Watch What’s Happening Live: Vanderpump Rules.”

Phoners are for emergency stories or emergency camera failures. Or, for guys who don’t want to bother taking the hours required to put on the 10 coatings of Sunkist No. 12 Spray Tan, or who haven’t yet finished how ever long it actually takes to build The Great Wall Of Combover.

So, imagine this: What combination of pasty, jaundiced, jowly and balding is Trump when he starts talking, his mouth always too close to the phone? Does he make the same disconnected gestures? If his real-time image suddenly and unexpectedly appeared would you recognize him? Or would you mistake him for, say, Churchill? Or Zero Mostel?

Admittedly there may be no practical value to trying to imagine what Donnie looks like while he’s literally phoning it in. But it’s funny.
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Keith Olbermann’s Guide to Surviving the Media Coverage of Donald Trump (Original Post) babylonsister Mar 2016 OP
heh heh snot Mar 2016 #1
"Town Halls... reveal to the world that American public education failed circa 1960" Gidney N Cloyd Mar 2016 #2
What a pompous jerk oberliner Mar 2016 #3
No, that would be me. Spitfire of ATJ Mar 2016 #5
No, no ITS ME IT HAS TO BE ME!!! brett_jv Mar 2016 #9
Great,...another "I am Spartacus" moment. Spitfire of ATJ Mar 2016 #11
We sure do miss this guy! Duval Mar 2016 #4
Trump only get a 'little' more free coverage. Probably doesn't make much FailureToCommunicate Mar 2016 #6
DT Management Techniques #1 & 2: Dont call me Shirley Mar 2016 #7
"Donnie, if you get the nomination, I’m voting for Hillary" mreilly Mar 2016 #8
It boils down to this BumRushDaShow Mar 2016 #10
 

oberliner

(58,724 posts)
3. What a pompous jerk
Wed Mar 23, 2016, 10:12 AM
Mar 2016

He plays into every stereotype of the liberal elitist snob who thinks he is better than everyone else.

 

mreilly

(2,120 posts)
8. "Donnie, if you get the nomination, I’m voting for Hillary"
Wed Mar 23, 2016, 12:28 PM
Mar 2016

... it sounds nice, like there might actually be some Republicans decent enough to recognize the greater of two evils and work against Trump, but I just find it impossible to believe any of them well. No matter their thoughts, these people have been programmed for 20+ years to believe Hillary is a dishonest murderer who will ruin this country if elected. They've been trained to believe the worst Republican is still infinitely more intelligent, competent and honest than the best Democrat.

No, I think some Republicans will pay lip service to supporting "anyone but Trump" but when the time comes to actually vote they will adhere to their programming and go for the guy with the "R" after his name, no matter what, come hell or high water.

Not trying to be pessimistic or a killjoy, but that's the way I see it. They are just too conditioned to ignore facts and reality and to insist that the whole country goes to ruin whenever a Democrat occupies the White House.

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