Media grapples with how to cover Trump after White House

 Two weeks into Donald Trump's post-presidency, it feels like he hasn't really gone away.He's stayed in news, defying tradition of former presidents abruptly falling off radar upon ir successor's inauguration and despite shutdown of his favored means of communication on Twitter.That makes sense, given that or former president has faced an impeachment trial. re are still fresh stories to be told about riot by his supporters at U.S. Capitol and questions remaining about how tightly he can maintain control of Republican Party.A debate in media circles over how much attention he should receive when he is out of power has been put on hold, probably for several more weeks.

“It's virtually impossible to stop talking about Trump,” said Kelly McBride, National Public Radio public editor. “re's still too many questions about what he did as president.”

Some had seemed ready, even er, to turn p.On v. 8, day after most news organizations declared Joe Biden had won election, Psychology Today posted a plea on its website: “People in Media: Please Stop Talking About Donald Trump.” day after he left office, McBride wrote a column headlined, “With a new president sworn in, should journalists w igre Trump?” She concluded , but offered specific recommendations for news organizations to avoid going overboard.

She's since been surprised at continued volume of Trump stories.On Monday, New York Times led paper with a riveting, nearly 10,000-word account of how Trump pressed false claim that he had won election, leading up to his Jan. 6 rally shortly before supporters stormed Capitol. Trump's impeachment trial begins next week.

Headlines in opinion section on Washington Post's website mentioned “Trump” or Trumpism" 14 times over weekend, compared with 11 for Biden. top news story online for Post on Monday was about turver in Trump's legal team for his impeachment trial.Stories about Trump on websites monitored by analytics and advertising company Taboola in January got nearly four times as much traffic as stories about Biden. Trump stories had at least double amount of traffic almost every day of month. That continued even after inauguration, but at a lesser degree. social media analytics company NewsWhip said stories about Biden have been interacted with 250 million times since Jan. 20, compared with 192 million for Trump.

Certainly, television networks that have enjoyed unprecedented ratings over past five years don't mind a delay in ir expected day of reckoning, when executives worry about what will happen without Trump to talk about.

“He's one who gets everyone's pulse rates racing and keeps people glued to television,” said Mark Whitaker, former Newsweek editor and executive at CNN and NBC News.

NPR's McBride can't recall one story since Trump has left office that she would consider superfluous. Many are investigative, revealing important details about his administration and how he tried to overturn election. Washington Post's media columnist, Margaret Sullivan, in December offered her own advice to news organizations to detach mselves from a man who dominated ir ps and airtime. “Don't allow him to become a self-styled president in exile, golf-cart version of Napoleon on Elba,” she wrote.

“I was t anticipating an insurrection and impeachment,” Sullivan said.

She believes her central premise — don't cover him unnecessarily — still holds.Politico magazine’s top story Friday was “ Antipope of Mar-a-Lago,” comparing Trump to Benedict XIII, a 15th century figure who claimed to be rightful pontiff after being deposed twice.By any definition, an impeachment trial of an ex-president, possible legal troubles and question of his influence on GOP's future are major stories, said Blake Hounshell, managing editor for Washington and politics for Politico.

“That makes him impossible to igre, as much as some people would like us to igre him,” he said.

News organizations that try to push Trump news aside also run risk of inflaming his voters, many of whom are quick to believe that journalists are biased against him.Julie Pace, Washington bureau chief for Associated Press, said that while it would be irresponsible t to cover impeachment and riot's aftermath, Biden is getting bulk of AP's attention.

“We don’t cover former presidents same way we do president,” she said. After impeachment is over, bulk of AP's Trump cover will likely be handled by people covering Republican Party.

Trump has remained out of view at his Florida resort and t given interviews; traditionally favored outlets Fox News Channel and Newsmax would t discuss wher y have asked him to appear on ir air. Twitter cut off former president's account following Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

“You just don't feel his presence in same way,” Whitaker said.

It's t only deprived him of a way of communicating with his supporters, but news organizations don't have a built-in excuse for giving attention to everything he says.Much of early debate over how Trump should be treated as an ex-president centered on his tweets. As president, it was his way of keeping journalists on alert.

Without power, how much would those tweets be worth?How long he's capable of keeping quiet publicly is anybody's guess. History suggests it's t long. Meanwhile, he's dominating many news cycles without being in control of m.

Chris Ruddy, Newsmax CEO and occasional Trump confidant, said he hasn't spoken to him since he left office. He would advise Trump to stay above politics and talk about his administration's accomplishments.He isn't interested in making his network “Trump TV” and senses many Newsmax viewers are ready to move on.

“I don't think we've ever had a former president that has been interested in controlling narrative after y leave,” Ruddy said.

But Trump has been so different than any or president and doesn't follow same rules.Bill Grueskin, a journalism professor at Columbia University, wrote after election that if journalists give Trump nda-setting power, y would risk allowing Biden administration to skate by in its early days without scrutiny it deserves.

He says w that he believes re's a decent chance Trump's influence will diminish as he fades from prominence after his impeachment trial.

n again, I was quoted in New York Times back in 2012 that he could never get elected president, Grueskin said.

So my track record is dubious.