The Problem With New Media
Traditional media needed to be reformed, but is this better?
Bubba
25 Feb
The Problem With New Media
Recent developments suggest the new media status quo faces challenges of its own.
Chart: Pew Research Center
A new Pew Research Center report: More than 1 in 5 Americans now get their news from social media influencers, but the amount of attention garnered by any single personality is small.
425 different names were mentioned when respondents to Pew’s survey were asked to identify a news influencer.
The most frequently named influencer, Phillip DeFranco, racked up only 3% of responses.
Meanwhile, Tucker Carlson and Ben Shapiro, two of the biggest names in news media, managed only 2% each.
Related: A 2023 WPA Intelligence survey revealed that despite their online prominence, right-wing media figures like Tim Pool and Jack Posobiec remain relatively unknown to most Republican voters.
75% of Republicans said they were unfamiliar with Posobiec, and 74% said the same about Pool.
Semafor media reporter Maxwell Tani on the fragmented nature of the current media landscape:
One statistic worth considering: Joe Rogan is the highest-rated podcaster, and a sought-after destination for any national candidates. But among podcast listeners who say they have a favorite podcast, Rogan only has a 5% market share — a remarkable sign of the splintered new media landscape.
Zoom in: MSNBC’s cancellation of outspoken host Joy Reid’s show underscores how even the most extreme partisan rhetoric isn’t always enough to keep viewers engaged these days.
Zoom out: But hyper partisanship has become the default for a wave of new media influencers, whose brands are built on virality, sensationalism and engagement.
One prominent right-wing X/Twitter user complained recently that there’s been a proliferation of right-wing “slopshops” that “solely exist to increase their payouts & sniff Elon’s ass.”
“There should be more RW news orgs who are highly committed to truth but more importantly — anti-cringe and anti-slop,” the user tweeted.
Related: Independent conservative journalist Tony Ortiz has documented how MAGA celebrities and influencers have quietly taken money to boost political causes without informing their audiences.
Bubba’s Two Cents
Lately, I’ve been thinking about how news businesses today produce content in one of three categories: viral content, journalism, or programming (think habit-forming newsletters or podcasts).
In the past, mainstream media operated under the guise of journalism, but it ultimately collapsed under its own bias—not just in what it covered, but how it covered it.
Now that the media landscape has splintered, that vacuum isn’t being filled with real journalism. Alternative media has disrupted the status quo, but it often prioritizes entertainment over reporting.
Few of the new players seem interested in building true news organizations. Instead, they’re chasing business incentives, which, from a tactical media perspective, don’t require real reporting. Reporting is difficult, expensive, and valuable when done well—but it’s a lot easier to produce hot takes. The new media environment is flooded with people reacting to existing reporting, whether through viral X posts or long-form commentary in podcasts.
But the real antidote to the “fake news” conservatives have long criticized isn’t just countering narratives—it’s putting authentic, rigorous journalism at the center of them.
Right now, what’s rising up instead seems to be anything but.
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