The News Is Political

As humans with internet access, we’re sure you’ve been unable to escape the debate from all ends of the political spectrum about the role of the news in our lives, in politics and the news media’s capability of influencing elections in one way or another. The 2016 race wasn’t the first time this dialogue raged, but it also seemed to be a catalyst of change, or at least of introspection among major outlets and startups alike. And all of a sudden normal non-media types were using phrases usually reserved for J-school like “false equivalency” and calling for more “responsible” political reporting, not just for “objectivity.”

But, as 2019 winds down and as the 2020 presidential race inches closer and closer, we find ourselves in a similar news cycle, and with most eyes focused on the executive branch (it’s hard to blame everyone for this, given what’s going on in Washington and on the campaign trail), it’s important to remember that there’s a lot more at stake. We sat down with Shaniqua McClendon, Political Director at Crooked Media, home to Pod Save America, to talk about lessons from 2018, Trump v. Trumpism, and learning to be an ally.

*this interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity

ON BEING CROOKED MEDIA'S POLITICAL DIRECTOR

I feel like what I’m doing is always changing. After graduate school, I wanted to work at either a media company or a company with significant name recognition that could leverage their influence to increase civic engagement. My job at Crooked Media kind of hits all of those things. It’s a media company, but the company has been able to carve out a space to have influence leading up to the (2018) midterms.

My job, especially in the first six months, was to figure out how to get this massive audience we’d been able to put together to not just consume our content, but to get involved in the issues we were talking about. And in 2018 we were talking about the midterms. What that looked like was building out Vote Save America. We had to figure out who were the candidates who needed help? Who could we help by having them on our shows to promote their candidacy or having them on our social platform?

As we moved into 2019 with our eye on 2020, we wanted to make sure that we were being helpful in the way that was most helpful. We knew that we had had an impact in 2018 but we hadn't really plugged in at a deep level to see what was happening already. We had to think about how could we support the work that's already going on and not reinvent anything.

IT HAS TO BE ABOUT MORE THAN REPORTING THE NEWS

We are not the New York Times. They are reporting the news. For us, this company wasn’t founded to just report the news. The whole mission behind getting started was that there's something wrong with the way politics are being covered. And we want to change that, but we also don't want people to feel hopeless as we talk about these things. We want to give them something that they can do.

It seems like the focus now, [in the media], is on not vilifying things that are actually bad. And for us, whether it's on the right or left, if something is bad, we're going to call it that. In order for us to be able to do the political work, we feel like we owe it to our audience to have that honest conversation.

We continue to leave it up to the Washington Post and the New York Times to do real reporting. But as far as helping people understand that reporting and the context and what the stakes are and what the outcomes can be, I think that's where we do a good job.

On top of that, when you're just reporting the news, you're telling people the facts and where things stand. We like to take that and say, okay, this is where we stand, but this is where we can go, and here's the process to do that.

“There are very wealthy people in this country who keep pushing for policies that will enrich them at the expense of everyone else.”

Shaniqua McClendon

LESSONS FROM 2018

In October of 2018 we had been fundraising for some time when we started fundraising for house seats across the country – focusing on 20 races that were in relatively cheap media markets that were also competitive races. And in five days we had raised $1 million. Fundraising hadn't been an official or formal part of our work, but wow, we raised a lot of money in a short amount of time. So this year, fundraising is an official, standardized part of our efforts.

Something that was clarified for us is that one of our strongest points in the political space is that we can feed people into existing efforts like Swing Left and Indivisible. A lot of these organizations are doing wonderful work, but they don't have the platform we have because we are a media company. We're able to use the benefit of being a media company and funnel resources and people into the good work that's going on already.

THE CONSEQUENCES OF HATE

Trump has been in office 2017 and I've known how awful he is this entire time, but the past couple of months have been extremely hard. Right after the election I went on a two week vacation and it was really about incorporating more self-care and personal time into my schedule because I knew 2020 was coming and my hope was that I could root those things in my routine and then be able to take on what comes to 2020. But the past couple of months I’ve thrown myself into work a lot more because things have been just so much worse.

He has been awful this entire time, but to see the real life consequences of his hate – all I keep thinking about now is what can do? Am I doing enough? And even though this is literally my job, it's like, okay, if you’re not focused on it 24/7 are you doing enough to fix it? And I know it shouldn't be like that. I know it's not on me only, I know it's not only on Crooked to determine the outcome of this election, but after 2016, that can't happen again. I have to leave it all on the field. And that is the only way I will feel good, regardless of the outcome.

IT'S ABOUT MORE THAN TRUMP – IT'S ABOUT TRUMPISM

I read a really good article in the New York Times, and it was essentially about Trump and Trumpism and how even if we get rid of Trump in 2020, Trumpism will still exist and we'll still have to combat that. And that has just stuck with me. I think we have to look at 2020 as not just a presidential race, but also getting rid of all of the Republicans who have enabled Trump.

There’s a whole system we can change in 2020 and we can also set a foundation for redistricting to happen in 2021. But the difficult things that we can't control at a ballot is changing people's hearts and minds. I won't say everyone has hate in their hearts, but even for people who don't have hate in their hearts, they have some animosity towards people who look different than them because they feel like those people are taking their opportunities away. That’s what needs to change.

There are definitely people who are racist and just don't like people because of the color of their skin or who they are. But then you do have people who have been sold a dream. And that American dream is not happening for them.

And so they're trying to figure out “where do I fit in in all this?” And with those people, there has to be some work done around pointing the finger at where it should really be pointed, and helping people understand it’s not the immigrants, it’s not black welfare queens, it’s that corporations exist to make a profit and they are willing to do that at the expense of anyone.

There are very wealthy people in this country who keep pushing for policies that will enrich them at the expense of everyone else. It's hard because after being told a message so many times, that these are the people you blame, it's hard to reverse that thought.

I also think Trump has created the perfect foil for us to have that conversation and say, literally, look at him. This is a very rich man who passed a tax cut that's not helping you, it's helping more rich people. This is who we need to be looking at.

I'm hopeful that we can integrate that larger message into the election. And as far as people who are racist, I really do think that we're going to really need the help of white allies to talk to people and their families. One sad thing is I think Trump has made people focus only on the election, but we still have some work to do within ourselves as a country.

WHAT'S ON HER BOOKSHELF

Real Queer America by Samantha Allen

I'm from the South, and yeah, there are bad parts about it and people who are awful, but in large part, I don't think we get enough credit for these progressive pockets that exist and the sacrifice that people are making as they stay there. This is something I struggle with a lot having left North Carolina after I graduated from college. I keep saying I'm going back, but I don't know when that is. I do feel a little guilty, and I try to use this job as much as I can to make things better there. I just thought that book was so good, and making that case through the queer community. Sometimes, it’s easier to live in places like LA and New York. I dealt with people saying the n-word to me in North Carolina, but I also had really compassionate people who were great. The other thing it made me think about is I always wonder where the line is, where marginalized groups have to sacrifice so much. Like when do we get to just have a normal life where it's not a political act to like live somewhere? The book just made me think a lot.

Thinking about Real Queer America, I started watching Pose. I don’t identify as queer or part of the LGBTQ community, but it’s always been a space where I’ve been like okay, I care about rights for this community, and from my perspective as a black woman, I understand what it means to be and activist and be oppressed. But when you're not in someone's shoes, you don't fully understand what's going on and what challenges they face.

And, consuming this content has not made me someone who could ever walk in the shoes of that community, but it's just been really eye opening and it's helped me understand what it means to be an ally on the outside, which I think has helped me understand what white and male allies are facing and just develop more compassion for people who are trying to learn and don't always get it right. It's uncomfortable.

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