Democratic candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. gets his first national town hall with NewsNation, as the media grapples with another conspiratorial candidate. “There’s a difference between giving him a town hall and just covering his candidacy,” one network executive says.

archive.is link, if you hit a paywall: https://archive.ph/RF9jn

Democratic candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. gets his first national town hall with NewsNation, as the media grapples with another conspiratorial candidate. “There’s a difference between giving him a town hall and just covering his candidacy,” one network executive says.

  • ATGM 🚀@beehaw.orgEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    My concern is based on what happened with Trump. The more we debated him in 2016, and the more he was criticized in the media, the more his profile grew.

    Of course the media won’t do the sensible thing- Where’s the profit incentive in that?

    But perhaps by being indifferent instead of outraged, we’ll not encourage them to write quite so much about him.

    • tburkhol@beehaw.orgEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      Trump, and I think RFK jr, appeal to anti-establishment people. When the establishment media criticize them, it validates their anti-establishment credentials.

      Media like them because they’re controversial, and controversy drives engagement. I’m sure they see RFK jr as the ‘left wing’ Trump and great for the bottom line.