The podcast campaign: are they the curtain for mainstream media?

There is growing talk that perhaps it is time to tap the tap for traditional media providers.

Much of the presidential campaign took place on television. But television, along with the print press, is being dismissed as old news, a relic of a horse-drawn carriage, the last of the dinosaurs to roam the Earth.

Now, this is the point in the narrative where I say that podcasts and digital media are the new hot players, that the candidates made all kinds of news on these media and that they are more entertaining than organizations built around journalism real. All true. I'm also a podcaster. It is a free forum.

But the phrase that circulates in conservative circles is this: “Now you are the media.”

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And what that means is that anyone can have a voice. The average person can start a Substack page, blog, or podcast and attract followers. The average person can talk on TikTok, Instagram, Threads, Facebook and X. Corporate barbarians no longer control the gates.

And this is a healthy thing. It opens up the national conversation and allows unconventional and unorthodox ideas to circulate, such as that the Covid lockdown was not a great idea and that Hunter Biden's laptop was not Russian disinformation.

Elon Musk, in a speech for

But the reflected image that we are all media is that we all have to be media consumers. The online world, as everyone knows, is full of vitriol and conspiracy theories. It's up to each person to filter that (or not) and remain in a cocoon that reinforces their opinions.

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This is especially true in the Trump era, given his attacks on “fake news” and a basic disagreement over fundamental facts. Despite the president-elect's surprising margin of victory, this remains a fiercely divided country with two diametrically opposed views of reality.

The Atlantic's Charlie Warzel has written intelligently about this:

“Media institutions were somehow not up to the moment, but it was also unclear whether they still had any significant power to shape outcomes.

Elon Musk attends the session Exploring the New Frontiers of Innovation: Mark Read in conversation with Elon Musk during the 2024 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity – Day Three on June 19, 2024, in Cannes, France. (Marc Piasecki/Getty Images)

“News sites around the world have seen traffic drop over the past two years. That's partly the fault of tech companies and their algorithmic changes, which have made people less likely to view or click articles when they use products like Google Search or Facebook.

But, Warzel says, “Audiences are also breaking away from the news. An influence economy has emerged on social media platforms. It's not an ecosystem that produces tons of original reporting, but it feels authentic to its audience.”

However, traditional media obituaries are premature. Sure, it was a great idea for Trump to spend three hours with Joe Rogan and have Kamala Harris appear on “Call Her Daddy.”

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But when Harris spent a month hiding from the media, pressure mounted for her to do a television interview. He finally did it with CNN's Dana Bash.

Another important development was the vice president's controversial interview with Fox's Bret Baier.

Meanwhile, leaks about Trump appointees have primarily targeted big newspapers and cable networks.

“Special Report” host Bret Baier's interview with Harris drew a staggering 9.2 million total viewers, making it the most-watched non-primetime interview in news history by cable. (Fox News Channel)

The so-called “legacy” media – which, by the way, all have major websites – do reporting and commentary. For all their flaws, they are slower because journalism takes time and mistakes are embarrassing. And even those who don't trust these news organizations will quote them when it's politically convenient: “Even the New York Times says…”

In fact, for all of Trump's use of Truth Social and self-published videos, he cares about legacy media as much as anyone. He talks to journalists virtually every day, even those he doesn't like, and monitors television and news coverage so he can respond to anything he considers inaccurate or unfair. And, as the campaign demonstrated, he is immune to the onslaught of negative coverage, and Kamala's consistently glowing coverage didn't help her in the end.

Newspapers, although largely abandoned by young people staring at their phones, also have an echo chamber influence. The other day, The New York Times reported that Justice Department lawyers are worried about a Trump purge. The story was covered on cable all day.

Warzel says: “Independent online creators are not burdened by this concern for objectivity or standards: they are concerned with publishing as much as they can, to cultivate audiences and build relationships with them. For them, publishing is a volume game. It's also about developing ideas in public. Creators put it out there and find out later; if they make mistakes, eventually people forget about it.”

The old run and gun approach.

So I don't buy the idea that traditional journalism is finished, especially those outlets that do investigative reporting. They still play a pretty central role, which is why the campaigns spent millions on TV ads.

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But it may also be telling that Chris Wallace, with his three-year contract with CNN about to expire, is leaving to start a podcast.

My conclusion is that those of us in the news business now have to share the microphone with millions of other voices. And that doesn't stop me from sleeping.