Larry D. Lauer

Television prefers human drama and emotion over explanations of policy details. I learned this the hard way as a public affairs producer early in my career. Drama is simply in the nature of the medium. The more information I crammed into programs the more boring they became. The more I used the camera to stress emotion and drama the more compelling they became.

Trump is a natural. He instinctively creates endless streams of drama while continuously “fogging” details. TV producers simply cannot resist him. Think about his recent rally at his new hotel in Washington. His promise to admit for the first time that Obama was born in America guaranteed live TV coverage. His  insistence on not saying it until the end guaranteed total rally coverage. His setting included military “brass” behind him. And his beautiful hotel was the background. And to add even more hotel exposure he required reporters to come inside if they wanted to ask questions. A perfect television event: Great background. Emotional anticipation. Few details.

In this age of imagery pseudo-events are fast becoming a new reality. Trump’s campaign staff had actually already told reporters what he was going to say. Even so, people were willing to watch the event until the end just to hear the “celebrity” validate it. And when he finally did, he went on to preview the next dramatic episode with a clever misstatement of facts.

What’s more, all of this was hours of free publicity for both Trump’s hotel and his campaign, with no new news. In this age of imagery performers with Trump’s television instincts will continue to compel this kind of visibility. That is unless the vast silent majority and politicians with integrity finally step-up and proclaim they have had enough… and the broadcast journalism profession also musters enough courage to do the same.