Great crowd in San Jose/Fremont last night for @860amtheanswer event (my San Francisco affiliate.) Like last week’s gathering w/ Tampa Bay’s @am860TheAnswer audience —when big affilatesbon opposite coasts have same signal it gets a little confusing— these audiences very smart. 1
Over eight days, sitting alongside @radiotalkermike @SebGorka @DennisPrager, we heard from almost 2000 people —who are paying to attend, not wandering in off street— what concerns them heading into 2020. Of course it is self-selected, but overwhelmingly pro-@realDonaldTrump. 2
And not just pro-@POTUS, incredibly informed re #Ukraine #Russiagate, federal judicial appointments, military spending, deregulation. Very alarmed by D’s hard left turn. Alternatively laughing at @AdamSchiff and outraged at abuse of impeachment. In other words, not the Beltway 3
That red America is getting redder and blue bluer isn’t a surprise. What is a surprise is that media outlets have —save FNC— placed all their bets on blue audience. But the TV audience is older and redder. Very few outlets try to serve both. My radio show does and always will. 4
But the collapse of media into locker rooms for #TheResistance or the anti-#TheResistance is the consequence of the monetization of confirmation bias. Not sure how to get back to center-right/center-left media but it needs doing. 5
In the meantime, the advantage radio hosts have over television hosts —I’ve done both for long stretches— is radio folks get much more actual contact with voters outside of the Manhattan-Beltway media bubble. Consequently we are less easily surprised though it happens to us too.6
But my time at @PBS and @MSNBC v my decades with @Salem and before that @CoxCommunicatio informs my belief that anchors, hosts, producers, editors and reporters just don’t spend enough time with red America while immersed nearly 24/7 in blue America. This distorts “news.” 7
Fixing this might require opening major bureaus if not HQs in booking cities like Columbus, Orlando, Denver and San Antonio. Clustering media ends in media bubbles. And @Twitter reinforces the industry-wide confirmation bias. 8
