TheFightBack

cnn.com

Donald Trump has been elected president, but the big winner this election was the media.

It’s hard to see how Trump’s victory could’ve happened without the unprecedented free media he received – nearly $3 billion through April, according to one estimate.

And networks were eager to do it, with the increased viewership he brought.

“It may not be good for America, but it’s damn good for CBS,” CBS president Leslie Moonves said of Trump’s candidacy. “What can I say?… The money’s rolling in, and this is fun.”

While the media at large benefited from increased ratings and clicks from Trump’s run, CNN led the way.

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Tonight’s debate stage, with candidate stand-ins. Photo: NY Times

Tonight’s opening debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump is expected to draw a record-breaking audience, possibly as many as 100 million viewers.

With the election just six weeks away and polls showing a neck-and-neck race, much is on the line.

Here’s what you need to know.

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Brian Hooker secretly recorded his phone calls with CDC whistleblower William Thompson. Screen shot: “Vaxxed” (youtube.com)

When actor Robert De Niro attempted to screen “Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Conspiracy” at his Tribeca Film Festival, the media lambasted him. The festival “sold out to anti-vaccine crackpots,” declared the L.A. Times.

With filmmakers threatening to pull out of the festival if “Vaxxed” was screened, De Niro reluctantly withdrew the film, but not his support. “You must see it,” De Niro told the Today Show.

In the documentary, a top government scientist blows the whistle on his agency, exposing what appears to be shocking misconduct with potentially far-reaching effects on public health. But that’s difficult to discern from media headlines.

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Clinton & Sanders debate. Photo: npr.com

This is the fourth of a four-part series on the presidential debates. [Part 1, Part 2, Part 3]

Democrats and Republicans seized control of the televised presidential debates nearly thirty years ago. Since then, the general election debates have become increasingly dry, in contrast to the parties’ more frequent and freewheeling primary debates. But that began to change this time around.

“During this election, the Republican and Democratic parties have asserted unprecedented control over the primary debates,” explained George Farah, author of No Debate. “And the results have been disastrous.”

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