''Real News Update'' was a weekly

webcast A webcast is a media presentation distributed over the Internet using streaming media technology to distribute a single content source to many simultaneous listeners/viewers. A webcast may either be distributed live or on demand. Essentially, web ...

that lasted from July 30, 2017 to March 15, 2020 to support the

Presidency of Donald Trump Donald Trump's tenure as the 45th president of the United States began with his inauguration on January 20, 2017, and ended on January 20, 2021. Trump, a Republican from New York City, took office following his Electoral College victory ...

and his 2020 presidential campaign. The show was available on Donald Trump's

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Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

and

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

accounts and was hosted by Donald Trump's daughter-in-law,

Lara Trump Lara Lea Trump ( Yunaska; born October 12, 1982) is an American former television producer who is married to Eric Trump, third child of Donald Trump. She was the producer and host of Trump Productions' '' Real News Update'' and a producer of ' ...

, wife of

Eric Trump Eric Frederick Trump (born January 6, 1984) is an American businessman, activist, and former reality television presenter. He is the third child and second son of Donald Trump, 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021, and his fir ...

. It was presented in the form of a short newscast lasting between 1 and 5 minutes and delivered updates on the claimed accomplishments of the

Background

Lara Trump played an integral role in the 2016 presidential campaign of Donald Trump and was regarded by many as a 'secret weapon' in securing a

Republican Party Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party. Republican Party may also refer to: Africa *Republican Party (Liberia) * Republican Part ...

victory in

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that year, in support of her father-in-law. Following

Donald Trump's inauguration The inauguration of Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United States marked the commencement of Donald Trump's term as president and Mike Pence as vice president. An estimated 300,000 to 600,000 people attended the public ceremony hel ...

in January 2017, she disparaged the mainstream news media for excessively negative coverage of Donald Trump's presidency. She also criticized

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...

and

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

for refusing to air a May 2017 advertisement that listed President Donald Trump's accomplishments during his first 100 days as president. Lara began work on Donald Trump's re-election effort shortly after his inauguration, working alongside

Michael Glassner Michael Glassner (born July 30, 1963) is an American political advisor and commentator who is the president of the public affairs consulting firm C&M Transcontinental. He previously served as COO of the Donald Trump 2020 presidential campaign. ...

. By March 2017 she was hired as a senior consultant by the digital vendor for Donald Trump's campaign and would quickly become a pivotal figure in his 2020 presidential campaign. Vox has speculated that Real News may be a partial fulfillment of Donald Trump's plan to launch his own news network, an idea that has been dubbed 'Trump TV'.

Launch/ending

''Real News Update'' launched its first video via

on July 30, 2017, featuring an introduction by Lara Trump in which she states, "I bet you haven't heard about all the accomplishments the president had this week because there's so much fake news out there. We wanted to give you a glimpse into his week." In an interview shortly after the show's launch, she explained that the show's objectives were to serve as an outlet for under-reported positive news of Donald Trump's presidency and to curtail the general public's dependence on mainstream media. The show ended in March 2020 around the time of start of government restrictions due to

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

appearing in the United States.

Production

The webcasts were funded by the Trump 2020 re-election campaign and filmed in a studio on the 15th floor of

Trump Tower Trump Tower is a 58-story, mixed-use skyscraper at 721–725 Fifth Avenue in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, between East 56th and 57th Streets. The building contains the headquarters for the Trump Organization, as well ...

. While Lara Trump was the primary anchor of the program, various other media and political figures have also hosted the show, including Joy Villa, Steve Rogers and Harlan Hill.

Kayleigh McEnany Kayleigh McEnany (; born April 18, 1988) is an American conservative political commentator and author who served the administration of Donald Trump as the 33rd White House press secretary from April 2020 to January 2021. Early in the 2016 Re ...

, who later served as President Trump's press secretary, also hosted the program on August 6, 2017, one day after leaving her position at CNN.

Reception

Political analyst

Jeff Greenfield Jeffrey Greenfield (born June 10, 1943) is an American television journalist and author. Early life He was born in New York City, to Benjamin and Helen Greenfield. He grew up in Manhattan and graduated in 1960 from the Bronx High School of Sci ...

likened ''Real News Update'' to the "long and if not entirely noble tradition" of political campaigning, though

Dylan Byers Dylan Byers is an American journalist. He is a founding partner and senior correspondent at Puck, a news startup that covers Hollywood, Silicon Valley, Wall Street and Washington. He previously served as a senior media reporter at NBC News, whe ...

at CNN has remarked that it differs from previous political campaign media in seeking to discredit mainstream media and to advertise itself as a reliable alternative.

BuzzFeed BuzzFeed, Inc. is an American Internet media, news and entertainment company with a focus on digital media. Based in New York City, BuzzFeed was founded in 2006 by Jonah Peretti and John S. Johnson III to focus on tracking viral content. Ken ...

and

Snopes ''Snopes'' , formerly known as the ''Urban Legends Reference Pages'', is a Fact checking, fact-checking website. It has been described as a "well-regarded reference for sorting out myths and rumors" on the Internet. The site has also been see ...

have reported that, despite the stated objectives of ''Real News'', various news items on the program, such as Trump's donation of his second-quarter salary to the

Department for Education The Department for Education (DfE) is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for child protection, child services, education (compulsory, further and higher education), apprenticeships and wider skills in England. A Department ...

and

Foxconn Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd., trading as Hon Hai Technology Group in China and Taiwan and Foxconn internationally, is a Taiwanese multinational electronics contract manufacturer established in 1974 with headquarters in Tucheng, New T ...

's plans to build a factory in Wisconsin, did, in fact, receive coverage in mainstream media.

Digital news Digital News was a trade publication that focused on products from Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC). History They published independently from 1986 thru 1992. At that point, they were acquired and merged with '' Digital Review'' with the new ...

website ''

Salon Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon, a venue for cosmetic treatments * French term for a drawing room, an architectural space in a home * Salon (gathering), a meeting for learning or enjoyment Arts and entertainment * Salon (P ...

'' have criticized the webcast as political

propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded ...

. Aaron Blake of ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' described an episode of ''Real News Update'' as "real spin, at best" and that it "felt a lot like propaganda -- or state TV." Comedian and ''

The Late Show The Late Show may refer to: Books * ''The Late Show'' (book), a 2017 book by Michael Connelly Film * ''The Late Show'' (film), a 1977 film * ''Late Show'', a 1999 German film by director Helmut Dietl Music * ''The Late Show'' (Eddie "Loc ...

'' host

Stephen Colbert Stephen Tyrone Colbert ( ; born May 13, 1964) is an American comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, and television host. He is best known for hosting the satirical Comedy Central program ''The Colbert Report'' from 2005 to ...

also likened the program to "state-sponsored propaganda", and compared it to his show's recurring sketch ''Real News Tonight''—a newscast presented with an exaggerated bias towards Trump. He proceeded to present an edition of the sketch that was interspersed with clips from ''Real News Update'', with the anchors referring to Lara as being its new "special correspondent".

References

External links

''Real News Update'' videos
at