Trump Charges Back Into The Television News Spotlight
The COVID-19 pandemic was the first event since Donald Trump rode down the escalator of Trump Tower that managed to displace him from the forefront of television news. The timeline below shows the percentage of weekly airtime on CNN, MSNBC and Fox News that mentioned Donald Trump since the start of 2015. Beginning the week of Feb. 23 of this year, mentions of his name plummeted to a lowpoint the week of March 22 that he hadn't seen since he was just a few months into his candicacy in 2015. Ever since the week of March 29 mentions of his name have steadily increased week over week. Today he is back to where he was in 2018, recovering even some of his decline of last year.
This might help explain the reduced coverage of COVID-19 issues, as the news pivots back to the 2020 race.
