On Media Blog Archives Select Date… December, 2015 November, 2015 October, 2015 September, 2015 August, 2015 July, 2015 June, 2015 May, 2015 April, 2015 March, 2015 February, 2015 January, 2015

Getty Networks mostly ignore Trump hotel opening

Last month the media was "rick-rolled" (as CNN's Jake Tapper described it) by Donald Trump, giving him (and his new Washington, D.C. hotel) more than an hour of free coverage when Trump promised a "big statement" about about the Barack Obama birther conspiracy that helped launch his political career.

On Wednesday, as Trump made his way for the official opening of the very same hotel with less than two weeks to go in the election, the event was mostly ignored by the television networks.

"On the left we are waiting for Hillary Clinton. She will be holding an early voting rally in lake worth, Florida. On the right of your screen, Donald Trump and his family are celebrating the opening of his hotel in Washington, D.C. We will be listening for that for any campaign news. If that happens, we will bring it to you," CNN anchor Kate Bolduan said before the event.

They never did. Hawking his hotel as the symbol of presidential potential and giving a shout out to top surrogate Newt Gingrich for sparring with Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly the night before, the networks apparently decided to not give Trump what he seemed to want for his new hotel: Free publicity.

None of the networks took Trump or his daughter Ivanka's remarks at the hotel, live. Instead they focused on Wikileaks emails, Obamacare, the Pentagon, or a new Republican Senate ad blitz. On MSNBC, right before the event took place, a segment focused on whether Trump's presidential run was negatively impacting his brand's business.

That's not to say the networks and the rest of the press corps weren't covering the event. Despite it not being billed a campaign event, the event was listed on Trump's campaign website and official schedule. His traveling press corps were there. And, to be clear, the September event was billed as one honoring military heroes and was in the midst of Trump acknowledging that Obama was born in the United States. CNN played a short clip of Trump's remarks later. And while many outlets (including POLITICO), covered it live, it was not nearly the same level of breathless wall-to-wall coverage his September event garnered.

The media has come under intense criticism for giving Trump coverage for his business events, seemingly providing him and his products significant coverage beyond the campaign. But other reporters defended their presence on Wednesday, saying that anything a candidate does is news.

"Does this mean TV should help Trump put on an infomercial by giving him non-stop coverage of these things? No," tweeted out BuzzFeed reporter Rosie Gray. "But when a nominee is putting on a public event, [especially] so close to Election Day, you kind of have to be there in case something happens."

In the New York Times' write up ahead of the event, the reporters noted that the event is "a remarkable display of personal promotion by a presidential nominee, raising questions about whether the businessman, who has lived by the mantra that 'all publicity is good publicity,' is at least partly casting his eye past the 2016 race, and toward bolstering the brand that bears his name."

When Hillary Clinton held a campaign rally in Florida a few minutes after Trump's event wrapped, it was carried at various points live by MSNBC, Fox News and CNN.