The media industry was already facing severe financial headwinds and corporate restructuring even before the Donald Trump administration. marched towards victory Now, executives at both traditional media publishers and social media companies are facing unexpected aftershocks from this year's nonstop campaign cycles. Call it “The Great Democracy Checkout.”
A significant number of Democrats are leaving news networks and social media platforms. Check MSNBC and CNN ratings cut in half This is because exhausted Democrats stopped participating after the election. At Twitter (now X, after being acquired by Elon Musk), left-handed users are leaving the platform in droves in favor of competitor Bluesky.
The situation for print media is getting worse, with furious Democrats still lashing out nearly a month after owner Jeff Bezos soared support for Kamala Harris at the Washington Post. I canceled my subscription to the Washington Post. 1 in 10 Washington Post subscribers quit paper Since October, a gaping hole has been ripped into the paper's already meager profits.
This raises an existential question for the media and the Democratic Party: Where will disillusioned eyes go?
The decades-long plan to build a center-left alternative media outlet like Fox News has paid off pretty well — well, not that much. The Democratic media landscape is so fragmented and small that it struggles to compete with well-funded outlets like FOX and even new media efforts like Ben Shapiro's. daily wire. This is a worrying sign for 2026 and 2028.
Investors are hesitant to fund left-wing media. Air America Radio failure In 2010, Democratic audiences had no media outlet to rival the conservative and far-right channels that were popping up on the internet. Part of the reason is that the billionaire investors who now need to build and maintain these networks are eager to amplify their calls for higher taxes and greater accountability for America's wealthiest and most powerful people. That's not it.
But you can't blame everything on billionaires (although I'd like to). Even more troubling for Democrats is that they still struggle to come up with a message that actually appeals to voters.
The Democratic Party has been badly damaged by a generational shift from a working-class, worker-first party to a Washington, D.C.-based organization that spends most of its time courting the wealthy. Silicon Valley megadonor. This shift has left many traditional Democratic voters feeling unrepresented, while at the same time making the party's message more relatable in society. personnel meeting More than a campaign trail.
The limits of Democrats' pro-business messaging are clear. Kamala Harris is facing perhaps the sharpest internal criticism over her decision to promote Tony West, her brother-in-law, to chief legal officer position at Uber. important role In her doomed campaign. The decision coincides with a noticeable cooling of Harris' rhetoric about taxing the wealthy and reining in powerful corporations, both issues that enjoy overwhelming support within the Democratic Party.
Turn on the TV or visit the most popular anti-establishment Republican social media channels and it's easy to see what a failure this is for Democrats. NewsNation pivoted toward more populist reporting. 10% increase in overall viewership And among the coveted 25- to 34-year-olds, it increased by nearly 20 percent. Fox News' focus on working-class anger in prime time has made the network Largest share in cable news history last month.
But the Democratic Party, driven by President Trump's own highly successful demagoguery, has moved away from populism and appears less inclined than ever to follow the lead of the people.
This should be a layup for Democrats, whose ranks include experts in populist messaging like New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who recently gained 1 million followers on Blue Sky. a more perfect union And then there are working-class heroes like Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D). But these voices were sidelined by the top-tier DNC, who still believe they know better than the most successful messengers.
If Democrats want to convince investors to support left-of-center media networks, they will first need to show their support by internally funding those operations. That means redirecting the large amount of DNC money that currently feeds the Beltway's consultant base and making real investments in media talent, with an emphasis on YouTube and podcasting rather than traditional topical media. do.
A strong bench with left-handed influence would do wonders for Democrats' ability to set the media agenda. Rather than mock the successes of the right, it's time to draw lessons from the burgeoning conservative network and stop giving boring, scripted speeches.
Democrats were once masters of populist messaging. If we want to rebuild from last month's electoral disaster, we will urgently need to rebuild that part of our political psyche.
Max Burns is a veteran Democratic strategist and founder of Third Degree Strategies.
