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Axios’s Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen reported Monday that the mainstream media’s grip on shaping election narratives is “shattered. ”
This aligns with Gallup polling, which shows that Americans’ trust in the media is at an all-time low. For years, the media has promoted what some see as false narratives, including those involving Hunter Biden’s laptop, Russian collusion, the 2020 pandemic origins, and the January 6 investigation.
According to VandeHei and Allen, the establishment media’s dominance in shaping presidential election narratives “shattered in 2024” due to alternative media, streaming, podcasts, and platforms like X. Both campaigns utilized unconventional, sometimes lengthy appearances and precise ad targeting to reach specific, often overlooked voter segments.
They write:
Former President Trump reached way more potential male voters with his three-hour Rogan conversation (33 million views over the weekend) than he could have with a dozen or more appearances on Fox News, CNN and MSNBC combined. All three cable news networks skew very old in viewership, with median ages ranging from 67 to 70.
Vice President Kamala Harris reached more young women on Alex Cooper’s “Call Her Daddy” podcast, a show about sex and relationships, than she could on CBS’ “60 Minutes” and ABC’s “The View” combined. Both shows skew very old, too.
Gallup polling revealed in October that Americans’ trust in the media to report news “fully, accurately, and fairly” fell to a record low of 31% in 2024. This marks a drop from 32% in 2016 and 2023. Trust in the media was once as high as 70% in the 1970s, declined to the low 50s during the Bush administration, and hovered above 40% under Obama before drastically dropping during the media coverage era of Trump’s first presidential campaign.
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