The current US election cycle is adding more data points to a trend. Legacy media is complaining that they are not getting the access to the candidates that they’re used to. It’s true, they’re not. The Harris campaign is bypassing them and getting directly in front of the electorate by using social media channels, and being very successful in doing so.
Legacy media had a transactional relationship with political candidates. Media got the content to sell their product, and the candidates used the only venue available to them to get their message out. Both parties benefitted. At the recent convention, the Democrats put influencers in a bull pen directly in front of the stage and they were live posting to their followers, generating an instant connection. Legacy media was put in the stadium’s upper tiers, well away from the front line. Why use a translator if you can make an immediate, direct connection?
The market has changed. This campaign highlights exactly how. If legacy media wants to stay in the game, they need to offer something the direct connection can’t. I don’t profess to know what that is, there might not be a viable solution.
One thing to note for any organization is the language being used by the Harris campaign. Keep in mind, these are people who will get access to trillion-dollar economies and nuclear weapons and they’re they’re using real language. It’s not wrapped in ‘policy speak’, they’re saying things in all mediums as if it was a one-on-one conversation. It’s real and it’s consistently authentic. That should be the main take-away.
