In ancient Greek mythology, the hero Sisyphus was punished by the gods for his great greed, forced to roll a boulder up a hill for eternity only to see it fall down the side of the mountain each time he reached the top. The American media could take a lesson from this lesson of antiquity: building one’s own reputation can lead to much greater problems than is worth.
On the surface, the fierce struggle between the old guards of journalism and President Trump’s sweeping condemnation of “fake news” should lead to the extinction of a dying enterprise. In practice, however, Trump has been a godsend to the journalists who hate him so.
Take, perhaps, the greatest enemy of the Trump Administration, the New York Times. No newspaper in America has used more ink and paper to decry the president, yet few other newspapers have seen subscription growth since Trump’s election candidacy to match the coastal elite’s daily.
The difference between the American public in 2015 and 2017, at least according to the media, could hardly be different. Obama’s scandals, including but not limited to assassinating US citizens without trial, failed to move the needle for the media’s customers. Now that that same media outlet has the chance to declare every action by the Trump Administration a scandal, Americans are sitting up to pay attention.
The New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Wall Street Journal have seen subscriptions and page views rise through Trumps’ candidacy and the early days of his administration. In fact, since November 8th the NY Times stock price has risen by over 40%, threefold better than the S+P 500 over that same time. Half a million new subscribers joined the Times’ ranks in 2016, contributing their hard-earned cash to read Maureen Dowd’s columns about why the second amendment should be repealed.
While economics can rarely be boiled down to a single determining factor, there’s no doubting this catalyst. Trump represents a ratings bonanza, drawing both his fans and his detractors, producing sound bites so fast that it can be hard to stay abreast of each new one.
Despite the narrative that Trump’s most loyal fans prefer social media to print media altogether, skipping the middleman to hear news and updates from the President’s own mouth, the growth is coming from Trump aficionados and not just sore losers.
The Wall Street Journal, who denounced Hilary Clinton in a quasi-endorsement called “The Gamble of Trump”, has gained over a quarter of a million subscribers since the election. The Fox News Channel, who did more digging into Benghazi than seemingly every other member of the media combined, picked up nearly one million more daily viewers from the election to the inauguration. Journalists report that they have to set aside space and time for Trump stories that break later in the day even as they plan to cover Trump stories that occurred earlier in the day.
It’s welcome news for the media, who have been taking it on the chin since the invention of the Internet. Cable news television stations have had declining viewership rates for years as young consumers almost universally reject TV news in favor of web articles.
Print journalism has done even worse, losing an estimated thirty billion dollars of advertising revenue in the past fifteen years, a drop of nearly two-thirds. The biggest names in the business aren’t immune to the changing tides: the Wall Street Journal saw its ad revenue drop by a fifth the year prior to the election; the New York Times fared only slightly better.
How long can the adoration of Trump, reluctant or not, continue to provide the media with the capital that they’ve been hemorrhaging? It appears to be at the very least a good four years ahead. Trump’s speeches by and large haven’t softened, his attitude towards Washington hasn’t changed, and the shake-ups in foreign and domestic policy are surely greater than any we’ve seen since the end of the Cold War.
What’s good for the media is good for its investors: if you can get over your disgust at owning shares of the New York Times Company’s’ debt, you can profit along with them, likewise with the Graham Holdings Group (Washington Post), Newscorp (Fox News), Time Warner (CNN), and AOL (Huffington Post).
As most major media outlets in this nation are owned part and parcel by much larger companies, their growth isn’t wholly dependent on Donald J. Trump. But he’ll certainly help out whenever they’re short a penny or two.
Regards,
Ethan Warrick
Editor
Wealth Authority
