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‘We have created our own monster’: GroupM boss on media’s role in Donald Trump election

Gotlieb: 'We create our own monsters, and we have to deal with that'

Gotlieb: ‘We create our own monsters, and we have to deal with that’

Media owners and media agencies have been complicit in the election of Donald Trump as president of the United States, the head of the world’s biggest media buyer has said.

Asked if the media is responsible for the rise of the controversial reality TV star at the CASBAA Convention in Macau, Irwin Gotlieb, global head of GroupM responded: “We are all complicit in the mess we’ve created.”

“As the guys who dole out clients’ money, we ensure it gets spent on media that attracts audiences. Media owners chase the story that creates the most attention. We create our own monsters, and we have to deal with that,” he said.

“We have to work harder at understanding what our public responsibility is,” Gotlieb commented.

Media Trump tweet“Whether talking about Brexit or the US election, we’ve behaved in a manner that suggests that we’ve deserved what we’ve got,” he said.

On the implications of a Trump presidency for the media business in Asia, CASBAA CEO Christopher Slaughter, a former CNBC journalist, told Mumbrella that while there would unlikely be any short-term impact, the election result could play out in the billionaire’s stance on media mergers, particularly for news organisations.

“Trump has been opposed to merger activity in the media space, and that has global implications,” Slaughter said, with a nod to the proposed AT&T purchase of Time Warner.

“Those implications might not be immediate, but they are implications.”

Christopher Slaughter

Slaughter: ‘Trump has been opposed to merger activity in the media space, and that has global implications.’

“Donald Trump has been on the record as being opposed to multi-lateral trade arrangements, and we’ll see what comes of that. That also has implications for our industry,” he said.

“However, when you’re dealing with Donald Trump, what has become apparent is that campaign rhetoric might not translate into implementable policy.”

The Trump win may also have implications for how the media covers elections in the future, Slaughter added.

“There is a lot of ink and speculation among journalists about how media coverage of the Trump campaign has affected voter opinion, and how the oxygen of media attention has fanned the fire of the Trump campaign.”

“How news organisations deal with candidacy and elections will be massively scrutinised over the course of the next electoral cycle, which is only two years away – because the mid-term elections for the House of Representatives are only two years away,” he said.

Also commenting on the impact of a Trump presidency at CASBAA was Ang Hui Keng,‎ SVP and GM Sony Pictures Television Networks, Asia, who suggested at the CASBAA Convention last week that the election result was good news for television.

“What is good news for this industry is we’re going to have a lot of reality TV – even on our news channels,” Ang said.

HK Ang, Sony

Ang: ‘We’re going to have a lot of reality TV – even on our news channels.’

“So maybe Sony would consider launching a news service with a lot of reality TV content,” he said.

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