New analysis reveals Donald Trump’s Truth Social media diet
By Oliver Darcy, CNN
New York (CNN) — Editor’s Note: A version of this article first appeared in the “Reliable Sources” newsletter. Sign up for the daily digest chronicling the evolving media landscape here.
Donald Trump can’t quit Fox News.
The Republican presidential candidate may lash out in strong terms at the right-wing channel for supposedly not being sufficiently loyal to him, but a fresh analysis of the content posted on his Truth Social page shows that he promotes the outlet more than any other.
In the month of May, Trump posted 56 videos from Fox News, dwarfing the volume of content he posted from any other outlet, according to the analysis conducted by The Righting, a website that monitors right-wing media. In addition to the 56 video clips, Trump posted an additional six articles linking to FoxNews.com, for a total of 62 pieces of content from the Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch-controlled media organization, according to the analysis, which was provided first 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 shower his followers with links to content that he obviously felt were aligned with his messages,” said Howard Polskin, president and founder of The Righting.
Comparatively, Trump posted 26 video clips from the upstart internet streamer Right Side Broadcasting Network, 11 videos from the pro-Trump cable channel Newsmax, and 5 from the far-right Real America’s Voice. He posted eight links to Real America’s Voice, only three to Breitbart, and one to the New York Post.
Polskin noted that his analysis indicated Trump has a “preference for fringe outlets like RSBN and Real America’s Voice over more established outlets like the Washington Examiner and the Washington Times.”
The Righting analysis also found that, in addition to the content Trump posts from right-wing sources, he also links to mainstream news organizations when it fits his agenda. In May, he linked to the Associated Press, The New York Times, CNN, The Washington Post, POLITICO, NBC News, The New Yorker, and Reuters.
“While Trump consistently disparages mainstream or progressive news outlets as ‘fake news,’ he’ll link to those sources if it shows the Biden campaign or Democrats in a poor light,” Polskin said.
Indeed, Polskin’s analysis pulls back the curtain on how Trump works the media. While he has publicly bashed Murdoch and Fox News, in addition to waging an unrelenting war on the press, he continues to promote their content when it fits into the narrative that he is trying to sell his supporters.
The warped feedback loop is yet another way in which he exploits the media for his own ends.
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