Is the Podcast Campaign Signaling the End of Mainstream Media?

The traditional media industry may be facing its time to say goodbye.

The presidential campaign was largely televised, but TV, along with print, is being dismissed as outdated, a relic of the past, the final remaining dinosaur on the planet.

Podcasts and digital media are the new hot players in the narrative, with candidates making news on these outlets. They are more entertaining than traditional journalism organizations. As a podcaster myself, I can attest to the freewheeling nature of this forum.

The phrase that is being circulated among conservatives is: "You are the media now."

Anyone can have a voice and start a Substack page, blog, or podcast, and draw a following. The average person can express their opinions on TikTok, Instagram, Threads, Facebook, and X. The corporate barbarians no longer hold a monopoly on the gates.

The national conversation is being opened up by this being a healthy thing, allowing for unconventional and unorthodox ideas to circulate, such as the Covid lockdown not being a great idea and the Hunter Biden laptop not being Russian disinformation.

Elon Musk, in a pitch for X, has expressed his concern about the press, stating that "journalism is dead" and that it is "bizarre."

The mirror image of everyone being the media is that everyone has to be a media consumer. The online world is filled with vitriol and conspiracy theories, and it's up to each person to filter that out (or not) and whether to stay in a cocoon that reinforces his or her opinions.

In the Trump era, with the president-elect's attacks on "fake news" and fundamental disagreements on facts, the country remains deeply divided, with two opposing views of reality, despite his impressive victory margin.

Charlie Warzel at the Atlantic has written smartly about this:

It was uncertain if media institutions had any influence over outcomes, despite their apparent inability to respond effectively to the current situation.

"In the past two years, traffic on news sites has significantly decreased. This can be attributed to the actions of technology companies and their algorithmic modifications, which have reduced the likelihood of people encountering or clicking on articles when using products such as Google Search or Facebook."

Warzel argues that audiences are turning away from news and that an influencer economy has emerged on social media platforms. While this economy may not produce a lot of original reporting, it resonates with its audience.

The idea of Trump spending three hours with Joe Rogan and Harris appearing on "Call Her Daddy" was a great one, but the obituaries for traditional media are premature.

After a month of avoiding the media, the pressure intensified for Harris to conduct a sit-down television interview. She eventually agreed to speak with CNN's Dana Bash.

The vice president's interview with Fox's Bret Baier was highly controversial.

The majority of leaks regarding Trump's appointees have been disclosed to prominent newspapers and cable news outlets.

Even though they are often criticized, legacy outlets with major websites provide both reporting and commentary. Despite their mistakes, they are slower due to the time-consuming nature of journalism. Even those who are skeptical of these news organizations will still reference them for political convenience: "Even the New York Times says–

Despite his frequent use of Truth Social and self-posted videos, Trump remains deeply concerned with the legacy media. He regularly communicates with reporters, even those he dislikes, and closely monitors TV and newspaper coverage to respond to any perceived inaccuracies or unfairness. Despite the overwhelmingly negative coverage he received during the campaign, Trump remained unfazed, and Kamala's consistently positive coverage did not ultimately help her in the end.

While many young people are turning away from newspapers in favor of their phones, these publications still have an echo-chamber influence. Recently, The New York Times reported that lawyers at the Justice Department are concerned about a potential Trump purge. This story was extensively covered on cable news throughout the day.

According to Warzel, independent online creators are not constrained by concerns about objectivity or standards. Instead, their primary focus is on publishing as much content as possible in order to grow their audiences and establish relationships with them. For these creators, posting is a numbers game, and the process of working out ideas is done publicly. They post their content and figure it out as they go, making mistakes and moving forward. Over time, people tend to forget about these mistakes.

The old run-and-gun approach.

Despite the belief that traditional journalism is obsolete, investigative outlets remain crucial, as evidenced by the campaigns' substantial spending on TV advertisements.

Chris Wallace, whose three-year contract with CNN is about to expire, is leaving to start a podcast.

The news industry now requires us to share the microphone with numerous other voices, but I am not concerned about it.