American Coup Reveals How Journalism Aided the 1898 Wilmington Massacre

Stop us if this scenario sounds familiar: A closely-watched election; voters split along party–and racial–lines; misinformation circulated as journalism; and an undercurrent of violence that grows stronger as voters head to the polls. That may sound like the presidential election cycle Americans just lived through, but those same events played out over 126 years ago…

American Coup Reveals How Journalism Aided the 1898 Wilmington Massacre

Stop us if this scenario sounds familiar: A closely-watched election; voters split along party–and racial–lines; misinformation circulated as journalism; and an undercurrent of violence that grows stronger as voters head to the polls. That may sound like the presidential election cycle Americans just lived through, but those same events played out over 126 years ago…

How News Outlets Are Preparing for Karoline Leavitt’s White House Press Briefings

With Karoline Leavitt joining President-elect Donald Trump’s administration as White House press secretary, press briefings might look slightly different in 2025. At 27, Leavitt will be the youngest person to serve in that role and she has signaled that she will approach the entire operation differently. During an interview with Sean Hannity on Tuesday night,…

Here’s What You Need to Know About Karoline Leavitt, Donald Trump’s New Press Secretary

Karoline Leavitt will be the new White House press secretary when Donald Trump takes office in January. At 27, she’ll be the youngest person to serve in that role, but she’s familiar with the job, having worked as an assistant press secretary for Kayleigh McEnany during the president-elect’s first term. Leavitt was also part of…

Week of Nov. 11 Cable News Ratings: Fox News Wins the Week, but Still Loses Viewers

This is TVNewser’s basic cable network ranker and cable news report for the week of Nov. 11, 2024. The viewership wave that followed President-elect Donald Trump’s Election Night victory greatly benefited Fox News as the network crested to ratings high. And viewers have continued to stay tuned to Fox News as the new administration takes…

New Details and Controversy Accompany Morning Joe’s Meeting With Donald Trump

The Morning Joe team kick-started their own news cycle on Monday when co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski revealed that they’d booked a private sit-down interview with Donald Trump over the weekend. It was the duo’s first in-person meeting with the president-elect in seven years and the first contact they’d had since Scarborough called Trump…

Morning Joe Meets With Donald Trump: ‘Time to Do Something Different’

Now we know how Morning Joe duo Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski spent their weekend. The co-hosts of MSNBC’s morning show flew down to Florida for their first face-to-face encounter with President-elect Donald Trump in seven years. “We talked about a lot of issues,” Scarborough said at the top of Monday’s show, referencing subjects like…

Brendan Carr Picked to Lead FCC for Trump

Brendan Carr has been chosen as the next FCC commissioner by President-Elect Donald Trump. “Commissioner Carr is a warrior for Free Speech, and has fought against the regulatory Lawfare that has stifled Americans’ Freedoms, and held back our Economy,” Trump said in a statement announcing the news. “He will end the regulatory onslaught that has…

How Podcasts Emerged as Vehicles of Mass Reach, Niche Audiences and Cultural Influence

Throughout history, emerging trends in mass media have shaped election outcomes. The rise of TV in 1960 influenced perceptions of who won the first televised debate between Kennedy and Nixon. In 2008, Barack Obama’s campaign first channeled the emerging power of social media to crowdsource funding and engage a younger, more diverse population of voters,…

Don Lemon Departs Elon Musk’s X: ‘It’s Time for Me to Leave the Platform’

Don Lemon announced his departure from X, formerly Twitter, on Wednesday. “It’s time for me to leave the platform,” the former CNN anchor said in a video posted to his official account. “I once believe that it was a place for honest debate and discussion, transparency, and free speech,” Lemon added. “But I now feel…

Donald Trump Names Fox News’ Pete Hegseth as Defense Secretary

President-elect Donald Trump announced Tuesday that Fox & Friends Weekend co-host Pete Hegseth is his pick to run the Department of Defense. As a result of this nomination, Hegseth will depart his Fox News role immediately. “Pete Hegseth has been an exceptional host on Fox & Friends and Fox Nation and a best-selling author for…

The Election Was One Week Ago. Here’s What’s Happened Since.

America went to the polls one week ago today and while experts initially predicted a deadlocked race, a clear winner emerged by the early morning hours. President-elect Donald Trump declared victory at 2:24 a.m. ET on Nov. 7 buoyed by news outlets like NewsNation and Fox News calling the race in his favor. Other outlets…

Week of November 4 Morning News Ratings: Today Repeats at No. 1 During Election Week

NBC News’ Today remained America’s No. 1 morning show in total viewers and the Adults 25-54 demo for the second week in a row. This particular feat occurred during the week of the presidential election, which resulted in President-elect Donald Trump defeating Vice President Kamala Harris. Not including the Paris 2024 Olympics, Today saw its…

Overnight Cable News Ratings for Nov. 5-7: Kamala Harris’ Concession Speech Brings Viewers

Tuesday, November 5 Fox News was the go-to network on Election Night in both total viewers and the Adults 25-54 demo. The network peaked with over 10 million viewers between 9 p.m. and 12 a.m. ET. CNN still held its own in the demo, finishing in second place, but it fell behind MSNBC in total…

Agencies Brace For Cultural Upheaval Under Second Trump Presidency

While U.S. citizens process Tuesday night’s election results, brands their agencies are on the brink of a cultural shift that will impact how they speak to consumers and broach societal issues. Many agency folks ADWEEK contacted declined to comment on how a second Trump presidency might impact their business, while some expressed disbelief and sadness…

Dealmaking Will Flow In 2025, But That’s Not All Down to Trump

Warner Bros. Discovery chief David Zaslav is not the only CEO anticipating that a new president will be “positive” for the industry. With President-elect Donald Trump heading back to the White House, investment, merger, and acquisition activity across media, tech, and agencies is poised for growth, but for reasons beyond Trump himself. While it’s likely…

A Deeper Dive Into Election Night 2024 Ratings: Fox News Leads All Networks

Election Night ratings are in and Fox News was viewers’ network of choice on Tuesday. FNC attracted 10.3 million total viewers and 3.1 million viewers in the advertiser-rich Adults 25-54 demo during the 8-11 p.m. hours (All times Eastern). But it’s worth noting that the 2024 presidential election wasn’t a particularly big ratings driver overall….

Trump’s Victory Signals Significant Shifts In Media Persuasion

Democrats spent $460 million more on traditional advertising promoting Vice President Kamala Harris than Republicans spent bolstering former President Donald J. Trump. The fact that they still lost indicates a change in what type of content nudges people in one direction or another. Rather than relying on standard paid media, the strategy behind Trump’s campaign…

Joe Biden Delivers 1st Post-Election Speech: ‘A Defeat Does Not Mean We Are Defeated’

Wednesday afternoon saw Vice President Kamala Harris delivering her concession speech to end the 2024 presidential cycle. President Joe Biden offered a short postscript on Thursday morning, addressing the nation from the White House Rose Garden at 11:25 a.m. ET. “Campaigns are a contest of competing visions–the country chooses one or the other,” Biden remarked…

Five Takeaways From Calm’s Election Night Ad

An election-pegged commercial from Calm that didn’t have a single line of spoken dialogue quickly became a major talking point in the hours following Donald Trump’s win of the White House. Both within the advertising industry and outside of it, fans have been discussing the merits of the ad’s 30 seconds of pure silence, a…