CHICAGO – A graph showing people who are deeply involved in politics and deeply involved in the news media usually creates a fairly large middle circle.
This week’s Democratic National Convention in Chicago made headlines this time around for its warm embrace of social media creators and influencers. But a quick sample of delegates drawn at random from five states—Arizona, California, Louisiana, New York, and Ohio—found that The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, and other mainstream news outlets are still more than capable of holding their own against voracious consumers of political news and analysis.
“I’m a CNN addict. No matter what I do, I can always get CNN,” said Dee Bailey, a New York rep. diverse From the conference hall on Wednesday evening.
Dee Belli and Carmen Martinez from the New York delegation
Carmen Martinez, another delegate from New York, said the cable news station owned by Charter Communications is her favorite. “We’re active in the community,” she said. “We follow everything that’s going on.”
What is even more surprising is that the delegates who spoke to diverse During the 30 minutes we spent touring the United Center, officials said they had no major problems with the quality of the media coverage they were consuming. This contrasts with surveys that suggest public trust in mainstream news sources is at an all-time low amid the intolerance, fragmentation and division of opinion encouraged by social media and online outlets.
Raven Lyons, a young woman from Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, who is pursuing a career in politics, says she still gets most of her news from mainstream outlets via digital and television. But she makes sure to do her own research.
“A lot of people criticize the media and say it’s inaccurate. I think they do a good job,” she said. “It’s their job to find information and get it out there; it’s our job to fact-check. It’s our job to make sure the sources we use are actually reliable.”
But Bailey is concerned about the quality of local news she has access to. “For our areas, we don’t get that kind of coverage,” she says. “We certainly don’t get everything we need to be able to do the work we need to do.”
Mark Robert Gordon, actor, writer and member of the Arizona delegation, has spoken for The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Arizona Republic, Playbill, ESPN and, of course, diverse, What concerns him is not the credibility of news reports, but the deep divisions that are growing across the country as red and blue states struggle to agree on basic facts about the impact of legislation and other issues.
“We need the same set of facts again,” said Gordon, who works largely in theater and had a recurring role on “Guiding Light” in the 1990s. “We can express our opinions about these facts, but people turn to their chosen sources for news. So it’s better to have a variety of sources to balance it out.”
Jevon Price, a California state representative from Tulare County in the central Golden State, said he gets a lot of his instant news from social media. He balances that flow of information with traditional media outlets like The Washington Post, The New York Times and the BBC.
“I watch a lot of TikTok and Instagram, and I try to stay off Facebook,” Price admitted.
Many of the state delegates are also local politicians. Ohio Senate Minority Leader Nikki Antonio came to Chicago with her colleague Meredith Turner, a member of the Cuyahoga County Council in Buckeye.
Antonio echoed Price and others, saying that she doesn't check the veracity of most of the things she reads on social media until she checks them with a more reliable source.
“I read clippings from The New York Times, The Washington Post, and then some Ohio media: The Columbus Dispatch, Cleveland.com,” she said. “When I want to know where the rumors are or what’s going on [as news]“That's when I look at Twitter, or X, but I, but I don't trust anything I read there.”
Antonio added that the specificity of the coverage and the point of view are important to her.
“I read certain kinds of progressive issues and LGBT issues because I’m part of that community,” she said. “Increasingly, little snippets of things are pushed to me, and then I have the privilege of going and reading more about them in greater depth.”
Turner joked that when she wants to understand something that's happening in the news, the first thing she does is “call Nicky.” She cited Cleveland.com and the digital sites of the Plain Dealer and Crain's Cleveland Business. “I definitely get my news online,” Turner said. “I can't remember the last time I had a paper.”
diverseThe quick interviews Obama’s team conducted on the convention floor didn’t focus entirely on tough questions about trust in the media and shifts in news consumption. We asked important questions like: Who should play Kamala Harris in the inevitable biopic? Which artists should perform at the inauguration if Harris’s film runs through November? And, of course, what their favorite TV shows are these days—especially guilty pleasures and recently aired series.
The answers were mostly predictable. Kerry Washington was unanimously chosen to play Harris. Gordon noted that “Kerry is strong and emotional.” Lyons admitted that she could not remember the actors’ names at all, but she felt confident that “there are a number of wonderful actresses who can tell her story.”
As for the artists at the opening ceremony, Beyoncé and Taylor Swift were definitely the agreed-upon choices.
Billy suggested they cheer on the Isley Brothers and John Legend. Antonio, who recalled Bruce Springsteen's electrifying performance at Barack Obama's first inauguration in 2009, cheers on Lady Gaga and Stevie Wonder.
Finally, the offers.
Billy is a big fan of Netflix and BET+. Bryce said he and his wife just watched the original “Frasier” and are considering watching the remake. Antonio admitted she was late to the party, but he recently spoke in-depth about the Shondaland ABC dramas “Scandal” and “How to Get Away with Murder.”
Billy is a huge fan of Netflix and the streaming network BET+. Gordon is a huge fan of FX’s “The Bear” because he has collaborated on theatrical projects with co-star Lisa Colon-Zayas, who was nominated for an Emmy for her work on the series.
Lyons challenged conventional wisdom that younger viewers don't watch linear TV with her choice: CBS's “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.”
“His mix of sarcasm and humor is what drives me to his show,” she said. “And his band is amazing.”
