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A report in New York Magazine’s Intelligencer on Wednesday suggests that media execs are in a panic over a potential second Trump term; “It’s going to change everything,” one network executive told features writer Charlotte Klein.
“If half the country has decided that Trump is qualified to be president, that means they’re not reading any of this media, and we’ve lost this audience completely. A Trump victory means mainstream media is dead in its current form,” they said.
“You’ve got the major disruptions underpinning everything — strategically, platform-wise, consumer technology — no matter what happens in the election,” the executive told the magazine. “And then if Trump wins, all of a sudden you’ve got this other pressure on everything. There’s brand damage. He undermines trust in the media. It’s just going to add a level of complexity.”
From Fox News:
While much of the media earned a “Trump Bump” during the former president‘s first term in the form of TV ratings and surging readership, the executive predicted there will be “more news avoidance” by Americans during a second term.
“There’s a huge amount of anxiety over whether, if he wins, people just put their head in the sand for four years and wait it out,” the executive said, according to Klein. “The interviews that have happened this year have been fine; they haven’t been ‘holy s—’ numbers.”
Other concerns voiced about a second Trump term were resources stretching thin and reporters burning out trying to keep up with the sheer amount of coverage.
One political reporter worried covering Trump would take away from other important stories.
“If he is trying to turn America into an autocracy, could [investigative reporters] embark on a series about sexism in girls’ sports? Could that be what they use their considerable firepower for?” they asked Klein. “Maybe, but I think if there’s actual things to investigate with a president, it would be hard to use those sorts of resources for much other than that.”
Meanwhile, Intelligencer said a top editor at a major news publication wondered, “Can [reporters] summon the energy and the shock of the news to cover this thing, or do you need to bring in reinforcements — people for whom it is really brand-new again?”
Full story over at Fox News:
TV executive panics that Trump winning means press has no influence: ‘Mainstream media is dead’ https://t.co/0ytqOEE726
— Fox News (@FoxNews) October 31, 2024