NEW YORK — Among the legacy news institutions that have failed to interview Kamala Harris and Donald Trump during the general election campaign are NPR, The New York Times, PBS, and The Washington Post.
Harris selected to meet with Alex Cooper for her “Call Her Daddy” podcast and discuss Bay Area basketball with the guys on “All the Smoke.” Trump turned down “60 Minutes,” but has been on “Bussin’ With the Boys” and “Flagrant.”
During this shortened campaign, some of journalism’s typical titans are being overshadowed. Podcasts are becoming increasingly popular, and their capacity to assist candidates in a close race in targeting a certain segment of the population is a major reason for this.
By Moving To Podcasts, Harris And Trump Are Turning Away From Legacy Media To Spread Their Messages
There are certain exceptions. Harris spoke with NBC News’s Hallie Jackson on Tuesday and hosted a CNN town hall on Wednesday. But political commentator John Heilemann of Puck saw “an ancient, dying beast railing against the diminishment of its status and stature in the new world.”
“The campaigns have their structures and their media plans are very carefully thought through, even if we don’t agree with them,” said Sara Just, senior executive producer of the PBS “NewsHour.” “Obviously, we hope they will do long, probing interviews with PBS.”
Journalists consider this a crucial service. Eric Marrapodi, vice president for news programming at NPR, stated, “I believe Americans deserve to hear the candidates’ ideas challenged.”
Big media interviews used to be a mainstay for candidates.
That sounds like a campaign staff’s worst nightmare: endless opportunities for their candidates to stumble and have an unexpected story dominate the news cycle. And to what end? Most heritage news organizations no longer have the same reach as once; their audience is predominantly older.
For half a century, a “60 Minutes” interview close to the election was considered a must-see for presidential candidates. However, Trump avoided broadcast television’s most influential news show this year and has blasted how the interview with Harris was edited.
The former president has mostly remained in what he sees as friendly places with direct access to his core audience. He continues to provide interviews to Fox News Channel despite his complaints that the network isn’t loyal enough. Indeed, Fox has proven vital to the Democratic ticket, which believes that appearing on its broadcasts indicates a readiness to deal with a difficult atmosphere.
Harris’ interview with Bret Baier was so heated that it formed the basis for a “Saturday Night Live” parody. After her running partner, Tim Walz, was interviewed by Shannon Bream on “Fox News Sunday” earlier this month, the campaign requested and obtained a return engagement the following week.
“I was a little surprised,” Bream told Walz. “What’s that about?”
Many news channels no longer reach as many people as they once did.
In general, television networks no longer have the same audience as they once did. CNN, for example, averaged 1.24 million viewers per evening during the third quarter of 2016, when Trump initially ran, and 924,000 this year, according to Nielsen. Broadcast networks are named for their ability to reach a large audience; occasionally, candidates require this, but often they do not.
The situation is more serious for newspapers, which had 37.8 million Sunday circulation in 2016 but will fall to 20.9 million by 2022, according to the Pew Research Center. Candidates used to have arduous interviews with newspaper editorial boards in the hopes of getting an endorsement; currently, many newspapers don’t even bother making that decision.
For years, candidates have been able to tailor their messages with pinpoint accuracy — a swing state, even contested cities, for example. The media now provides additional options for micro-messaging in the same way. Harris appeared on Charlamagne Tha God’s influential radio show, aired on CNN and MSNBC, and was interviewed by MSNBC’s Al Sharpton.
Harris has appeared on “The View” and Stephen Colbert’s “Late Show,” allowing her to speak with those less likely to follow the news.
Podcasts enable more accurate audience targeting.
Few channels offer a better opportunity to target an audience than podcasts, which have nearly doubled in listenership since 2016.
Andy Bowers, co-founder of on-demand audio business Spooler Media, described the format as “narrowcasting at its finest.” People who listen to podcasts frequently feel tremendous attachment to their favorites, almost as if they are members of a club of people with similar characteristics and interests — and a candidate has been invited to join that club for the day.
“You’re talking to a specific audience with a specific bent and frame of mind,” explained Tom Bettag, a journalism professor at the University of Maryland. “That’s very helpful to somebody who is trying to avoid saying the wrong thing at the wrong time.”
Alex Cooper interviewed Harris on “Call Her Daddy,” the most popular women’s podcast. They talked about abortion, and one of Cooper’s questions was like a grooved pitch: “What do you think of Trump saying he will be a protector of women?”
On the “Flagrant” podcast, hosts inquired about Trump’s children and his feelings during the assassination attempt. The host, Akaash Singh, interrupted Trump to commend him on how he reared his children.
“I think I like this interview,” Trump said. His appearance on the podcast, one of several efforts he has undertaken to reach out to young guys, has received nearly 5.5 million views on YouTube alone.
During these discussions, issues arise, which are frequently combined with personal experiences. In “All the Smoke,” the hosts start by asking Harris about her blind date when she met her spouse.
Do not write off legacy outlets yet.
Certainly, not everyone is writing obituaries for traditional journalists and their campaign coverage. “I don’t view it as a big break that takes away from legacy media,” said Rick Klein, ABC’s Washington bureau head. ABC’s opportunity to question the candidates came in the most public settings, with the network hosting a single debate between Harris and Trump.
By Moving To Podcasts, Harris And Trump Are Turning Away From Legacy Media To Spread Their Messages
According to Zelf, a social video analytics business, six of the top ten sources of campaign news with the most TikTok views in the last 60 days were legacy news institutions. They included ABC News, CNN, NBC News, MSNBC, Univision, and the Daily Mail.
“I don’t think journalists should worry too much about access journalism,” said Mark Lukasiewicz, head of Hofstra University’s School of Communication and former NBC News producer. “We should do journalism.”
David Halbfinger, political editor of The New York Times, warned against taking too many inferences from an unusually brief campaign due to Harris’ late entry into the contest. The Times has aggressively covered the campaign with trend articles, investigations, and spot news coverage.
“It’s hard to know what the lessons will be,” Halbfinger remarked. “For a long time, candidates tried to avoid the news media. The mainstream media does its job, so I’m unsure how effective that method is. However, it will eventually make an intriguing case study.
SOURCE | AP
