Commentary

Trump's 'Failing' News Outlets Are Booming

by Erik Sass , Staff Writer @eriksass1, January 12, 2017

Of all Donald Trump’s many bilious behaviors, one of the more tiresomely predictable refrains is the accusation that any news outlet which dares to criticize him is “failing,” in an attempt to somehow equate its business success -- or rather, lack thereof -- with its credibility.

That's his typical Twitter response, frequently in all caps.

The list of publications attacked in this fashion includes, but is not limited to, the Union Leader of Manchester, New Hampshire, the National Review, the New York Daily News, and now BuzzFeed, which got the Trump Treatment for publishing an intelligence dossier of unverified allegations about his supposed connections to Russia.

In short, Trump contends that publishers are losing their audiences because the public recognizes their content is politically biased and no longer trustworthy.

The only problem with this narrative is that it's not true — not that this matters to Trump supporters.

For those who care about actual numbers, media analytics firm Jumpshot took a look at the Web traffic to 12 news sites deemed “failing” by Trump over the last year, including those listed above, as well as Vanity Fair, CNN, The New York Times,USA Today, NBC, Politico, The Wall Street Journal, Fox News and Glenn Beck.

According to Jumpshot, Web traffic to all 12 sites across mobile and desktop increased in 2016, with average growth of 23% compared to the previous year. No surprise -- the biggest increase came in November 2016.

Politico led the way with a 145% year-over-year increase in Web traffic, followed by National Review, up 30%; Vanity Fair, up 26%; The New York Times, up 25%; The Wall Street Journal, up 23%; CNN, up 21%; the Union Leader, up 20%; Fox News, up 20%; Glenn Beck, up 15%; USA Today, up 12%; and the New York Daily News, up 10%.

Even better, Trump’s tweets actually result in more traffic to the sites, at least some cases. That suggests readers are still interested in hearing what they have to say about The Donald.

Politico once again was in the forefront with a 37% increase in Web traffic after Trump labeled it “failing,” while The New York Times enjoyed a 33% bump upon induction to the failing club. Perhaps they can arrange to be called “failing” once a week from now on.

magazines, news, newspapers, politics

9 comments about "Trump's 'Failing' News Outlets Are Booming".

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Joseph Saporito from AOL, January 12, 2017 at 4:14 p.m.
This whole article cannot be believed - it's fake.

Erik Sass - you're fired!!

- D. Trump

Reply

Tom Gable from Nuffer, Smith, Tucker PR, January 12, 2017 at 4:36 p.m.

Great data from Jumpshot. Trump has been great for media ratings and profitability. The Hill had a piece on Dec. 20 about liberal media enjoying a post-Trump election boom. https://goo.gl/V1R9ma

Will be interesting if the trends continue post-inauguration.

David Mountain from Marketing and Advertising Direction, January 12, 2017 at 4:37 p.m.

Why, it's almost a if the P-E (e, e, e...?) is a historically unpopular figure. Nah...

Erik Sass from none replied, January 12, 2017 at 4:53 p.m.

Ha! Pretty sure he has bigger fish to fry/insult

Peter Rosenwald from Consult Partners, January 12, 2017 at 5:22 p.m.

Since 'facts' are not part of the Trumpian Surreality Show, we shouldn't be surprised. Perhaps one of the reasons Trump doesn't release his financials is he has investments in the media he trashes. Comeon guys, anything is possible.

What would be interesting is to track his Twitter followers and see if they have been increasing or decreasing.

Does anyone out there have that stat?

Christina Ricucci from Millenia 3 Communications replied, January 12, 2017 at 6:01 p.m.

I think the trends we're most likely to see post-election are post-Constitutional government and post-freedom. But hey, at least the media and its darling will keep us endlessly entertained.

Chuck Lantz from 2007ac.com, 2017ac.com network, January 12, 2017 at 6:02 p.m.

Those being called "over-rated" and "failing" by Trump have now reached the status once enjoyed by those who were on Nixon's enemies list; ... it's a badge of honor.

Besides that (and with my pretend psychiatrist hat firmly in place), when you consider how often Trump uses the same insults, including "failing" and "over-rated", is it possible that he was on the receiving end of those same words at some point in his childhood, from a parent or other authority figure?

Jim Farina from Farina Consulting, January 13, 2017 at 4:55 p.m.

Mr. Sass, please stick to writing and not data analysis. One is your strength, the other isn't. 2016 isn't a good barometer due to the election and Olympics. Ask Jumpshot to remove that traffic from their analysis and recompile and I think you'll see a truer picture. Other facts? Buzzfeed most recent funding round was flat. Publishers are having difficulty monetizing their product on the biggest digital media channel available - Facebook. Major publishers orchestrated significant layoffs during 2016, including the NY Times, Gannet and Dow Jones (WSJ). Need I say more?
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/28/business/media/buyouts-wall-street-journal-bad-news-for-newspapers.html?_r=0

Douglas Ferguson from College of Charleston, January 16, 2017 at 9:28 a.m.

We are seeing a similar pushback from supporters of Trump: The Talladega College marching band is receiving 5 times the expected support on its GoFundMe site to attend the inauguration. The school took a lot of criticism for allowing its band to appear for Trump and now they must suffer the financial consequences of wealth.