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Ziegler: Conservative Media Sold Its Soul and Gave Us Trump

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After last night’s Super Tuesday results, documentary filmmaker syndicated radio host John Ziegler penned an account of how we got there. How did Donald Trump, who most dismissed as a non-serious candidate, get to where he is today? Why is the Republican party faced with nominating such a deeply flawed candidate with favorability ratings only exceeded by Hillary Clinton herself?

The answer can, of course, be found by looking at so-called “conservative” media outlets. At Mediaite, Ziegler explains that the conservative media’s pursuit of ratings over principle facilitated a Trump nomination:

To fully understand how and why the “conservative” (I use that term loosely) media willingly enabled this hostile takeover of the Republican Party, you primarily need to comprehend what a fraud the entire industry is. In short, the vast majority of “conservative” media is simply just a business cynically disguised as a cause.

The reason this is the case is actually quite simple. Because the vast majority of “newsish” media outlets are overtly liberal, the business model and employment opportunities (or lack thereof) on the right are vastly different from the rest of the media.

Liberals have an abundance of chances to opine on network television, major newspapers and books from mainstream publishers, usually without any serious worries about having to sell products or get ratings. Meanwhile, radio talk show hosts and Fox News anchors are forced to fight for every possible ratings point (usually against people allegedly on the same “team”) and often sell their souls to maintain their ability to sell soap. Conservative websites, with the exception of the Drudge Report, are in a constant battle to stay afloat, often with badly broken business models.

It was this atmosphere, Ziegler believes, that set up the perfect set of circumstances for a successful Trump rise. Just as the OJ Simpson verdict dominated the media during an otherwise uneventful news season, Ziegler believes Trump used the summer 2015 news cycle to his benefit. “There is even evidence,” he says, “that Trump understood this reality and designed his campaign’s launch during the slowest news period to take advantage of it.”

Matt Drudge, of the Drudge Report, functions as a de facto “assignment editor” for the majority of conservative talk radio, conservative websites, and for much of Fox News. Any story that’s reported on the Drudge report is sure to be noticed by conservative media. If Drudge wants a particular story or narrative to be picked up amongst conservative circles and ultimately gain traction, Ziegler says Drudge “has more power to make that happen than anyone else.”

“This effect was plainly seen when the GOP campaign took its first and perhaps most important dramatic turn. Before Trump announced (and no one really thought that he would ever do so) his candidacy, it was very obvious that Drudge favored the initial Republican frontrunner Scott Walker. Much like what happened in 2012 when Drudge proactively helped Mitt Romney’s campaign navigate some choppy waters in the primaries, it appeared at first that the Walker campaign had a significant and possibly decisive ally.

However, the moment Trump got in the race and made it clear he was going to run a campaign like no other, Drudge instantly tossed Walker aside for his new crush.”

The above points are only a few. I recommend reading the whole thing.

 



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