HILL STAFF VIEWS: Where Do You Get Your News?
With an average age of 27 for congressional staffers, one might reasonably expect to see “Social Media” or maybe “Podcasts” topping the results of the CNCT Capitol Pulse question of “What is your primary source of news.” But one can reasonably expect a certain response and still get it wrong.
Such is the case with this edition of Hill Staff Views because 46 percent of the respondents to that question posed by CNCT Capitol Pulse said their primary news source is “News Sites.”
That term, to be sure, is sufficiently vague to cover everything from the Washington Times print edition newspaper on the Right to the Huffington Post on the Left. But one would think it would certainly cover the New York Times, Washington Post, CBS, NBC, etc. etc.
Even so, there are a few more surprises in the results on this one, starting with the fact that only 32 percent of the respondents said “Social Media.” Hill GOPers, at 42 percent, were much more likely to say that than Dems at 16 percent.
“Independent Media” came in third at 17 percent. One might think this category would include podcasts like Joe Rogan. The explosion of the popularity of podcasts was emphasized last November when they played a kay role in the Trump campaign’s winning communications strategy.
Now here’s the biggest surprise: Finishing dead last with a mere 5 percent in the results was “Cable TV,” which surely must include CNN, Fox News and MSNBC. And what to make of this fact: 10 percent of the respondents who are in Operations positions chose Cable TV as their primary news source, but none, Zero, Nada, of the communications staffers did so.
Maybe all those communications directors and press secretaries know something about CNN, Fox News and MSNBC that the rest of us haven’t yet figured out???
Finally, did you notice what was not included in the options provided by CNCT Capitol Pulse? How about “Talk Radio,” which way back in the Reagan era was the first news media to break out of the post WWII model.
You hardly ever hear about it these days but the Talk Radio jockeys, most of whom come from the Right side of the political spectrum never really went away. They are still talking away.