The shapeshifting media, Donald Trump and what might lie ahead | John Baer

You've no doubt noticed big media busy with post-election questions: why this happened, why that happened and who exactly voted how.

It's routine practice, like after every election. But this time there's something new. Questions big media that reach beyond routine.

Here are two of them. Is 2024 the beginning of the end, or even the death, of traditional media as guardians of election news? And will Donald Trump, in a second term, really work to inter the corpse?

Let's look at question one. A New York University student's election night TikTok video got 6.7 million views, more than double the views for a similar post by NBC News.

Trump's three-hour interview with comedian/mixed martial arts commentator Joe Rogan (The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, is the nation's most popular) drew a combined 70 million-plus views and listens on YouTube, Spotify and other platforms. For context, CBS News had 3.5 million viewers election night.

The Wall Street Journal recently wrote, "Podcasts are exploding, TikTok is a news source, and traditional media is shrinking." The Washington Post headlined , "As Trump joined the podcast revolution, legacy media got left out." And The New York Times noted Trump, "bypassed traditional gatekeepers like `60 Minutes' on CBS in favor of online celebrities and podcasts that have exploded in popularity, particularly among young men." ( Men aged 18 to 29 voted decisively for Trump, "shattering," as The Economic Times put it, "previous images of young people generally leaning left.")

The media's evolution from newspapers to radio to TV to Internet to podcasts is clear; "2024 is the first podcast electio n," writes The Hill.

Meanwhile, TV election viewing was down 25% since 2020, CNN lost half its audience, and viewers under 50 abandoned TV for streaming services and social media. The median age of cable network news viewers ? CNN, 67. Fox News, 69. MSNBC, 70.

Pew Research : 53% of Americans now get election news from websites, social media, Google or podcasts, 35% from TV, 3% from newspapers.

So, many candidates, even for president, avoid legacy journalism. Joe Biden did. Kamala Harris did. Trump did. Fewer editorial boards. And more so for Republicans because Trump won his years-long "fake news," "enemy of the people" war. Gallup notes 2024 is another record-low year for trust in media. Only 31% of Americans (12% of Republicans) are confident they get accurate, fair reporting.

On to question two. At an outdoor rally in Lititz November 3, Trump said a gunman trying to get to him "would have to shoot through the fake news, and I don't mind that so much. I don't mind that."

Not new, really. Trump's former national security advisor, John Bolton, wrote in his 2020 memoir Trump privately said of some journalists, "These people should be executed. They are scumbags."

And former Trump advisor Kash Patel last year told Steve Bannon's podcast that in a second Trump term, "We're going to come after the people in the media who lied about American citizens, who helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections – we're going to come after you." Patel was among those under consideration for U.S. Attorney General before Trump named Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz.

Trump often talks jail threats, revoking broadcast licenses, litigation against news outlets. He recently sued CBS for $10 billion. So, we'll see.

I know most stuff gets overstated. I largely trust American resilience. But my immediate unease about mainstream journalism is relevance. What it does to keep it. Or, some say, get it back.

I turned to a media historian, Penn State Distinguished Professor of Journalism Ford Risely: "People are going to want and need the news. Question is how they get it...there was solid reporting in Trump's first term. Hopefully there will be again. My concern is increasing short attention spans. People don't want to sit down and read investigative, analytic pieces. They want quick and easy TikTok, social media."

I ask what can be done? He says, "I wish I knew." So do I.

John Baer may be reached at