What Joe Rogan, Washington Post dramas say about the US election and media

Two stories about the United States presidential election this week highlight the total transformation of the news business.

One involves Joe Rogan, the world’s most popular podcaster.

The other concerns The Washington Post, one of the most storied newspapers in US journalism.

In their own way, each of them underscores the diminishing influence of traditional media.

On Monday, Rogan said he had declined an offer to interview Vice President Kamala Harris under terms set by her campaign while expressing hope he would still be able to host her at his Texas studio before the election.

“They offered a date for Tuesday, but I would have had to travel to her and they only wanted to do an hour,” Rogan said in a post on X.

“I strongly feel the best way to do it is in the studio in Austin. My sincere wish is to just have a nice conversation and get to know her as a human being.”

Rogan’s announcement came amid speculation about whether Harris would do an appearance after former President Donald Trump joined the podcaster the previous week for a rambling discussion spanning three hours.

Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, is set to join Rogan for an interview on Wednesday.

Rogan, who made his name as a comedian and mixed martial arts commentator before turning to podcasting, is receiving much attention from the candidates because he boasts a reach that would be the envy of just about any media outlet.

His interview with Trump has garnered more than 41 million views on YouTube since Friday – a figure that does not include the presumably millions of others who have tuned in on other platforms such as Spotify and Apple Music.

By comparison, Harris’s town hall on CNN last week drew 3.3 million viewers to the cable network (an edited version of the event on YouTube has racked up fewer than 1.2 million views).

For Harris, who has also gravitated toward non-traditional media with appearances on the Call Her Daddy and Club Shay Shay podcasts, among others, Rogan offers a chance to connect with young men, a demographic she is struggling to win over.

According to an average of recent polls published by The New York Times and the Siena College Research Institute, Trump leads Harris 58 percent to 37 percent among men aged 18-29 (the picture is reversed among young women, with Harris leading Trump 67-28 percent).

Joe Rogan during UFC 300 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada [Mark J Rebilas/USA Today Sports]

The other illustrative media story of the past few days involves The Washington Post’s decision not to offer a presidential endorsement for the first time since 1988, following a similar move by The Los Angeles Times.

Publisher and CEO Will Lewis cast the decision as a return to The Post’s tradition of non-endorsement prior to the 1970s and “a statement in support of our readers’ ability to make up their own minds”.

But with Trump’s critics viewing US democracy itself as being on the line, the decision not to back Harris has provoked a furious backlash both inside and outside the newspaper.

Several members of the newspaper’s editorial board resigned and a wave of readers cancelled their subscriptions in protest (NPR, citing anonymous sources, reported that the masthead lost more than 250,000 paid subscribers or about 10 percent of the total).

Critics fear that The Post’s billionaire owner, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, is seeking to curry favour with Trump in anticipation of him possibly reentering the White House.

In an opinion piece published in The Post on Monday, Bezos denied any quid pro quo with the Trump team and insisted the decision was entirely motivated by a desire to stem declining public trust in the media.

He said the move was a “meaningful step” towards restoring trust since presidential endorsements create a perception of bias, even while doing “nothing to tip the scales”.

“Most people believe the media is biased,” Bezos said, pointing to a recent Gallup poll that found only 31 percent of Americans have a “great deal” or “fair amount” of confidence in the media to report the news fairly and accurately.

“Anyone who doesn’t see this is paying scant attention to reality, and those who fight reality lose. Reality is an undefeated champion.”

Bezos said he could not allow the newspaper to “fade into irrelevance” and be overtaken by “unresearched podcasts and social media barbs” without a fight.

Whether one believes Bezos acted out of principle or concern for his business interests, it is difficult to dispute his contention that traditional media outlets are struggling to stay relevant.

Tellingly, while both Trump and Harris have made time for a number of high-profile podcasts, neither has sat down for an interview with The Post.