Companies like ABC, CBS, and the Associated Press are being squeezed by the Trump administration as pressure on major media outlets ramps up. Hoping for more favorable coverage, the administration has been threatening lawsuits. Last night, President Trump urged the FCC to punish CBS and 60 Minutes over stories about Ukraine and Greenland.
Meanwhile, Warner Bros. Discovery is quietly plotting its own approach, trying to figure out how to play the game with Trump to its advantage.
A recent New York Magazine profile on WBD CEO David Zaslav revealed that the company sought advice from the Trump White House on how to align itself with the administration better and shed any lingering stigma from its coverage of Trump and his presidency.
WBD was reportedly advised to follow Amazon’s lead and that of its owner, Jeff Bezos. Bezos has directed the Washington Post’s opinion section to support personal liberties and free markets daily. Bezos also struck a $40 million deal with Melania Trump for a documentary about her life.
In the same vein, it was apparently suggested to WBD that Donald Trump Jr “might be a good fit for a hunting and fishing show on the Discovery Channel.”
Don Jr. does have a genuine passion for the outdoors, so this wouldn’t exactly be like appointing a Fox News host to a cabinet position. However, it does illustrate the lengths to which some companies might go to curry favor with the Trump administration. As Michael Wolff also reported in the profile, WBD was told that CNN could benefit from adding more pro-Trump voices — a suggestion that, yes, was made during the conversation.
In response, the Trump White House rejected Wolff’s reporting and fired back with an email to The Hollywood Reporter. The statement, issued by White House Communications Director Steven Cheung, dismissed Wolff as a “lying sack of sh*t” and a “fraud.”
As THR noted, the same response has consistently been issued to members of the media whenever Wolff’s name is mentioned concerning the administration. Wolff has written four books about Trump.
Whether you buy into the Trump administration’s claims or not, the family is clearly making a push into professional sports.
With the UFC already in their corner, the Trumps are eyeing even more opportunities like the Don Jr. fishing show. Whether it’s lobbying news networks like CNN to include more pro-Trump voices or getting airtime during the College Football Championship game, Trump and his administration are certainly playing offense, hoping to gain more favorable media coverage for his second term.
Luckily, they’ll no longer need to worry about Charles Barkley, with Inside the NBA headed to ESPN.
