Rex Tillerson, the Secretary of State fired by President Donald Trump today, was among the most visible cabinet members in terms of media coverage. Since Trump’s election in November 2016 major media outlets wrote on average 343 stories about him each week.
Notably, the coverage fluctuated in a fairly narrow range. As the chart shows, it was drumbeat steady, with typically between 200 and 400 articles a week. The numbers are based on data collected by Bloomberg.
Other cabinet members tend to cycle in and out of the public eye, often showing volatile spikes. Attorney General Jeff Sessions is a good example.
Education Secretary Betsy Devos has had some big spikes and will probably see a surge of stories following her interview this week on 60 Minutes. She was written about much less often than Tillerson.
Gary Cohn, who recently quit as head of the White House National Economic Council, garnered about 118 stories a week. His big moment appears to have come when he resigned, a decision that generated more than 1,220 stories that week.
Ted Merz 