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Comment by KumaBear | Hacker News Reader

That's a shitty gamble when online media is where it is at now a days. These big media networks are dinosaurs hanging on by a thread.

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The people who vote are the people also glued to 24hr news.

Plus, they already own all of the online media. The important bits, anyway.

2028 is closer than you think. Dinosaur media still connect with dinosaur-voting audiences.

And none of this is serious money to the Saudis and MAGA billionaires. If controlling this media ekes out a couple of percent in the midterms, it’s money well spent. A few tens of billions against consolidating power and bigger grifts? High ROI investment.

It might be. But if you're doing a short-term political power play (rather than a business investment), it could be a good tactical spend. And it might be a smart business investment if the political power play works in such way that you can politically bend the business environment in your favor.

And a cheap spend if you can scrounge the money in some roundabout way from Uncle Sam.

I think that's over-simplifying it. Some YouTube personality (or whatever we want to call 'online media' that isn't just CNN's website) isn't going to be getting a Whitehouse press pass anytime soon.

Oh, they absolutely are. As Leavitt promised at her first briefing, it’s been opened to: "independent journalists, podcasters, social media influencers, and content creators."

Yes, all of them right-wing chuds.

A lot of YouTube political influencers have more viewers than CNN.

You haven’t read about what’s going on at the Pentagon wanted the press to sign a release saying only approved content could be published? It was so onerous that even Fox News refused to sign. Now the press Corp is basically a bunch of right wing influencers.

https://www.npr.org/2025/12/03/nx-s1-5630076/the-press-corps...

Just in case you think this is just another liberal hit piece, let me repeat that Fox News refused to sign the agreement.

There is a My Pillow network, and their person is in the Pentagon press pool.

https://lindelltv.com/lindelltv-press-corps/

Online media where they have x and Facebook already?

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