Three days after Donald Trump announced a new policy banning journalists from MS NOW (my employer), CNN and Politico from the White House, referring to his policy as “the ban on the free press,” the three news organizations filed a federal lawsuit against the president and several top administration officials to challenge the move.
Right around the same time, the White House had a related announcement of its own. The Hill reported:
The White House on Monday launched Trump TV, a 24/7 stream on YouTube. … The inaugural video was a stream of Trump speaking at Mount Rushmore on July 3 as part of a livestream titled “Trump TV: The Essentials Station.” The stream started at 7 p.m.
“Watch the Trump Administration’s biggest moments all in one place,” read the stream’s description on YouTube. “Top videos, major remarks, and must-see highlights streaming 24/7 and updated in real time. Stay informed and stay up to date!”
One White House official tried to make the case for the need for Trump TV, describing it via social media as a constant “livestream of the Administration’s greatest hits, unfiltered.”
The obvious problem with the White House launching such an endeavor is that it looks like the president and his team, already facing credible accusations of Trump-style communism, have launched a clumsy state television initiative.
Indeed, The Guardian summarized the project this way: “The anchor-less channel dispenses with traditional broadcast norms. With no schedule, no on-screen description of what is being shown, and zero context for where or when a clip was recorded, the effect of having the channel on in the background is less like watching a news network and more like installing Trump wallpaper — a 24-hour fever dream of self-soothing propaganda for the MAGA faithful.”
As best as I can tell, the whole point of Trump TV is simply to package together assorted videos of the president, most of which are already online, as a pointless and directionless highlight reel for his adoring followers.
All of which leads to a more pressing problem: Trump TV isn’t exactly ratings gold.
The Daily Beast reported that the channel launched on Monday with around 8,000 viewers, which fell by roughly half within 90 minutes.
“By around 10:40 p.m.,” the report added, “just 2,425 people were watching.”
This Wednesday afternoon, I checked in on Trump TV myself, and YouTube told me I was one of 885 viewers, which suggests interest in the endeavor, roughly two days after its launch, effectively does not exist.
In June 2016, one year after Trump launched his Republican presidential candidacy, Vanity Fair reported that, in the event that his candidacy didn’t work out, he hoped to launch some kind of “media platform and cable channel.”
If Trump TV is emblematic of his acumen, he will probably have to revisit his post-presidency plans.
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