Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
Editorials & Other Articles
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Public Notice: How Democrats can win the messaging war
Public Notice - How Democrats can win the messaging war
"Liberals trust the mainstream media — foolishly, I think. The trust is not deserved," Ryan Cooper tells us.
Aaron Rupar and Thor Benson
Dec 24, 2024
Donald Trump and his Republican Party benefit from a right-coded social media ecosystem and a mainstream press that normalizes their lies and sanewashes their extremism. Faced with those obstacles, it’s clear Democrats need to find a way to fight back.
In his recent piece headlined “Democrats Lost the Propaganda War,” American Prospect managing editor Ryan Cooper outlines a vision of how Dems can be more proactive in getting their message out.
Instead of spending predominantly on TV ads and mailers, Cooper argues that Democrats should invest in party-friendly media outlets, including local publications in “news desert” counties that are especially susceptible to rightwing propaganda, as well as websites with a national reach. (As an example of the latter, he cites my former employer, ThinkProgress, the progressive news website that was housed in the Center for American Progress before it was shut down due to internal drama in 2019. TP was a good website and is missed.)
“My idea is to put Democratic messaging in the form of either just reality-based coverage of what the Biden administration was doing — with all of these investments all over the country — or Democratic editorials, and getting that message consistently in front of voters,” Cooper told us. “That’s the other problem with the usual way of campaign spending. It only comes during election time, so there are long stretches where people aren’t hearing anything. You’re not cementing the impression of what you want to communicate.”
We recently connected with Cooper to discuss Trump’s victory in the 2024 messaging battle and the conclusions that can be drawn from it, why Democrats are “foolish” to trust the mainstream media, and the importance of Dems building online presences on non-X social media platforms like Bluesky.
/snip
"Liberals trust the mainstream media — foolishly, I think. The trust is not deserved," Ryan Cooper tells us.
Aaron Rupar and Thor Benson
Dec 24, 2024
Donald Trump and his Republican Party benefit from a right-coded social media ecosystem and a mainstream press that normalizes their lies and sanewashes their extremism. Faced with those obstacles, it’s clear Democrats need to find a way to fight back.
In his recent piece headlined “Democrats Lost the Propaganda War,” American Prospect managing editor Ryan Cooper outlines a vision of how Dems can be more proactive in getting their message out.
Instead of spending predominantly on TV ads and mailers, Cooper argues that Democrats should invest in party-friendly media outlets, including local publications in “news desert” counties that are especially susceptible to rightwing propaganda, as well as websites with a national reach. (As an example of the latter, he cites my former employer, ThinkProgress, the progressive news website that was housed in the Center for American Progress before it was shut down due to internal drama in 2019. TP was a good website and is missed.)
“My idea is to put Democratic messaging in the form of either just reality-based coverage of what the Biden administration was doing — with all of these investments all over the country — or Democratic editorials, and getting that message consistently in front of voters,” Cooper told us. “That’s the other problem with the usual way of campaign spending. It only comes during election time, so there are long stretches where people aren’t hearing anything. You’re not cementing the impression of what you want to communicate.”
We recently connected with Cooper to discuss Trump’s victory in the 2024 messaging battle and the conclusions that can be drawn from it, why Democrats are “foolish” to trust the mainstream media, and the importance of Dems building online presences on non-X social media platforms like Bluesky.
/snip