The bad blood between Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and Fox News is nothing but good news for CNN and MSNBC.
On Wednesday, Trump continued an ongoing feud with Fox, writing on Twitter that he had been covered “unfairly” and that he would stop appearing on the network “for the foreseeable future.”
Fox responded in a statement that said it had been the first to cancel an upcoming appearance by Trump on one of its primetime shows, “The O’Reilly Factor.” The statement also accused Trump of “engaging in personal attacks” against their anchors and reporters when he is the subject of critical coverage.
Trump’s candidacy has largely thrived off media coverage by a national press drawn to his unpredictability. Fox consistently has the largest audience in cable news, but Trump has other options in the endlessly fragmented media universe.
Trump already regularly appears on CNN and MSNBC’s programming, and those networks expect to benefit even more now.
“That boycott benefits us and CNN,” said one MSNBC producer. “Since Trump brings ratings everywhere he appears.”
Trump is currently leading the GOP field of presidential candidates in national and early primary state-level polls. And there is strong evidence that popularity translates on television.
Trump appeared on CBS’ “Late Show” Tuesday and the show had its highest ratings since it debuted with new host Stephen Colbert on Sep. 8, according to CNN.
A CNN source also anticipated that his network would benefit from the boycott but doubted whether it was legitimate.
“It will last four seconds until something an anchor at a competing network pisses him off and then he chooses to boycott us,” said the source. “I’m sure our boss is happy to have the ratings should the Fox boycott actually have some legs.”
In a statement on Wednesday, Trump did not elaborate on how, exactly, he thought he had been covered unfairly by Fox.
“As a candidate for president of the United States and the definitive front runner in every poll, both nationally and state wide … Mr. Trump expects to be treated fairly,” the statement said. “All you have to do is look at the tremendous ratings last night from the ‘Late Show’ with Stephen Colbert, where Mr. Trump was the guest, or the ratings from both debates, to fully understand the facts.”
