In political news wars, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert beat Twitter and Facebook
Social media still have nothing on Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert and Wolf Blitzer.
Twitter and Facebook are great tools for the political junkie, and God knows The Fix team are big fans. But when it comes to the 2012 election, the reach of these social media tools is actually pretty small and isn’t growing very quickly relative to the most popular medium: TV.
And the late-night talkers are as relevant as ever, with 9 percent of people saying they regularly get their campaign news from people like Stewart, Colbert, Jay Leno and David Letterman. Among the toughest
voters to reach — those under 30 — 15 percent say late-night shows are a significant source of their political news.
TV news is still king, of course, with around one-third of people saying they get their political news from cable news networks or local TV news. The former standard-bearer in the news business, the daily newspaper, has dropped from 40 percent to 20 percent over the past 12 years. (Frowny face.) Though another 20 percent said they rely on a Web site associated with a newspaper. So that’s basically still 40 percent, right? (Smiley face.)
So what does it tell us?
As much as we may love the latest technology, and as much time as people like The Fix team spend on Twitter and Facebook, this election is still very much being decided by a small universe of TV producers and hosts and the people who influence what that coverage looks like — including, it should be noted, newspapers and bloggers.
The old media clearly rules on the presidential campaign trail.
But we still love Twitter.
- Spam
- Obscene
- Duplicate
Blog Contributors
Chris Cillizza
Chris Cillizza is founder and editor of The Fix, a leading blog on state and national politics. He is the author of The Gospel According to the Fix: An Insider’s Guide to a Less than Holy World of Politics and an MSNBC contributor and political analyst. He also regularly appears on NBC and NPR’s The Diane Rehm Show. He joined The Post in 2005 and was named one of the top 50 journalists by Washingtonian in 2009.
Juliet Eilperin
Juliet Eilperin covers the White House for the Washington Post. She served as the Post's House of Representatives reporter from 1998-2004, covering the impeachment of Bill Clinton, lobbying, legislation, and five national congressional campaigns. Since 2004 she has been one of the country’s leading reporters covering the environment, reporting on science, policy and politics in areas including climate change, oceans, and air quality. She is the author of two books, "Fight Club Politics: How Partisanship is Poisoning the House of Representatives," and "Demon Fish: Travels Through the Hidden World of Sharks." Follow her on Twitter.
Ed O’Keefe
Ed O’Keefe covers Congress and politics for the Washington Post. He previously covered the 2008 and 2012 campaigns and reported on federal agencies and federal employees as author of The Federal Eye blog. Follow Ed on Twitter.
Aaron Blake
Aaron Blake covers national politics at the Washington Post, where he writes regularly for “The Fix,” the Post’s top political blog. A Minnesota native and summa cum laude graduate of the University of Minnesota, Aaron has also written about politics for the Minneapolis Star-Tribune and The Hill newspaper. Aaron and his wife, Danielle, live in Annandale, Va. Follow him on Twitter.
Sean Sullivan
Sean Sullivan covers national politics for “The Fix.” Prior to joining the Washington Post in the summer of 2012, Sean was the editor of Hotline On Call, National Journal Hotline’s politics blog. He has also worked for NHK Japan Public Broadcasting and ABC News. Sean is a graduate of Hamilton College, where he received a degree in Philosophy. He lives in Washington, D.C. Follow Sean on Twitter.
Scott Clement
Scott Clement is a survey research analyst for Capital Insight, the independent polling group of Washington Post Media. Scott specializes in public opinion about politics, election campaigns and public policy. He helps design and analyze all Washington Post polls, including the Washington Post-ABC News poll. Follow Scott on Twitter.
Rachel Weiner
Rachel Weiner covers national politics for Post Politics and The Fix. She came to the Washington Post in 2010 as a political web editor and anchored the Post's 2012 election blog. She was previously a web editor at The Huffington Post. Follow her on Twitter.
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