Commentary

Entertainment, Politics, Business Firings? It's All Porous

Donald Trump, our President-elect, is actually “entertainment” news, apparently.

TV Watch has always believed covering Trump was actually more “branding” news -- a close relative to entertainment news. No matter, the column will have four years of new stuff to write about when it comes to the big guy’s musings and actions in Washington DC.

Attorneys for Penske Media made this claim -- the “entertainment” argument  -- against competing media publisher, Mediate, to thwart the hiring of Nikki Finke, founder/former editor of Deadline Hollywood, now a Penske Media publication.

Penske says a non-compete clause prevents her from writing about all “entertainment news” -- and this includes Donald Trump. An attorney claimed to The Hollywood Reporter that:

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“This is particularly the case as the country has just elected a reality television star as its President-elect. The intersection between entertainment and politics has never been more porous.”

The leak is in. Politics have always been entertainingly porous. Every major advertising trade magazine and advertising business columnist has always had a viewpoint of politics in a related entertainment news category: marketing.

Among many TV pundits/observers, veteran advertising executive Donny Deutsch, most recently on MSNBC’s “With All Due Respect”, continually reminded us on TV during the campaign that the marketing around Trump has been like no other. Brand Trump needs to be continually taken apart, reviewed, and criticize like nothing else before.

Now as president? That marketing shifts again. Governing — more than campaigning — will now be the focus of a new kind of presidential marketing.

Every tweet -- or perhaps yet-to-be-revealed outlandish-scathing press-conference-comment to-come -- means not just a new “marketing position.” New bits of entertainment for those late-night talk show host, will now rise out of many non-comedic TV news network on-air anchor/presenters.

Still, as much as we find the actions/late night twitter musings of Trump much fun, and worthy of big examination -- the reality in covering presidential governing should not entirely be looked at for its entertainment business value. This is the stuff that will make money for a TV network, TV/radio station, movie studio, or marketer.

Unscripted reality TV and unscripted Presidential press conferences and rallies don’t have the same real-life consequences.

You don’t like Trump -- as president or as entertainment? Journalism -- entertainment, marketing or business-wise -- just took another turn. Apparently, there were a few people who elected this guy -- the person who fires people on TV.

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