I know you may not like to hear this bit of news… but it seems that Donald Trump will launch a ‘news channel’ or online publication when he loses the presidential election.
The stage seemed to be set for just such a thing when Donald Trump replaced Paul Manafort with Stephen Bannon the boss of Breitbart News.
Initially, the thought was that Trump was just hiring a cheerleader-in-chief with media experience… but that media experience takes on a different tone when you hear rumors that Jared Kushner (who is Donald Trump’s son in law and the owner of the New York Observer) had asked a banker friend for advice on launching a Trump media company.
Which brings us to today’s news…
In a new Facebook Live show launched Monday night, Donald Trump’s campaign painted a rosy picture of the election in just two weeks, with campaign manager Kellyanne Conway even saying “unequivocally” that “we will win.”
Her interviewers were two of the GOP nominee’s campaign advisers, Boris Epshteyn and Cliff Sims, hosting the inaugural edition of an online show “bypassing the left-wing media,” as Epshteyn put it, “which skews everything.”
The “nightly campaign coverage” had some of the hallmarks of a newscast. Set for 6:30 p.m. ET each night, running up against network TV news, the campaign will broadcast live from Trump Tower until Election Day. There was a news scroll at the bottom of the newscast, but there was also a button to donate to Trump’s campaign. Monday’s setting was in the Trump “war room,” where a large photo of the real estate mogul hovered behind the anchors’ heads as campaign staff meandered around.
Source: http://www.npr.org/2016/10/24/499229641/trump-tv-launches-its-pilot-with-pitch-to-his-base
The plot thickens…
When what is basically election advertising goes by a TV news format… it’s pretty easy for people to think that Donald Trump is further laying the ground work for a launch of his own media company.
I personally do not see these Facebook live-streams as a launching pad for a future Trump News company but rather as just further advertising for Trump.
Why?
Because…
- A Trump News company would not distribute itself through Facebook. Monetizing a Trump News show would be difficult on that venue.
- Censorship. Facebook is not a friend of the ‘alt-right’ peoples.
- Subjects… The live-streams are about Trump and don’t really offer content on anything that a Trump News would discuss.
There absolutely are signs that Donald Trump could easily launch a Trump branded media company… but this is not really it.
Stay tuned for more Trump News information from me… bigger news companies have beaten me and already published plenty of articles that overlap with what I’m working on but hey… that’s the life of a small time writer.