Real News Update

Real News Update
Genre News program
Starring Lara Trump
Kayleigh McEnany
Katrina Pierson
Country of origin United States
Original language(s) English
Production
Production location(s) Trump Tower
New York, New York
Release
Original release July 30, 2017 (2017-07-30)

Real News Update is a weekly Webcast that launched on July 30, 2017 to support Donald Trump's 2020 presidential campaign. It is available on the campaign's Facebook, Twitter and YouTube accounts and is hosted by Donald Trump's daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, wife of Eric Trump.[1] The show is presented in the form of a newscast and delivers updates on the accomplishments of the Presidency of Donald Trump.[2]

Background

Lara Trump has a background in marketing[3] and played an integral role in the 2016 presidential campaign of Donald Trump. She was "viewed by many as a secret-weapon" as she helped lock her home state of North Carolina in the election for her father-in-law, Donald Trump.[2][4]

Not long after Donald Trump's inauguration in January 2017, Lara had already begun work on her father-in-law's re-election effort alongside Michael Glassner, who runs the campaign committee.[4] By March 2017 she was hired as a senior consultant by the digital vendor for President Donald Trump's political campaign.[3]

As a political operative before the launch of Real News Update, Lara, like her father-in-law, had her sights set on the mainstream media, regularly praising grassroots and bashing the media for what she sees as a disproportionate amount of negative coverage of his presidency.[4] During a speech at a March 2017 political rally in Nashville, Tennessee, she said, "It's more important, I think, now than ever, that we keep our movement alive. Because that same media—and they're all here today, guys, right there—they got it out for President Trump."[4]

In May 2017, while commenting on the refusal of ABC, CBS, NBC, and CNN to air an advertisement that listed President Donald Trump's accomplishments during his first 100 days as president while decrying "fake news" media for allegedly not reporting on them, she said "Apparently, the mainstream media are champions of the First Amendment only when it serves their own political views."[5]

By June 2017 she had established herself as the face of Donald Trump's re-election campaign.[4][6]

Launch

Real News Update launched its first video via Facebook on July 30, 2017. In the first episode, a video posted on July 30, 2017, Trump introduced herself and the webcast by saying, "Hey everybody, Lara Trump here. I bet you haven't heard about all the accomplishments the president had this week because there's so much fake news out there. We wanted to give you a glimpse into his week."[7]

In an interview shortly after the show's launch, when asked why she created Real News Update, she responded saying "People who voted for Donald Trump want to hear about the things he's doing for the country and they deserve to hear the things he is doing for the country. Part of the reason the campaign is still here is to let them know what is going on so they don't have to just rely on the mainstream media."[2][6]

Production

The webcasts are funded by the Trump 2020 re-election campaign.[8] The videos are shot in a studio on the 15th floor of Trump Tower. While Lara Trump is the primary anchor of the program, various Trump allies and prominent media and political figures have taken turns anchoring the show, notably: Joy Villa, Steve Rogers, and Harlan Hill. Kayleigh McEnany hosted the program on August 6, 2017, one day after quitting her job at CNN.[9]

Reception

In a CNN interview, political analyst Jeff Greenfield pointed out that political campaigns have been doing news-like videos "ever since there were videos," likening Real News Update to the "long and if not entirely noble tradition" of political campaigning.[10] During the same interview, Richard Tofel, President of ProPublica, said that Real News looks to him like "politics as usual."[10]

In response to Lara Trump's statement that, "I bet you haven't heard about all the accomplishments the president had this week because there's so much fake news out there," various outlets noted that the stories she highlighted, such as the plans of Foxconn to build a factory in Wisconsin and the donation of President's Trump's second-quarter salary to the Department for Education, had in fact previously been covered by the mainstream media.[11][12][13]

CNN noted a distinction between Lara Trump's videos and previous media communications by politicians, saying that "Presidents and lawmakers have used websites and social media platforms for years to promote their achievements, but the 'real news' series goes further, seeking to discredit the mainstream media and advertising what purports to be a reliable alternative".[11]

Aaron Blake of The Washington Post described an episode of Real News Update as "real spin, at best" and said it "felt a lot like propaganda -- or state TV."[14]

Vox speculated that Lara Trump's video "might be a partial fulfillment" of plans that Donald Trump might have to launch his own broadcasting network, an idea that has been dubbed 'Trump TV'.[15]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Sheffield, Matthew (November 22, 2017). "Lara Trump is building a propaganda empire on Facebook". Salon. Retrieved 5 March 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 "Lara Trump becomes face of Donald Trump's 2020 re-election campaign". The Telegraph. October 19, 2017. Retrieved July 17, 2018.
  3. 1 2 Julie Bykowicz (March 29, 2017). "Lara Trump Hired by Trump Campaign's Digital Vendor". U.S. News & World Report LLC. Retrieved March 4, 2018.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Katie Glueck (Jun 16, 2017). "The face of Donald Trump's 2020 campaign". McClatchy D.C. Bureau. Retrieved March 4, 2018. And by early 2017, Lara Trump was already working on the re-election effort alongside Michael Glassner, who is running the campaign committee
  5. ↑ David Bauder (May 5, 2017). "CBS, NBC also refuse to air Trump advertisement". The Boston Globe. Retrieved March 4, 2018.
  6. 1 2 Jonathan Lemire (October 19, 2017). "Lara Trump Becomes Early Central Figure In President's Re-Election Bid". TPM Media LLC. AP. Retrieved March 4, 2018.
  7. ↑ "Morning News Brief: North Korea's Nuclear Threat, Trump TV". NPR. August 9, 2017. Retrieved 5 March 2018.
  8. ↑ Vitali, Al (August 7, 2017). "Fake News? Trump Launches 'Real News' Series". NBC News. Retrieved 5 March 2018.
  9. ↑ "Commentator Kayleigh McEnany Moves From CNN to Anchor Pro-Trump 'News of the Week' Segment". Variety Media. August 6, 2017. Retrieved March 4, 2018.
  10. 1 2 Dylan Byers (August 6, 2017). "Kayleigh McEnany appears in pro-Trump 'news' video after leaving CNN". CNN. Retrieved February 5, 2018.
  11. 1 2 Dylan Byers (August 2, 2017). "Trump launches 'real news' Facebook series to combat mainstream media". CNN. Retrieved August 2, 2017.
  12. ↑ Koerner, Claudia (August 2, 2017). "Trump Has Launched A "Real News" Program On His Facebook, Hosted By His Daughter-In-Law". BuzzFeed.
  13. ↑ Arturo Garcia. "Trump Administration Launches 'Real News' Online Show". Snopes. Retrieved August 2, 2017.
  14. ↑ Blake, Aaron (August 7, 2017). "Trump TV's 'real news' sounds more like real propaganda". The Washington Post.
  15. ↑ Garet Williams (August 2, 2017). "Trump now has a "real news" program on his Facebook, hosted by his daughter-in-law". Vox. Retrieved August 2, 2017.
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