All three networks stuck with Donald Trump's long press conference even as it veered into sales pitches for his own product lines. | AP Photo Trump infomercial captivates networks CNN, Fox, and MSNBC choose billionaire's rambling sales pitch over Clinton and Kasich speeches.

Millions of viewers tuned into to cable news networks during the prime 9 p.m. EST hour likely expecting to hear some candidate speeches. What they got, on CNN, Fox, and MSNBC, was one candidate talking for 45 minutes: Donald Trump.

All three networks stuck with Trump's long press conference even as it veered into sales pitches for his own product lines, despite the fact that Hillary Clinton, who had won the Mississippi primary in a landslide and was neck-and-neck in Michigan, spoke at the same time. They also mostly ignored Bernie Sanders' speech, which occurred in the 8 p.m. hour and John Kasich's speech, which happened during Trump's event.


Only MSNBC ran Clinton’s speech in its entirety after Trump finished. And neither Sanders, Kasich, nor any of the other candidates got anything more than snippets of air time.

That sparked an instant flutter of complaints on Twitter, and revived an uncomfortable issue: Did the networks, knowing that the often-unpredictable and blustery Trump draws a bigger audience, go with the better draw rather than cover the full political landscape?

"C'mon networks! How is this fair broadcasting?" tweeted former Michigan governor and Clinton surrogate Jennifer Granholm.

"I hope the Trump speech lasts another 4 hours and I hope the Cable networks will carry it all, because there is obviously no news judgment," wrote former NPR political editor Ken Rudin.

The networks’ decision was all the more noteworthy because it validated a strategic decision by the Trump campaign to forgo the usual primary-night thank yous in favor of a lengthy, presidential-style press conference — a tactic he’s used on the two previous election nights.

Forty five minutes of uninterrupted TV time on the three cable news networks is the equivalent of millions of dollars in free media for a campaign — a stunning amount of TV time.

"[I] do think Hillary should have gotten attention," said Frank Sesno, former CNN Washington Bureau Chief and current director of the George Washington University School of Media and Public Affairs. "She is running for president too, in case anyone failed to notice. It just shows that Donald Trump continues to enthrall and dominate attention, headlines and airtime."

"Whether networks chose to split their screens or play the speeches sequentially, it is odd political news judgment to cover one leading candidate and not the other if that's really what happened," he added.

Mo Elleithee, director of the Georgetown Institute of Politics, put it this way: "Trump is catnip to the networks, and they stuck with his rambling, incoherent infomercial. That's dangerous for his opponents. How do you ensure that your substantive case breaks through when you're running against the king of entertainment politics?"

Added Elleithee, a former communications director for the Democratic National Committee: "I think it shows that Democrats are going to face the same challenge in the fall that Republicans did in the primaries.”

What struck many critics like Elleithee was that Trump wasn’t even making much news. He was mostly just riffing. He took questions from reporters but also veered into long digressions touting his wines, steaks, golf courses, and even his water.

It was a typically colorful and unpredictable Trump event. But as Business Insider columnist Josh Barro noted on Twitter, Trump’s penchant for making amusing or contentious statements has given him a higher news (read: ratings) value.

"Trump is taking questions. Clinton will give the same speech she always does. Trump event has higher news value," he wrote.

And in the valuable primetime hours, if a cable network dropped Trump during that raucous press conference to go to a Clinton stump speech, they likely would've lost viewers as well.

Network spokespeople did not respond to emailed questions on Tuesday night. But on Twitter, CNNMoney and CNNPolitics Vice President Ed O’Keefe suggested that Clinton could have waited until Trump was finished; he speculated that she may have wanted to be pre-empted, given the unexpectedly close race in Michigan, which she ultimately lost.

"Might be her preference given margin in #MichiganPrimary," O'Keefe tweeted in response to a tweet about the networks skipping Clinton.

CNN and Fox News eventually played clips of Clinton's speech later on Tuesday night.

But it's still notable that none of the three cable networks chose even to mention that Clinton was speaking before cutting back to Trump. As Trump himself has noted, the attention he gets from the networks is likely the equivalent of millions in free airtime.

"It's not democracy. It's television," tweeted Time Washington bureau chief Michael Scherer, while also questioning why the Clinton campaign had her go out while Trump was still on.