Media Gatekeepers and the Anti-Trump Agenda

While news of Donald Trump’s Iowa caucus triumph dominated the digital and print headlines yesterday (Jan.16), political watchers hoping for some unvarnished broadcasts of the former president’s victory speech were sorely disappointed. Or were they?

Keeping You Safe From Reality

MSNBC’s live coverage of the Hawkeye State’s GOP caucus results was replete with updates and factoids; what it did not deign to show, however, was Trump speaking live. In fact, host Rachel Maddow even acknowledged the network has in place an anti-Trump policy when it comes to live newscasts. She was quite open in saying the outlet is not willing to allow the former president to appear unfiltered:

“The projected winner of the Iowa caucus has just started giving his victory speech. We will keep an eye on that as it happens; we will let you know if there’s any news made in that speech; if there’s anything noteworthy, something substantive or informative … ”

Let’s consider the message being delivered by Maddow. She made the case in advance that anything the despised Trump might say is highly unlikely to be of importance and that she and her network will be the arbiters of what constitutes worthiness.

If Trump were of no import, why would the above-the-fold content on MSNBC’s digital site the day after the Iowa caucuses include six out of 13 headlines (46%) focused on him? In fact, if we consider stories that are tangentially about Trump, the figure rises to 11 out of 13 (84%). So, Maddow’s suggestion that his speech was not necessarily newsworthy is clearly false.

Her rationale only got worse:

“The reason I’m saying this -- there is, of course, a reason we and other news organizations have stopped giving an unfiltered live platform to remarks by former President Trump. It is not out of spite; it is not a decision that we relish; it is a decision that we regularly revisit – and honestly, honestly, it is not an easy decision. But there is a cost to us as a news organization of knowingly broadcasting untrue things.

“That is a fundamental truth of our business and who we are. And so, his remarks tonight will not air here live. We will monitor them and let you know about any news that he makes.”

So not only is Trump not newsworthy but also sure to speak untruths. And who determines what is untrue? Well, the good folks at MSNBC, who will “let you know” if there is anything you need to know. How very generous of them.

What’s more, Maddow and her psychic cohorts can tell you in advance – before he even speaks – that what Trump says will be lies. No need for the ubiquitous fact-checkers anymore. Just be grateful the gatekeepers at MSNBC are committed to an anti-Trump policy that can keep you safe from the former president’s words.

The Cost of the Anti-Trump Business

Maddow noted that MSNBC’s public service of protecting the American public comes at great personal cost to her organization. And perhaps that is only right.

According to Nielsen Media Research data for 2023, MSNBC pulled in an average daily viewership of 784,000. CNN – which also ducked out on Trump’s live victory speech in favor of Jake Tapper declaring that “caucusgoers believe the lie” – pulled in just 482,000 viewers per day. Combined, they roughly equal the total of the big beast of cable news, Fox, which drew an audience of 1.2 million.

The fact is, Trump is the best thing to happen to the news business in a long time. His appearance on the American political stage gave the denizens of nosiness struggling under the weight of the internet explosion an opportunity to create the media equivalent of a never-ending war generating column inches and commentary from talking heads on an hourly basis.

And all it really cost them was the suspension of all journalistic skills in order to swallow the Russia collusion hoax. The media peddled the narrative as hard as it could, but the story was all a lie. And it knew. Trump is not shy about calling out those who defamed him for years and tried to derail his presidency even after the truth of the Steele dossier was revealed. This is perhaps the real reason the collective media – as Maddow openly stated, “we and other news organizations” – have stopped covering the 45th president live: Trump will expose them again and again.

Narrative Unleashed

The Trump-Russia collusion deception, the “fine people” hoax, the “dictator from day one” nonsense, the “wishing for an economic collapse” delusion. If MSNBC’s viewers could hear an unfiltered Trump, they might understand the aforementioned stories were media-driven hysteria. That could lead to two outcomes the gatekeepers would rather avoid.

The first: The audience might begin to question the accuracy of the reporting they consume. The second: Listeners might begin to think for themselves instead of relying on the high priests and priestesses of leftist media to tell them what is newsworthy and what is truth. How much of their captive audience would they retain if either of those came to pass?