These Are the Publications the DNC Relied On to Build Oppo Research on Donald Trump
The term “oppo research” is a sexy one, conjuring scenes of detectives peering in windows and meetings in shadowy underground parking garages. In reality, at least based on files that appeared to be hacked from the DNC, oppo research mostly consists of aggregating a bunch of news articles about Donald Trump.
The document, which was sent to Gawker and contains metadata indicating it was created by a DNC strategist named Warren Flood, is a 200-page argument about why Donald Trump is Bad. To build their case, the creator or creators of the document cited about 150 or so publications and news outlets for revelations such as Trump flip-flopping on heaven.
Gawker pulled the citations to get a better idea of what the DNC is reading these days. It’s not an exact count of the number of articles they used, as some articles were referenced more than once; just a number of total references to any given publication.
The Washington Post, which was banned from Trump campaign events Monday, leads the pack with 75 references. CNN topped out with 53 mentions, the New York Times with 50, and, hot on their heels, the forgotten-but-not-dead Larry King, who merited a whopping 46 mentions. The Associated Press was cited only 11 times, putting it on par with CBS This Morning, ABC Primetime Live, and The O’Reilly Factor.
Politico and The Hill found themselves on about equal footing, with about 41 references each. Other favorites of the DNC include: ABC News (17), 20/20 (15), USA Today (15), Breitbart (14), Fox and Friends (14), CNN People in the News (12), On the Record with Greta Van Susteren (nine), Reuters (nine), Bloomberg (nine), CBS News (nine), and Your World With Neil Cavuto (eight).
In new media, the Daily Beast, which was also banned from Trump campaign events, warranted around 37 mentions. BuzzFeed was referenced around 11 times, Vox six times, Gawker five, and Jezebel twice—it’s important to remember quantity does not equate to quality.