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One longstanding, unwritten rule in political public relations has always been “don’t bite the hand that feeds you.” In other words, play nice with the media. This year, however, “the corporate media” has often found itself a target of ire from candidates looking to score points with their respective bases.
Several GOP candidates made attacking the “mainstream media” a central point of their campaigns. Hillary Clinton’s camp has taken shots at Fox recently, as well as other conservative radio and internet sites. But no one has gone as far as Donald Trump.
Trump started off with a bang, getting combative with Fox’s Megyn Kelly in an early debate last fall. He continued to attack her after the debate on social media, revving up his followers to a fever pitch. When he skipped out on a national debate in January hosted by GOP-friendly Fox, he took the disdain for media one step further.
In the week leading up to the debate, there was really only one story: would Donald show or not? He said probably not; his aides said definitely not. CNN, Fox and other networks said everything they possibly could for or against him. Talking heads discussed, debated, and pontificated, and every time they mentioned his name, Trump’s PR stock went up. In an era when media PR is an around-the-clock business, Trump managed to make an event “about him” by saying he didn’t plan to be there.
There’s fashionably late and there are polite refusals, but Trump took no-showing to an entirely different level. Let’s face it, Trump has played the media masterfully this election cycle, and this part of his symphony may just be his magnum opus. When your primary goal is to make your PR about you, rule number-one is “keep them talking about you.” It doesn’t really matter what they say. Trump understands, especially in politics, that name recognition is huge. Think about it. How many people have been elected to the Senate on that aspect alone? Now Trump, who specializes in over-the-top performance art, aims for an even higher office. He’s trying to talk about himself right into the Presidency.
And he may just do it.
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Ronn Torossian is the CEO & Founder of 5W Public Relations. 5WPR is headquartered in NYC with offices in Los Angeles and Denver.
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