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GE2024posters to podcastsAMID THE POST-MORTEM engulfing Democrats in the United States to their defeat in the presidential election, one name has been consistently repeated: Joe Rogan.
The debate has fluctuated between ‘where is the liberal Joe Rogan?’ to ‘Why didn’t Kamala Harris just go on Joe Rogan?’.
There seems to be little debate that the podcast, which is by many measures the most popular in the United States, played a role in Donald Trump’s decisive victory.
Even if it’s not as simple as Trump going on the podcast and Harris not, the argument has been made that Republicans had built up an ecosystem of right-leaning influencers that drove home a strong message.
If the recent US presidential election has in some places been called the ‘influencer election’, there is evidence that Irish politicians have been paying attention.
With the general election campaign just over a week old, we can already get a sense about how the parties are using, or attempting to use, podcasts and social media to court voters.
In the case of podcasts, there have been several high profile examples.
Taoiseach Simon Harris has been a guest on the 2 Johnnies and on Ryan Tubridy’s book podcast, Micheál Martin went on Mairéad Ronan and Jenny Kelly’s podcast this week and Mary Lou McDonald also joined Joe Brolly and Dion Fanning on Free State.
Holly Cairns, who is due to have a baby this month, has appeared on various parenting and pregnancy podcasts including Stretchmarks and The Baby Tribe.
Heck, even criminal-turned-candidate Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch is due to appear on Crime World with Nicola Tallant this weekend.
Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch - The Interview.
— Crime World with Nicola Tallant (@CrimeNicola) November 14, 2024
Part One out Sunday. pic.twitter.com/dcfEGKfSbN
It’s not hard to understand why politicians are increasingly going down the podcast route. Clearly, the listenership is there to reach a big swathe of voters at once, but more crucially it’s also about the nature of the connection people have with their favourite podcasts.
In radio, listeners are at the whim of tight schedules and more rigid formats. Even if the shows are made available afterwards, the rolling nature of radio often gives them a shorter shelf-life.
By contrast, podcast listeners make the choice of when and where to spend time when their chosen hosts.
They perhaps do it at a certain time of the day or week, or when they’re doing something specific. The result is that there’s almost a kind of parasocial relationship that exists between a podcast and its audience.
This is clearly tempting for politicians. In the same way that product placement exists, surely making your pitch in an ostensibly apolitical space will allow people to take it in with less cynical ears?
In addition, there is also the benefit of humanising oneself in a way that is simply not possible on Prime Time. Previously, the way politicians did this was in a lifestyle feature or interview in a magazine. Simply put, that just doesn’t carry the same bang for your buck anymore.
For podcast hosts, there is a risk in allowing politicians into this space.
Some podcasts where politicians appear are clearly news spaces, hosted by journalists, and where the audience would not be put off by hearing talk about Rent Tax Credits or garda numbers.
Others though have built up an audience on the back of being a ‘safe space’ where people can avoid the noise that politics brings. Indeed, when Kamala Harris made her highest profile podcast appearance on Call Her Daddy, host Alex Cooper was forced to defend allowing her on.
How long this trend for politicians going on podcasts continues remains to be seen, but the poisoning of Twitter into X has constrained the space for politicians to engage positively with social media.
Irish politicians have been embracing TikTok during this election but in many cases the videos are glorified election posters, designed to breed familiarity rather than engagement.
With two weeks to go in the campaign, don’t be surprised if your feed starts to resemble an election lamppost either.
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Dole should have been halved
@patw5675@gmail.com: around 28.8 k people on it long term costing around €6.6 million A WEEK!!!!
@another one? what’s going on is the semi state sec: That’s money well spent on the less well of in our country, and come from me a person who has worked for over 52 years and never looked for anything from the state.
@patw5675@gmail.com: Did you buy that phone especially for the journal??
@Vince Cable: The Galaxy A02s
@patw5675@gmail.com: universal basic income would decline aschame as child’s powerty in rich country….
@Jimmy Kiely:any farmers milking dole too…
@another one? what’s going on is the semi state sec: what about all frends helping frends zilionis…
@Jimmy Kiely: it’s called job SEEKERS allowance!!!
@patw5675@gmail.com: Jasus
@patw5675@gmail.com: i find myself on the dole now for the first time in 43yrs, and you blatantly want it halved, very cavalier.
@patw5675@gmail.com: Why?
No excuse not to have a job if you’re able bodied in Ireland. Any amount of work available. Whole system needs to be restructured.
@CODE 29: any decent living on jobs….
@CODE 29: should be but this is a handout Ireland
@CODE 29: in 46, lost my job after 20 years… I’m struggling to find a job that will support my 2 kids. I’m able bodied and willing. It’s not so simple out there. I’ve to go back to collage at 46 or take a job stacking shelves again
Harris is not for me.. They are trying to buy votes without any shadow of a doubt, and hopefully the good people of Ireland will not fall for it!
And as for the send me an email remark… he’s too busy shaking hands to have anytime whatsoever for reading and replying to emails.
@Neil Harvey: silly comment
@Neil Harvey: Who are you for? The party that promises a house for everyone in the audience. There are always a lot of posts complaining that the Journal is biased in favour of the government parties. Comments not open on the latest scandal besetting SF. Not even a comment on her “ lessons to be learned “ comment.
@Vincent Alexander: same thing Fine Fail and Fine Gael said when one of their councillors sexually assaulted a woman and the latter for sexually assaulting an 8 year old child. All wires from the same brush
@John Doe: Same thing Fine Gael & Fianna Fáil said when the Catholic church were raping their way through our young and murdering babies with wild abandon, sure let them move the pedo’s around that will solve the problem, those two parties were in cahoots with the bishops.
@Mr Inbetween: FF and FG don’t make a career of taking the high moral stand in the Dáil like Ms Donald and Mr Doherty.
@Mr Inbetween: What the Catholic Church did was horrendous, but what has to do with SF giving references to a sex offender?
Typical ohh, look over there, and Mary, lou trying to deflect in the Dail today. I presume you are delighted that the references were given and that nobody informed the BHF of the accusations?
There is more to this to come out so I wouldn’t be so sure that certain people didn’t know what actually went on.
@Vincent Alexander: did the ceann comhairle have anything to say?
@Neil Harvey: the cost of living crisis is a myth, all airports have increased passenger traffic. Etc
@Sheila McNulty: that was a great comment
@Vincent Alexander:
Shin Fein shooting themselfs in the foot more times then a 1950s border compane.
@Vincent Alexander: I’m for the best person for the job. I dont give a hoot about the colour of the rosette.
I think its OK to say that Harris is not my cup of tea!
@Vincent Alexander: Give over, they’re worse by far. Their principles and values, if you could call them such, change with the wind. Condemning Israel out of one side of their mouths and refusing to sign the occupied territories bill with the other. Not a shred of integrity between FFFG
It’s definitely an attempt at bribery to swing an election, because if as Simon Harris claims his actions are prompted by listening to what people want, he would have started building social housing across the country on week one of his role as Taoiseach.
Affordable housing and the lack thereof, is without doubt the number one concern across the entire country and it’s also the thing that the government as a whole and Simon Harris in particular as Taoiseach is blatantly ignoring.
@Dvsespaña: Exactly if he listened to the people USC would be gone having been originally told it was temporary. This government and the previous government have done nothing about social housing knowing the damage it was doing to thousands of people and put vulture funds ahead of families. Have they listened to the people in regards to the children’s hospital of the cost and location? This budget is like sticking a plaster over an open wound. It will come back to haunt them.
Just emailed him asking for more.
@Vince Cable: time for him to go
@Alan Moloney: They call that nonsense “leadership”. School yard kids wouldn’t behave like them. No wonder everything is broken. When you have wasters in suits believing they are doing the right thing when in fact they haven’t a bloody clue what they are doing, then the country will go nowhere. They actually pay advisors to tell them they are doing a great job. The lowest form of human on the planet.
@David Corrigan: Go for it, make it better.
No dole after 12 months for anyone able to work, simple as that. Can’t believe this is still allowed to continue
An obnoxious individual
There’s work everywhere now. Look who’s working as cleaners, garbage collectors, construction workers, security guards, hospitality sectors? Mostly immigrants. Why would dole collectors consider this job if they get 100, 200 quid less or the same or more for doing nothing?
@Bomber: immigrants live on simple staple foods and no luxuries so they have competitive advantage.
@Mr “JonnieBoy” Johnson: ciggies ans alcohol.
Its easy to see why Harris would give out his email. some lackey or civil servant opens that account – not Harris. You will get a long winded insincere answer, and the smirking and two faced answers will continue.
@Thomas O’Donnell: exactly
What ever happened to the butter vouchers?
The little perick and his FFG/g mates did bribe the electorate then took any gains back due to the greens and their obsession with carbon taxes and the ESB PSO charge increase. The electorate, judging by the polls, are too foolish to see this.
@Gerry Lamont: every single party would do the same.
Did you see SF’s alternative budget?
They’re all the same.
Simon Harris is a poindexter
@Argus Romsworth: what’s that?
@James Leahy:
A boring , inept person( had to look it up)
That money will mostly be spent in the pubs
I tell you what he’s not going to do he’s not going to ask. Any member of the gang to not take the double child allowance cause they earn enough money . They should be exempt from the child allowance payments
So the opposeverythingition want Christmas moved or cancelled until they can get power.
@thomas molloy:
Communist losers do not believe in Christmas.
@thomas molloy: Those rotten scoundrels! I can’t believe they want to cancel Christmas but you just said it AND wrote it down, so it must be true. You hardly just pulled it out of your backside in a mindless, Trumpian, fox news type of sound bite with absolutely no rationale behind it. Hardly
@H Woo: What about Communist winners? Do they believe in an invented holiday? What happens in the event of a draw?
Fair play to him giving the long term unemployed “some of their money back”
Now, as a self employed person,how do I claim some of my money back?
Well said Taoiseach what a joke these lads are, spend all their time moaning about the people not getting anything and then when they do they say it’s a bad move. Opposition is so weak in this country.
@Hotirish: get a life
@Hotirish: he’s not spending it wisely. Like the 9million on phone pouches spend it on poor kids on long surgery waiting lists. On more teachers sna s secondary schools and get that fecking children’s hospital up and running
Where did all go wrong Anthony?
Will it is better to get a few Bob now and be sure of it than to waste a vote on false promises that will never be fulfilled.
Vote for sale.
@Finbarr Spain: all the same do this do that do nothing as usual Ireland is living in the passed
It’s really unfair on SF – they shouldn’t be allowed to call an election when the economy is doing well and there are plenty of jobs.
@Derick R M: SF too busy. No time for governing. Other fish to fry
@Derick R M:
Stick in a border poll as well and watch shin Fein have a collective nervous breakdown.
Typical Social Democratic Attack, stones in a tin can rattling around and making noise without substance. It is obviously an acquired part of being a member of this middle stream “Wannabe” in power Party . . Unfortunately not realistic for the people, all in all just another group of Complainers in the Dáil.
Long grass whispering.
Harris is such a weak leader. Another sound bite machine with no action.
Decisions have been made We can argue anyway but which way Good luck to those who benefit The rest of us [yes me included] suck it up butter cup!
I’ll get them in the long grass!
that make me laugh because the people that will touch all these payments do not vote or if they do, not for them !!!
Did he listen to the people when he was minister for health ?
NO HE DIDN’T
have your say