New Yorkers moaned about the added disruption to their lives caused by the Trump circus pitching its tent in lower Manhattan last week, but some locals managed to do well out of the hoopla.

There were the usual beneficiaries: the merchandise sellers; the marquee suppliers (every broadcaster must have a tent); nearby branches of McDonalds (coffee, toilets, food). Adding to this list were some new arrivals: the queue sitters.

With only a few media spaces in the court where Donald J Trump made history, some enterprising organisations paid people $50 (£40) an hour to wait through the night.

Before last week it had been leaner times at the Trump media circus. Three years on from his defeat at the polls, the man who would be the Republican candidate for the presidency in 2024 could still attract attention, but not on anything like the scale he had previously.

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Last week changed that. The wall-to-wall, every spit and cough coverage was a return to the good old days, or bad old days, depending on one’s view .

One of those concerned about the saturation coverage was Justin Webb, presenter of the BBC Radio 4 Today programme and Americast, a podcast on US politics. Speaking on the latter, Webb said the scenes last Tuesday reminded him of the first Trump run for presidency. “The American media just salivating over him, they can’t stop themselves,” he said.

The circus was in part due to Trump, but the media had to take responsibility too. “It is free media for him of an extraordinary amount and variety and something that would have cost him an awful lot to get hold of.”

The American media “might want to ask some questions of themselves” he concluded.

Then again, that generates even more coverage. The irony does not escape Webb (nor the writer of this column), but what is the alternative?

Concern goes back further than 2016. Mr Trump's father, a rich property developer, was as adept at keeping himself out of the papers as his son was in getting himself into them. Tales abound of a younger Trump phoning gossip columns posing as someone else.

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A higher public profile led eventually to The Apprentice, which meant more attention. It took a while, but by the time he sought the Republican nomination he was a household name across America.

It was the campaign for the nomination itself that showed how much the media meant to Mr Trump, in every sense. One ad firm, SMG Delta, estimated he racked up $2 billion worth of free publicity.

The coverage he received as President would have dwarfed that. The same could be said of any political leader.

In Mr Trump’s case, and as every reporter said over and over, the former President’s appearance before a court on criminal charges was unprecedented. Not covering it was not an option.

Bear in mind, too, that the mainstream press is competing for eyes, clicks and page views with social media. What used to be called “citizen journalism” started before Mr Trump, but he inspired record amounts of it. Now, anyone who can Facebook live from an event calls themselves a reporter.

Mr Trump has long had a love/hate relationship with the mainstream media. He actively encouraged supporters to vilify and demonise reporters. He acquired millions of followers on Twitter and when it kicked him off he set up his own platform.

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“Truth Social” as he called his version of Twitter, is said to be plunging in value. “The fundamental problem is that barely anyone uses it,” said Forbes magazine, predicting that it will “join Trump Steaks, Trump University and GoTrump.com in the graveyard of failed Trump ventures”.

That said, the messages he put out last week on Truth Social, sent while he was travelling to the courthouse, attracted global coverage.

The same went for his rally that evening when he returned to Florida. Scheduled to take full advantage of prime time in America, his speech was reported there and around the world. As one country went to bed, another woke, ensuring the coverage ticked on for a full 24 hours. Add this to the hours and minutes of pre and post-court appearance reporting and that’s a lot of “free” publicity.

Many commentators would agree that there is no putting the genie back in the bottle when it comes to Mr Trump. Instead, as Adam Johnson argued in the San Francisco Chronicle last week, the media should of course cover this trial and other events, but not to a degree that crowds out everything else. In short, other important stories are available.

Some in the US media are looking again at their Trump coverage. Ultimately the matter is not in their hands. It is the public, the readers and viewers, who will ultimately decide how much Trump is too much. If they stop watching and clicking the media will soon get the message.