I thought you were making this up, as it sounds too ridiculous to be true. But no, it's a real thing.

The key to his success seems, at a glance, to be raising his media profile by taking controversial positions (which I suspect he may not sincerely hold) that guarantee news coverage. Similar to how populist politicians in the UK game the BBC's "balance" policy by always taking a contrarian position to any given topic to secure an interview or place on a discussion panel.

Yeah it reads almost like something Terry Pratchett might have made up :)

And I agree, he’s got a way of providing reactionary, contrarian soundbites, which keeps the papers going back to him.