Trump vs. Media: His Quest for Positive Coverage Collides With His Chaos

‘Orange Emperor’ Is His Own Worst Enemy

For a man who’s supposed to be a tough guy, President Donald Trump sure does whine a lot. One of his favorite complaints is his poor press coverage. In a recent rant, he claimed about 97 percent of stories about him in the press are negative. Where he got that figure, nobody knows.

“The stories are 97 percent bad. They’ll take a great story and they’ll make it bad. See, I think that’s really illegal, personally,” he said.

But the president misses an important point.

How Positive Press Actually Works

I’ve worked in the media for about three decades and know a thing or two about generating positive stories.

I once had a client who faced legal problems, and Google was filled with coverage about his case — even though he won. I told him the best way to handle it was to create positive press that would push the negative stories down.

Trump faces the same problem. If he’s complaining about negative stories in the media, he should create more positive ones so the press covers those.

He has a White House press office to generate good press, not to mention sympathetic…