“Did you know a Kansas watch party served a ‘Childless Cat Lady’ cocktail? Or that astrologers predicted a Kamala Harris win based on her birth chart? And did you know New Jersey Senator-elect Andy Kim’s favorite LEGO sets are Star Wars-themed? These are just a few quirky details student journalists uncovered while covering Election Day across the country.”

“Thoughtful reflection about the role of journalism in these tumultuous times is welcome. And yet various media critics have observed something else going on alongside it: not just skepticism that there will be a resistance-fueled media sugar rush this time, but an apparent disdain for the very idea of it among certain media elites, who still seem to imagine, as I wrote yesterday, that their role is to speak across the political divide.”

“It certainly seems like Perplexity was competing with media companies, who were also vying for eyeballs on election night, even though Perplexity collects its information from those outlets. Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas even claimed “record traffic” the day before and clearly hoped to maintain that momentum.”

“Stream Charts, a database of live streaming statistics and analytics, reported overall streaming data of 84 million total hours watched, with the lion’s share of it —80.6%—on YouTube. Online video platform Rumble, often a popular pick with conservatives, came in second place with 13.1%.”

“There being no decision desk — Amazon did not supply one — [Williams] frequently looked up results on his phone and reported whatever his ex-colleague Steve Kornacki had said to viewers. This made it all the more strange whenever a woman (who I later learned was Meta employee Erin McPike) did occasionally pop up to scrawl some figures onto an implausibly small screen containing the electoral map.”

“Without a network of culturally relevant influential content creators boosting and translating their messaging, the Democratic Party is rapidly losing credibility among younger, predominantly male audiences who have become ardent supporters of influencers that promote a distinctly conservative worldview.”

“The question of whether the leaders of legacy mainstream media outlets failed to meet the moment on a moral level — as many did — is totally separate from whether those outlets can even make much of a practical difference anymore at the electoral level.”

“It’s not exactly surprising they’re drawn to media that speaks to these grievances — and more often than not, that media comes in the form of individual influencers who are unaffiliated with existing media institutions.”

“[UFC CEO Dana White] didn’t choose to first thank volunteers, campaign workers, or even the 71 million-plus voters who cast ballots for Trump. Instead, he thanked ‘the Nelk Boys, Adin Ross, Theo Von, ‘Bussin’ With The Boys,’ and last but not least, the mighty and powerful Joe Rogan’ — a group of podcasters, influencers, and independent media personalities that Trump gravitated toward to reach potential voters ahead of the election.”

“David Clinch, a revenue consultant for Media Growth Partners, a media advisory firm, said he thought news organizations would see another uptick in customers, but that it would be more muted than in the first Trump administration, because some readers have become fed up with or exhausted by mainstream news coverage.”