When Commercialism Trumps Democracy

[Commentary] Donald Trump’s ascendance has many enablers, but news media deserve special scrutiny. Television news in particular has popularized Trump — and, in doing so, has turned our political process into a reality TV spectacle. Even when attacking, news media are boosting his visibility. And even as he attacks them — threatening to change libel laws, mocking and feuding with journalists, holding campaign events where members of the press are corralled and roughed up — he serves media well. Because the news organizations that cover Trump are making obscene amounts of money. This symbiotic relationship has gained some recent attention, even “media culpas,” from the press. The New York Times reported that Trump has received nearly $2 billion in free media coverage since he began his campaign. And a study on newsworthiness tallied that during 2015, Trump received 327 minutes of nightly broadcast network news coverage, compared with Hillary Clinton’s 121 minutes and Bernie Sanders’ 20 minutes.

Much popular media criticism decries specific journalists or news organizations’ individual failures. But this suggests that the problem lies with only a few bad apples. Rarely do we consider the underlying structural reasons for why our media system operates as it does. This is not to imply there’s a cabal of media owners who meet in smoky backrooms to plot the manipulation of the masses. Rather, we can better understand the “trumpification of the media“ by focusing on the commercial logic that drives it. This draws attention to the root of the problem: the commercial pressures and profit imperatives that encourage particular types of news coverage.

[Victor Pickard is an Associate Professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication]