Trump hires put premium on TV prowess

For all Donald Trump’s attacks on the media, a TV career seems to help the chances of anyone hoping to get a job in his administration.

In recent days, Trump has appointed K.T. McFarland, a Fox News contributor, as his deputy national security advisor, and met with Sheriff David Clarke, a more controversial figure who frequently appears on the same network.

{mosads}The TV prowess of Trump’s campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, has been widely reported to boost her standing with her boss.

Meanwhile, Trump’s national security advisor, retired Gen. Mike Flynn, is a frequent presence on Fox, as are several politicians apparently under consideration for positions, including former UN ambassador John Bolton and former Arkansas Gov. and two-time presidential candidate Mike Huckabee.

The focus on TV commentators is beginning to attract attention of its own. The Washington Post on Tuesday noted the trend and suggested that Trump was in the business of “stocking the federal government with … people that he’s seen on TV and likes.”

It could be as simple as that. But it could also be that Trump — who has taken the use of social media to an art form, albeit a deeply controversial one — has a keener eye than most for the importance of effective TV communication.

TV has shaped political fortunes dating all the way back to the 1960 presidential election, when John F. Kennedy was widely seen as having bested Richard Nixon in their television debates. The medium may have changed a lot since then, but Trump, the former star of NBC’s “The Apprentice,” knows its unparalleled power.

“He has been on TV himself, so he may have a bias toward what he knows,” said Jacob Neiheisel, an expert on political campaigns and communications at the University of Buffalo. Neiheisel added that Trump appears to have “a knack … for seeing the media environment just over the horizon.”

Still, some veterans in political journalism caution that Trump’s approach is hardly out of the ordinary.

Ann Compton, formerly of ABC News, noted that on at least two occasions journalists had made the leap to become White House press secretary.

A generation ago, Ron Nessen went from commentating on President Gerald Ford’s inauguration for NBC News to being Ford’s man behind the podium in the White House briefing room.

Jay Carney, who served as President Obama’s White House press secretary from 2011 to 2014, previously worked for Time magazine.

The conservative Media Research Center asserts that 30 people have passed through a “revolving door” between the media and the Obama administration, though the group’s list included politicos leaving the administration for media careers such as David Axelrod, as well as authors such as Samantha Power, who has been the U.S. ambassador to the UN since 2013.

Still, among the reporters-turned-Obama aides are Linda Douglass, a former CBS News and ABC News reporter; Doug Frantz, formerly of the New York Times, Los Angeles Times and Washington Post; and Jill Zuckman, who had previously worked for the Chicago Tribune.

Compton also noted, in relation to Trump, that many of the people he was meeting with at Trump Tower were primarily known for their expertise in government and had then built TV careers

“These folks, like Fran Townsend, are on TV because they are talented former administration officials, not the other way around,” she said. Townsend is a former counterterrorism advisor to President George W. Bush who went on to become a CBS News analyst. 

But Compton also noted that among the media figures reportedly being considered for roles in the administration are overtly partisan figures such as radio talk-show host Laura Ingraham, who is in the running to be White House press secretary.

“I don’t think he has any respect for most of the people I would consider very responsible, skilled political journalists,” Compton said. ”I don’t seem him reaching out at all into the ranks of those who are good, solid nonpartisan reporters.”

Some Trump supporters, including those within the ranks of the media, have no problem with that.

On Monday, Fox host Sean Hannity, who made no secret of his support for Trump during the campaign, said on Breitbart News Daily that Trump could do away with the White House press office entirely.

“People don’t need them anymore. They’re done,” Hannity said. “Why does Donald Trump need a White House press office? He doesn’t.”