A failure to communicate

We live in the new age of Mass Diversified Media and better get used to it

“They voted for this…”

I had a moment myself where my first thought as the realization that Donald Trump and the Republican Party would be taking power again was to let those who voted for them feel the pain. Just about everyone I know has said something similar…”well…let them feel the pain…it’s what they wanted.”

I get it. Clearly a majority did vote for Donald Trump and for his party. But, then you start unpacking the numbers and reading the responses from voters and discover that’s not quite the whole story. We are now seeing that his victory is substantially thinner than we first imagined. It will likely be one of the smallest popular vote margins in recent history.

But it does appear the real story is how many Democrats stayed home and how many Republican voters had no idea of the issues, plans, and policies he promised to pursue but liked his brand of ‘fighting for the working people.’

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez asked her Instagram followers why they voted for her and Donald Trump. The answers probably made her uncomfortable but it’s also fascinating. The overwhelming answers were like these highlighted by MSNBC:

“I feel you are both outsiders compared to the rest of DC, and less “establishment”

“…wanted change so I went with Trump and blue for the rest of the ballot to put some brakes”

“…both of you push boundaries and force growth”

“It’s real simple … Trump and you care for the working class”

“I feel like Trump and you are both real”

“You are focused on the real issues people care about. Similar to Trump populism in some ways”

“…you signaled change. Trump signified change. I’ve said lately, Trump sounds more like you.”

Notice what you don’t see? I wanted to ban abortion nationwide. I wanted to gut the Department of Defense of “wokeism.” I wanted to replace the dollar with cryptocurrency. I wanted to sell public lands. I wanted to destroy the economy be deporting 11 million hardworking people. I wanted to dismantle the Department of Education.

No…they are frustrated with the now…and dreamed of a different then.

The New Republic had a pretty good analysis about what happened on the 8th by Michael Tomasky called Why Does No One Understand the Real Reason Trump Won? He also found that it wasn’t that the economy isn’t doing great or that the Democrats have good policies for working people. It was in fact the PERCEPTION that the economy was bad and they didn’t.

“But this line of analysis requires that we ask one more question. And it’s the crucial one: Why didn’t a majority of voters see these things? And understanding the answer to that question is how we start to dig out of this tragic mess.”

Tomasky lays it at the feet of right wing media which has effectively sold a long line of lies and ignored any stories that might show the good news. A large swath of our nation isn’t even hearing about the good things happening or the opposing policies.

I agree. There is a different information system but he also fails to recognize that this goes well beyond just cable news.

So, what happened?

I told you last week I don’t want to spend time belaboring the results or pointing fingers at what happened since in just two months they take power and we can already see what’s coming. However, I do feel we have to talk about the keys to our success in beating back the most monstrous of these ideas. So, we have to figure some stuff out fast.

To beat back their most awful moves we are going to have to organize like-minded people against Trump and the MAGA GOP. It’s that simple. We have to work to find common ground over the things that matter to many of us and fight back. That will mean even using that dirty word…bipartisanship.

To do that it will take us being able to communicate those issues directly to people because clearly relying on network TV, cable news, and biased media outlets has not been doing it. How else do you explain the most pro-union party in American history being called anti-working people against a party that is beholden to billionaires and oligarchs?

It’s clear to me that what we got here is a failure to communicate just as that great American hero, Cool Hand Luke discovered while working on the chain gangs.

Things have changed fast

As a content creator and independent journalist myself I have had a chance to watch the changes to our media landscape in real time. It is clearly changing. Last month I did an episode of On Democracy with FPWellman on the MeidasTouch network on a new documentary on January 6th including never before seen footage. Here it is:

Here is the part that will shock you. It has over 904,000 views. Just on YouTube not including my own channel with several thousand more and clips we ran on social media including my 370,000 follower Twitter account. For perspective as recently as last month CNN had an average of 880,000 Daily Viewers.

Those are not apples to apples comparisons as a YouTube view is measured differently than a daily viewer but my point remains salient. My little show is reaching a lot of people and they are learning. There are over 7,800 comments and the overwhelming majority were talking about how much they had forgotten about January 6th and were glad to be reminded and learn new ways to discuss it.

What I have seen is what I have been calling a Mass Diversified Media landscape. This goes beyond the 24/7 news cycle that dominates cable news or the old ‘win the hour’ philosophy of places like Politico. We live in a time where millions of Americans are simply not watching or reading mass news in any way. They are getting their information from podcasts, video shows, TikTok, Instagram, and other sources.

It’s too simple to say that the reason Harris and the Democrats didn’t reach more people was because they didn’t do enough mainstream media interviews or appear on Fox News. It wouldn’t have mattered.

I am saying the Democrats as a whole also didn’t do enough non-mainstream media, podcasts, or independent journalism. I know because I tried. I was able to interview 35 candidates for Congress and Governor during the campaign. Only two were sitting members of Congress running for re-election, Representatives Greg Landsman and Ami Berra. I have interviewed several members of Congress on my main show including Representatives Jared Huffman, Abigail Spanberger, Eric Swalwell, Dan Goldman, and Chris Deluzio…but not a single sitting governor or Senator. I was humbled to have a number of remarkable candidates for Senate join me and it’s amazing to see Andy Kim, Lisa Blunt Rochester, and Angela Alsobrooks as new Senator-Elects whom I had the privilege to sit down with.

But, not one sitting U.S. Senator or anyone from the Harris-Walz campaign ever accepted an interview request. Not one.

I talk to my peers and they have similar experiences. The DNC brought 200 of us Creators to the convention but we were not offered a single opportunity to interview either of the candidates except for some big brand players. We had to hunt down surrogates, electeds, and others on our own. It was quite an adventure.

Later in the campaign when Vice President Harris did appear on the ‘Call Me Daddy’ podcast it was touted as her one appearance. We are now hearing that the campaign staff spent over six figures to build a custom set for that appearance and it topped out at 880,000 downloads.

They had hoped for a home run. It didn’t make the fence.

The Era of Mass Diversified Media

I don’t blame any of the candidates or the elected officials at all. To be perfectly honest, I do blame the culture of the entire public relations and media relations profession in politics.

Aside from a few forward thinking young professionals the overwhelming number of media people simply dismiss the idea of going on a PODCAST! The number of conversations I’ve had with these staff members who treat me like a cute little hobbyist with a pat on the head and told to run along would break your brain. (Don’t get me started on the White House.)

Times have changed and public relations and media outreach professionals need to understand that reaching people isn’t a game of home runs. That big hit on Rachel Maddow does nothing to reach average Americans that you need to reach a majority.

Newly re-elected Congressman Greg Landsman had a solid thread on Twitter about lessons he learned while running in a pretty purple district. Number 5 was on point.

This is a time in communications of what we baseball fans call ‘small ball.’ It’s singles and doubles that win games not always going for the home run. Too many in the media relations world think every appearance has to be “maximized” to be worth their bosses time. Sure I could do your 100,000 reach podcast but that’s just not as good as 2 minutes on CNN!

But it is.

Hell, my audience gives money. One Senate candidate I interviewed told me she raised over $13,000 the day after our 10 minute interview posted. That is Return on Investment plus they can use clips and reposts for months.

We have got to understand this moment. There isn’t “one place” to get your message out. There are hundreds and thousands and you have to use them all.

Together we can fight back but it won’t be from just appearances on MSNBC. It will be working every possible angle…even little podcasts like mine….that reaches hundreds of thousands of motivated people.

Onward!

Authors Note:

Thank you for your continued support. I would love if you would consider upgrading to a paid subscription of any kind. In addition, I have decided I will be leaving Twitter/X shortly. After 15 years on the platform it has become toxic and frankly dangerous to an intolerable level. I am spending most of my time on BlueSky where you can find me as FPWellman as always. Would love to see you there.