Why The Biden 2024 Campaign Needs to Retool Its Media Strategy
Different media landscape? Yes. And that calls for a new strategy to help connect with voters.
And check out this new post from Salzillo’s Two Cents:
Some 2024-related posts will highlight points made in previous blog posts, so feel free to check out my past work on my Substack and Medium pages. Also feel welcome to reach out to me on LinkedIn with any comments or questions.
Twenty-four years ago, the Internet was only starting to emerge. There was no such thing as social media the way it exists now. And almost no one that could be considered a “blogger” by today’s standards.
A lot has changed over the past two decades. And in politics, another one of the biggest changes was the rise of data experts who could pinpoint information down to the precinct level with every little stat on hand.
Not only do we have all of that now, we also have the lingering shadow of artificial intelligence. We have the rise of streaming services supplanting the tradition of old-time consumers who use cable (granted, my family still watches cable TV. But we are straight out of the stone age). Finally, we have a media echo system with different ideological viewpoints and messaging.
Sadly, we have seen the decline of local media stations and newspapers. My home state of Rhode Island—and its seminal newspaper, The Providence Journal—is a classic example. Corporate owners have gutted newsrooms and TV studios that once had bureaus and reporters in small towns like Burrillville and Glocester. Many local newspapers are defunct and no longer active, and most rely on online revenue and activity more than print. Turnover in the studios has drastically increased over the years (including TV bedrocks WPRI and WJAR).
The loss of these institutions has come to the financial benefit of social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. These companies have an easier ability to channel content without any restraints or guardrails, which remain controversial for how easily misinformation can spread in foreign languages and even in English. Many young people, and society as a whole, get their news not on news broadcasts, but on their social media profiles depending on what they follow and track individually. Many Americans devote a significant amount of time to Instagram, SnapChat, or TikTok. In steaming, viewers can choose what they want to watch—which may include skipping the news altogether.
The national media has splintered with ideological institutions competing with each other. On the right, the media ecosystem feeds itself with conspiracy theories and falsehoods. Although completely debunked in every other place, they are not covered in the outlets themselves. For obvious reasons. This includes Fox News, which has admitted in court to giving its viewers outright lies they knew were false on the 2020 election (roll the tape Dominion Voting Systems).
On the left, the media ecosystem mainly means that many people will go to online outlets with digital magazines, shows, or podcasts, instead of the traditional news institutions on cable TV such as ABC, CBS, or NBC.
Clearly, the media landscape has changed, and so will the Biden campaign strategy to get to voters in these places. Take it from Biden as Obama’s running mate. President Obama’s campaigns mastered the art of using social media when it was only starting up. Its appealing use of new technology and communication tools spurred engagement with a larger, newer group of voters. 2008 was a watershed year for record youth turnout and enthusiasm, and for the entire Obama campaign base of non-white voters and women, using social media. Trump replicated that in 2016, though obviously with an entirely different audience.
The Biden campaign must make it a priority to go to the places where Americans are. Many of them do not follow politics the same way Dana Bash does, or Steve Kornacki with his khakis does. Many of them might be planning instead to watch the upcoming Super Bowl, or prominent TV shows like Black Mirror, or movies streaming on Paramount + such as, say, Barbie. Or it might be coverage of the NCAA Tournaments (March Madness), or of the Stanley Cup Finals, or even of the Republican National Convention. Regardless, these are the places where the Biden-Harris reelection campaign and the Democratic Party as a whole can reach the most amount of voters in a very short period of time. Not just a pool of Democratic base voters, but also many, many Independents, and Republicans, will be able to hear the message with their own eyes and ears.
The Biden campaign should reserve more ad time on Fox News, which still has a healthy pool of Republican and Republican-leaning voters in spite of its discredited reputation. It is not like the icy dens of OAN and NewsMax, which really amount to a Mike Lindell-type virtual reality land. Fox News has a moderately conservative audience that Biden can still peel away Trump votes from. If you want a more comfortable Electoral College win and consolidate control of Congress, it will require breaking the total hold the Trump echo chamber has on these places.
On that note, many rural newspapers and radio programs are ones small town Americans still subscribe to and keep track of. These small approaches are ones that worked in the past. Just ask Biden 2020 pollster Celinda Lake, or prominent party rural strategist Matt Barron, for just a few examples. Reserving 30-second ad spaces and yard sign stations near newspaper holders and town centers makes such outreach that much more genuine.
Furthermore, Biden can compete even on the largest radio stations many older voters still follow—including popular shows featuring the likes of Howie Carr or Ben Shapiro. The decline of radio advertisements by the Democratic Party in 1994 is often cited as a marker of when radio talk shows became the very conservative powerhouse it has since turned into.
The Biden campaign needs to further rely on social media influencers. This could be a challenge for senior staff not accustomed to TikTok or WhatsApp. Nonetheless, I am sure that many younger Biden delegates and supporters are tech-savvy and capable of using those tools to reach the hands of the youngest voters in Generation Z. And don’t forget our youngest members of Congress (like Maxwell Frost) and many lawmakers in state legislatures across the country (such as the Tennessee Three). Young people of all stripes can contribute to the Biden campaign’s effort here.
Which is why I recommend partnering up with groups like former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich’s Inequality Media. He—along with a great cohort of qualified young tech savvy campaigners—have seen a great amount of success with their outreach videos to young voters and even to independent and right-leaning independent voters. Why not tap into those existing networks of campaigning talent-which many 2020 presidential candidates still have around?
Point being a traditional strategy is no longer feasible in an ever-so splintered media landscape. The use of new technology, and the challenging of the conservative echo system, can render an effective campaign against Trump even more potent. Putting him on defense and on the retreat should be the highest priority.
With the record fundraising this past quarter, it likely will not be a problem in gathering the money and resources needed to take new approaches to the media landscape and compete on such a scale.
But it will be necessary to test new approaches to outwit Trump’s greatly enhanced 2024 campaign data machine.