The Hollywood Connection by unknow

Author:unknow
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lexington Books/Fortress Academic
Published: 2018-10-12T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 6

“I’m a Ratings Machine!”

Media Coverage and the Celebrity of Donald Trump

Mark Harvey

On April 3, 2004, celebrity businessman Donald Trump appeared on NBC as the host of Saturday Night Live, pretending to fire NBC president and CEO Jeff Zucker in a promotion for his television show, The Apprentice. During his monologue, Trump said, “It’s great to be here at Saturday Night Live but––I’ll be completely honest––it’s even better for Saturday Night Live that I’m here. Nobody’s bigger than me. Nobody’s better than me. I’m a ratings machine!” (Cary 2015). In December 2017, President Donald Trump made a similar argument in an impromptu interview with Michael Schmidt of the New York Times, explaining why he expects to be re-elected in 2020:

Another reason that I’m going to win another four years is because newspapers, television, all forms of media will tank if I’m not there, because without me, their ratings are going down the tubes. . . . So they basically have to let me win. And eventually, probably six months before the election, they’ll be loving me because they’re saying, “Please, please, don’t lose, Donald Trump.” (Borchers 2017; Schmidt and Shear 2017)

Scholars and analysts have argued that Donald Trump’s ability to capitalize on free press coverage in lieu of paid advertisements gave him an advantage in the 2016 presidential election (Cary 2015; Patterson 2016a). From the time he announced his candidacy, Trump received the most coverage in the Republican primary: 63 percent compared to his most covered rival at 37 percent. In the general election, Trump received 15 percent more than Clinton did. This gave Trump more opportunities to define his opponent, and to frame the debate (Patterson 2016b).

Granted, some scholars question whether media coverage is a significant variable in determining electoral outcomes at all (Lichtman 2016). This chapter does not seek to demonstrate that level of coverage equals political victory, nor does it presume that more coverage results in positive coverage. Indeed, when Trump tweeted in 2012 that global warming was the result of a Chinese conspiracy, he received a lot of attention. Much was not positive. However, his tweets also did not prevent him from becoming president of the United States. Having said that, it is safe to presume that a high level of coverage is favorable to a political candidate, and that coverage offers options. What was it about Trump that caused this burst of unprecedented media coverage?

One answer is that Trump’s lack of experience in public service, use of flamboyant language, proclivity to run against the Republican Party itself, along with the public’s distaste for conventional politicians gave him an advantage: he was the ultimate outsider candidate. Of course, many candidates run as outsiders and fail to command that level of attention. Not just any person could win the presidency without the level of attention that Trump was able to garner, and not even Hillary Clinton could command the level of non-paid media attention that Trump received.

Alternatively, recent research has proven that, at times, celebrities

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