Two articles about this week’s US presidential election spotlight the whole transformation of the information enterprise.
One among them entails Joe Rogan, the most well-liked podcaster on the planet.
The opposite refers back to the Washington Submit, one of many newspapers with probably the most historical past in American journalism.
In their very own approach, every of them highlights the diminishing affect of conventional media.
On Monday, Rogan mentioned he had turned down a proposal to interview Vice President Kamala Harris below phrases set by her marketing campaign, whereas expressing hope he may host her at his Texas studio earlier than the election.
“They supplied me a date for Tuesday, however I’d have needed to journey there and so they solely needed to do it for an hour,” Rogan mentioned in a submit on X.
“I firmly imagine one of the best ways to do it’s within the Austin studio. My most honest want is to have a pleasing dialog and get to know her as a human being.”
Rogan’s announcement got here amid hypothesis about whether or not Harris would seem after former President Donald Trump joined the podcaster the earlier week for a rambling dialogue that lasted three hours.
Trump’s working mate JD Vance will be a part of Rogan for an interview on Wednesday.
Rogan, who made his identify as a comic and combined martial arts commentator earlier than turning to podcasting, is getting lots of consideration from candidates as a result of he has a attain that will be the envy of virtually any media outlet.
His interview with Trump has garnered greater than 41 million views on YouTube since Friday, a determine that does not embody the presumably tens of millions of people that have tuned in on different platforms like Spotify and Apple Music.
By comparability, Harris’ CNN city corridor final week drew 3.3 million viewers to the cable community (an edited model of the occasion on YouTube has racked up fewer than 1.2 million views).
For Harris, who has additionally leaned into non-traditional media with appearances on the podcasts Name Her Daddy and Membership Shay Shay, amongst others, Rogan provides an opportunity to attach with younger males, a demographic he is struggling to win over.
In line with a mean of current polls revealed by The New York Occasions and the Siena School Analysis Institute, Trump leads Harris by 58 to 37 % amongst males ages 18 to 29 (the image is reversed amongst younger girls, with Harris main Trump by 67 to twenty-eight). %).
The opposite illustrative media story of current days has to do with the Washington Submit’s determination to not supply a presidential endorsement for the primary time since 1988, following an identical transfer by the Los Angeles Occasions.
Writer and CEO Will Lewis described the choice as a return to the Submit’s non-endorsement custom earlier than the Nineteen Seventies and “a press release in assist of our readers’ potential to make their very own choices.”
However with Trump’s critics seeing American democracy itself as at stake, the choice to not endorse Harris has sparked a livid response each inside and outdoors the newspaper.
A number of members of the paper’s editorial board resigned and a wave of readers canceled their subscriptions in protest (NPR, citing nameless sources, reported that the masthead misplaced greater than 250,000 paid subscribers, or about 10 % of the full).
Critics concern that the Submit’s billionaire proprietor, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, is searching for to curry favor with Trump in anticipation of his doable return to the White Home.
In an op-ed revealed in The Submit on Monday, Bezos denied any quid professional quo with Trump’s workforce and insisted that the choice was motivated completely by a need to stem the decline in public belief within the media.
He mentioned the transfer was a “vital step” towards restoring belief, as presidential assist creates a notion of bias, even with out doing “something to tip the scales.”
“Most individuals imagine the media is biased,” Bezos mentioned, pointing to a current Gallup ballot that discovered solely 31 % of People have “quite a bit” or “a good quantity” of belief within the media to report the information. pretty and precisely.
“Whoever doesn’t see that is paying little consideration to actuality, and whoever fights in opposition to actuality loses. “Actuality is an undefeated champion.”
Bezos mentioned he could not let the newspaper “fade into irrelevance” and be overtaken by “uninvestigated podcasts and social media criticism” with out a battle.
Whether or not one believes Bezos acted out of precept or out of concern for his enterprise pursuits, it’s tough to dispute his declare that conventional media shops are struggling to stay related.
Tellingly, whereas each Trump and Harris have made time for a number of high-profile podcasts, neither of them has sat down for an interview with The Submit.
