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Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton Hold Dueling Rallies — But Trump Gets Most of the TV Coverage

Television news has long seen Trump’s campaign as its bread and butter.

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US presidential candidate Donald Trump(C) is mobbed by the media as he exits New York Supreme Court after morning jury duty August 17, 2015 in New York. Trump reported for jury duty in New York on Monday, stepping out of a sleek black limo to be mobbed by media and supporters. The bombastic real estate magnate, who is leading the polls among 17 Republican candidates for president, arrived at New York State Supreme Court at 9:08 am (1308 GMT) dressed in a blue suit and striped tie. He strode up the sweeping steps of the court house surrounded by a phalanx of police, television cameras, journalists and photographers, signing an autograph for one fan and fist-bumping another. AFP PHOTO/DON EMMERT (Photo credit should read DON EMMERT/AFP/Getty Images)
US presidential candidate Donald Trump(C) is mobbed by the media as he exits New York Supreme Court after morning jury duty August 17, 2015 in New York. Trump reported for jury duty in New York on Monday, stepping out of a sleek black limo to be mobbed by media and supporters. The bombastic real estate magnate, who is leading the polls among 17 Republican candidates for president, arrived at New York State Supreme Court at 9:08 am (1308 GMT) dressed in a blue suit and striped tie. He strode up the sweeping steps of the court house surrounded by a phalanx of police, television cameras, journalists and photographers, signing an autograph for one fan and fist-bumping another. AFP PHOTO/DON EMMERT (Photo credit should read DON EMMERT/AFP/Getty Images) Photo: Don Emmert/AFP/Getty Images

Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton held rallies at nearly the same time on Tuesday, with Trump doing an event in Virginia and Clinton holding one in Florida.

Trump, in a national-security focused Q&A with former Defense Intelligence Agency chief Michael Flynn, described the Iran-Iraq war in flippant terms, saying that the two countries would “fight fight fight. And then Saddam Hussein would do the gas. And somebody else would do something else. And they’d rest.”

Clinton, on the other hand, focused her remarks on issues like college affordability and small businesses.

Fox, CNN, and MSNBC responded by giving almost all of their attention to Trump.

The networks started carrying Trump’s remarks at around 2:15 p.m. ET. When Clinton started speaking at around 2:30, the networks relegated her to a small, muted stream in the lower right-hand corner (MSNBC briefly put both up side by side as they offered commentary):

“Let’s listen to just a little bit of this, to get the flavor of it,” Fox anchor Martha MacCallum said when turning to the feed of Trump’s remarks. Fox then stayed with Trump for 23 minutes, before switching to Clinton at 2:41 and carrying her uninterrupted for six minutes.

MSNBC carried Trump even longer, starting around the same time and going until 2:50 (35 minutes). It then switched from Clinton, who was on from 2:51 until the end of her remarks at 3:14 (23 minutes).

CNN, meanwhile, carried Trump from 2:15 to 2:42 (28 minutes) and Clinton from 2:42 to 2:50 (8 minutes).

Television news media has long seen Trump’s campaign as its bread and butter. “Go Donald! Keep getting out there!” CBS chief executive Les Moonves told an investor presentation last December. He followed up by saying that Trump “may not be good for America, but it’s damn good for CBS, that’s all I got to say.”

Working with the research firm mediaQuant, the New York Times estimated that Trump received $2 billion in free media coverage from the start of his campaign through March 2016.

Contact the author:

zaid.jilani@theintercept.com @ZaidJilani on X

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