Skip to footer

Trump TV? Campaign launches nightly broadcast on Facebook Live

Donald Trump launched campaign coverage on his Facebook page Monday evening. The Republican nominee will continue to air nightly broadcasts until election day. 

|
Evan Vucci/AP
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump delivers a speech during a campaign event in Gettysburg, Pa. on Oct. 22, 2016.

A nightly campaign coverage show launched on Donald Trump's Facebook page Monday night, prompting America to ask, for the second time, whether it's witnessing the beginnings of 'Trump TV.' 

Variations on Monday night's broadcast, which featured an interview of campaign manager Kellyanne Conway by Trump advisors Boris Epshteyn and Cliff Sims, will air live on the Republican nominee's Facebook page every night at 6:30 pm ET leading up to the election. The online show, which Mr. Epshteyn described as "bypassing the left-wing media," will compete with regular network news broadcasts. 

The live show, which comes less than a week after a live stream of the third presidential debate on Mr. Trump's Facebook page, has added to rumors that the business mogul intends to start his own television network in the event of a Clinton victory in November. 

The likelihood that a Trump television network could ever get off the ground is debatable. Last week, Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner reportedly met with investors to discuss the possibility of such an endeavor. But establishing a network comes with high costs and numerous challenges, and would be even more difficult without the backing of a major media empire, industry experts say. 

Some speculators, such as The Atlantic's Derek Thompson, have suggested that rather than launching a traditional television network, Trump could start his own multimedia operation in the style of Glenn Beck's The Blaze, which includes a website, radio programs, and a paid subscription digital television network. 

If successfully launched, a Trump network could have a lasting effect on American politics, as The Christian Science Monitor reported last week: 

The launch of a Trumpian network would be unlikely to dramatically alter the already highly polarized media landscape, media observers say. But it could broaden national dialogue by giving an enduring voice to the largely white, working-class, far-right demographic that feels ignored by the media and political leaders, and which Trump's campaign has brought into the spotlight.

In other words, says Matthew Baum, a professor of public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School in Cambridge, Mass., it could ensure that issues championed by Trump – illegal immigration, US job loss due to global competition, how to fight ISIS –  don't fade out of mainstream discourse anytime soon.

But despite rumors, the Republican nominee has previously said that he has "no interest" in starting his own media company. The hosts of Monday night's broadcast similarly denied that the show marked the launch of Trump TV. 

The Facebook broadcasts are simply a way to motivate Trump supporters in the weeks leading up to the election, said Mr. Sims: "[I]t would be malpractice on our part if we didn't utilize these massive online platforms that he has." 

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to Trump TV? Campaign launches nightly broadcast on Facebook Live
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2016/1025/Trump-TV-Campaign-launches-nightly-broadcast-on-Facebook-Live
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe