CNN's president downplayed criticism this week that his newsroom pays an inordinate amount of attention to GOP front-runner Donald Trump, but data shows his network is one of the chief contributors to the billionaire businessman's nearly $2 billion in earned media this election cycle.

As the front-runner, Trump was always going to get "a disproportionate amount of attention," Jeff Zucker told reporters this week.

The television executive continued, explaining that part of the reason why Trump gets so much play on CNN is because the candidate makes himself readily available.

Trump "has been much more available than many of the others who have been or are still in the race. Just because he says 'yes' and has subjected himself to those interviews, and [other candidates] don't, I'm not going to penalize him for saying 'yes,'" Zucker said.

But CNN has done a lot more than merely follow the story of the casino tycoon's White House bid.

Since announcing his presidential campaign in June 2015, Trump has enjoyed nine straight months of near-constant media coverage from newspapers, online news sites and cable and network television. He has easily outpaced all of his opponents, both Democratic and Republican, in terms of mentions and panel discussions. However, though all of media is obsessed with Trump, few newsrooms have ignored the other 2016 candidates in favor of Trump as much as CNN has, according to Internet Archive data rounded up by the GDELT Project.

The following chart of CNN's 2016 coverage shows the amount of attention CNN has paid Trump versus all the other GOP candidates:



This chart illustrates CNN's coverage of Trump versus all other 2016 candidates, including Democratic front-runner HIllary Clinton:



Fox News and MSNBC have been similarly captivated by Trump's candidacy, but both networks have also given slightly more coverage to the other 2016 candidates. Also, unlike CNN, Fox and MSNBC haven't tried to downplay criticism of their coverage by claiming they're simply following the news.

Here's a look at Fox's 2016 coverage (the first chart shows mentions of Trump versus all candidates, and the second chart shows mentions versus just GOP contenders):







And here's a look at MSNBC's presidential election coverage:







CNN's pursuit of news related to the GOP front-runner has been so intense that the cable news network even broadcasts images of empty podiums ahead of announced press conferences, once for an entire 30 minutes.

For perspective, Trump's empty podium got more coverage in a single afternoon in March than six combined former GOP candidates — Carly Fiorina, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie — got from the network's primetime weekday shows during a two-week stretch in 2015, according to data compiled by the Media Research Center.



CNN's near-obsessive coverage has contributed greatly to the approximately $2 billion in earned media that Trump has enjoyed during the 2016 election cycle.

Trump's earned media — that is, news mentions in print, on television and online — is "about twice the all-in price of the most expensive presidential campaigns in history," The New York Times' Nick Confessore and Karen Yourish reported.

"It is also twice the estimated $746 million that Hillary Clinton, the next best at earning media, took in. Senator Bernie Sanders has earned more media than any of the Republicans except Mr. Trump," they added.

Graphing

By comparison, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., had about $400 million in earned media for the whole of his 2008 presidential campaign.

Much of the Trump coverage - whether in print or on television - has been negative. But this likely matters little to the candidate who once wrote, "even a critical story, which may be hurtful personally, can be very valuable to your business."

"One thing I've learned about the press is that they're always hungry for a good story, and the more sensational the better. It's in the nature of the job, and I understand that," Trump wrote in 1987.

"The point is that if you are a little different, or a little outrageous, or if you do things that are bold or controversial, the press is going to write about you. I've always done things a little differently, I don't mind controversy, and my deals tend to be somewhat ambitious," he added. "The result is that the press has always wanted to write about me."

It's a strategy that has worked to great effect in 2016.

As Trump has enjoyed hours of free media coverage without paying a dime, he has also paid practically nothing for television advertising, which is usually one of the biggest expenses in presidential campaigns.

Graph maker

Data on Trump's free press comes from mediaQuant, which tracks media coverage for each candidate and calculates how much that sort of time on television would cost in advertising dollars.

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This story has been updated to include additional information about MSNBC's and Fox News' coverage of Trump in the 2016 presidential election.