On Tuesday afternoon CNN anchor Jake Tapper sounded exasperated as he interviewed Trump advisr Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
"I'd love to be talking about trade and immigration and counterterrorism but unfortunately I have to turn to another question, which has to do with the fact that your campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, faces a legal charge,” Tapper said, after spending several minutes questioning Huckabee Sanders about rumors spread by Trump staffers about Ted Cruz.
It’s become a common theme throughout the campaign. Instead of debates about policy or even the horse race, the media narrative has become completely dominated by the latest Trump drama.
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker endorsed Cruz on Tuesday morning. But for the casual news consumer, it was as though the event never happened, reports Politico.
Instead, viewers saw near-constant replays of a video released by the Jupiter, Florida, police department, showing Lewandowski grabbing former Breitbart.com reporter Michelle Fields out of the way following a Trump press conference earlier this month. (Click Here for M-C posting)
The latest day-long frenzy of Trump coverage revived criticism of the media for allowing the billionaire to dominate the airwaves, turning even seemingly negative stories into opportunities to soak up free media. Earlier, many of those same outlets, when granted interviews with the candidate, had failed to press him hard on the allegations against his campaign manager.
The cable networks’ actions are facing extra skepticism about their coverage choices because Trump has been ratings gold: news channels haven’t seen ratings like these in years.
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