News
New Analysis Reveals the Truth of Donald Trump’s Social Media Diet
Bill Pugliano/Getty Images
Former President Donald Trump delivers the keynote address at Turning Point Action’s “People’s Convention” on June 15, 2024 in Detroit, Michigan.
Editor’s Note: A version of this article first appeared in the “Reliable Sources” newsletter. Sign up here to receive the daily digest chronicling the evolving media landscape.
CNN New York –
Donald Trump cannot leave Fox News.
The Republican presidential candidate may attack the right-wing channel in strong terms for supposedly not being loyal enough to him, but a new analysis of the content posted on his Truth Social page shows that he promotes the channel more than anyone else.
In the month of May, Trump published 56 videos on Fox News, surpassing the volume of content he published on any other media outlet, according to analysis carried out by The Righting, a website that monitors right-wing media outlets. In addition to the 56 video clips, Trump posted six additional articles with links to FoxNews.com, totaling 62 pieces of content from the media organization controlled by Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch, according to the analysis, which was first provided to Reliable. Sources.
“This analysis shows that despite Mr. Trump’s hot and cold relationship with the Fox News Channel, it was clearly his number one choice in May to flood his followers with links to content that he obviously felt aligned with his messages,” said Howard Polskin. , president and founder of The Righting.
Comparatively, Trump posted 26 video clips from the new internet streamer Right Side Broadcasting Network, 11 videos from the pro-Trump cable channel Newsmax and 5 from the far-right channel Real America’s Voice. He posted eight links to Real America’s Voice, just three to Breitbart and one to the New York Post.
Polskin noted that his analysis indicated that Trump has a “preference for fringe media outlets like RSBN and Real America’s Voice over more established outlets like the Washington Examiner and the Washington Times.”
Righting’s analysis also found that in addition to the content Trump publishes from right-wing sources, he also links to mainstream news organizations when it fits with his agenda. In May, he connected with the Associated Press, The New York Times, CNN, The Washington Post, POLITICO, NBC News, The New Yorker and Reuters.
“While Trump has consistently disparaged mainstream or progressive media outlets as ‘fake news,’ he will link to these sources if it shows the Biden campaign or Democrats in a negative light,” Polskin said.
In fact, Polskin’s analysis reveals the way Trump works the media. Although he has publicly criticized Murdoch and Fox News, as well as waging a relentless war against the press, he continues to promote his content when it fits the narrative he is trying to sell to his supporters.
The distorted feedback loop is yet another way he exploits the media for his own ends.