A.M. Edition for Nov. 11. From TikTok to podcasting, the WSJ’s Isabella Simonetti says the 2024 election highlights how much the U.S. media diet has changed. Plus, Donald Trump taps Tom Homan to oversee his mass deportation effort and readies more appointments for key cabinet positions. And Russia explores a merger that could create the world’s second largest crude oil producer. Luke Vargas hosts. 

FULL TRANSCRIPT

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Luke Vargas: Donald Trump taps a border czar as his transition efforts kick into high gear. Plus Trump’s election victory highlights a drastic change in America’s media landscape.

Isabella Simonetti: The differences in media consumption habits between younger viewers and older viewers are more clear now than they have ever been before.

Luke Vargas: And Russia eye’s a mega oil merger that would tighten Vladimir Putin’s grip on global energy markets. It’s Monday, November 11th. I’m Luke Vargas for the Wall Street Journal. And here is the AM edition of What’s News, the top headlines and business stories moving your world today. Days on from the U.S election, Donald Trump was announced as the official winner of Nevada and Arizona over the weekend, completing his sweep of all seven battleground states and netting him a total of 312 electoral college votes. Meanwhile, ballot counting is continuing in several closely watched house races around the country, many of which are in California, and which will decide control of the chamber. Republicans hold a 214 to 203 advantage, but need 218 seats for a majority. The Lone Senate race still uncalled is in Arizona where Democrat Ruben Gallego is ahead of Republican Kerry Lake. And should he win, Republicans would control the Senate 53 to 47.

GOP Senators are set to vote on a new leader in the coming days. And while Trump hasn’t issued an endorsement, he demanded over the weekend that whoever assumes the post should let him push through at least some of his nominees for key positions without a vote, a process known as recess appointments that would avoid possible congressional opposition. Those comments sent to jolt through the leadership campaign and prompted the three top candidates, Florida Senator Rick Scott, South Dakota, Senator John Thune, and Texas Senator John Cornyn to all back the idea in some form. Scott once seen as a long shot, has emerged as a favorite of Trump allies.

And the president-elect has tapped Tom Homan, who oversaw U.S immigration and customs enforcement during Trump’s first term to spearhead a planned mass deportation effort in a role that Trump likened to that of a border czar that comes as advisors of the incoming president continued to draw plans for how to carry out his deportation pledge, which Trump has said would target as many as 20 million people, including weighing a national emergency declaration that would allow for military assets to be repurposed to detain and remove migrants.

Well, Trump’s election victory has also cemented big changes in the media landscape as Americans are now turning to many more outlets for their information while traditional media is shrinking in both reach and influence. Isabella Simonetti who covers television and streaming for the journal told our Kate Bullivant that the way Americans get their news has changed profoundly.

Isabella Simonetti: So cable news viewership overall is down from its peaks during COVID. Fox News, which is the leader in cable news and also shares common ownership with the journal averaged 2.7 million primetime viewers in October. MSNBC is in second place and CNN is in third place. Now, cable news is still a very important place where a lot of viewers, particularly older viewers, get their news and information, but among younger viewers who ended up being very important voting demographic in this election, they’re now turning to podcasts and TikTok and news influencers and social media in order to inform their political views and just to get their news.

Kate Bullivant: So how did we see this shift play out during the election cycle, and why does a Trump win cement this new media landscape?

Isabella Simonetti: We saw this play out during the election cycle through the media strategies of both Harris and Donald Trump. They both turned to podcasts and influencers to get their message out to younger viewers. Harris was on Alex Cooper’s podcast called Her Daddy, which is popular with young women. Trump did Joe Rogan and that episode brought in more than 45 million views on YouTube, and more than 25 million listens across Spotify.

During his victory celebration, a lot of podcasters and influencers were mentioned and thanked. Trump also had Elon Musk in his corner who recently purchased Twitter. So in this election and in every election, young viewers are incredibly important, but the differences in media consumption habits between younger viewers and older viewers are more clear now than they have ever been before.

Kate Bullivant: And this shift in where Americans, especially young Americans, get their news, what does it tell us?

Isabella Simonetti: So I think one way we can see that playing out is that I had one person who I spoke to, Alyssa Griffin, who worked in the Trump administration, who had noted that podcasts listeners and new media listeners, and those circles are even more partisan than cable. So it also means that people are sticking to their own silos that verify or feed into their existing political beliefs instead of necessarily watching things that challenge their assumptions. After the election results became clear, Musk tweeted out to his followers and said, “You are the media now.” Essentially that you’re citizen journalists now, because there’s this feeling that traditional media got the story wrong in that they didn’t anticipate that Trump would win in such a landslide because of the issues that ended up mattering most to voters.

Kate Bullivant: So this shift from traditional media to social media and influencer figures, does it also indicate that there’s more appetite for opinions over facts among young people?

Isabella Simonetti: Yeah, that’s an interesting point. People are looking for personalities whom they see as authentic and personalities who can tell them what to make of the facts that are out there and give them a way to think about politics. Some people think that that is dangerous because there is the opportunity for misinformation to spread when there isn’t rigorous fact checking. Making sure that both sides have an opportunity to respond before a story goes public, making sure that there’s balance and not too much political sway in a story. These influencers and podcasters don’t necessarily feel the obligation to do that and that isn’t hurting their reach.

Kate Bullivant: That was the journal’s Isabella Simonetti. Isabella, thanks so much for your time.

Isabella Simonetti: Thank you.

Luke Vargas: Coming up, Russia explores the creation of an oil giant and the Trump trade takes Bitcoin to another high. We’ve got those stories and more after the break. We are exclusively reporting that Russia is working on a plan to merge its biggest oil companies, a deal that would create the world’s second largest crude producer after Saudi Arabia’s Aramco. According to people familiar with the discussions which have been going on over the past few months, one scenario would involve state-backed Rosneft Oil absorbing fellow state producer Gazprom Neft, as well as independently owned Lukoil, all three of which are under U.S sanctions. Journal reporter Joe Wallace has more.

Joe Wallace: The Russian oil industry has had some success in adapting to Western sanctions, but nonetheless, the sanctions have created problems particularly for Rosneft and its ability to maximize profits on its exports, which really are enormous and by far the biggest source of revenue for the Russian state. At the same time, the sanctions seemed to have had some effect in hurting Rosneft’s ability to carry out big oil and gas projects that would sustain Russian oil production for the coming decades. So part of the thinking is that either if the war carries on, or even if there’s some kind of thawing in relations with the West after a possible peace deal, Putin wants the oil industry to be fighting fit. And one way to do that is to bring together several big companies that could lead to more efficient export programs, able to ring more profit out of each barrel exported around the world, and also even pull technology, which could enable Russia to produce oil at a lower cost, which would maybe enable it to compete against Saudi and the U.S and other rivals on the world oil market.

Luke Vargas: A Kremlin spokesperson said the administration has no knowledge of a deal. A Rosneft spokesman said The Journal’s reporting was false. While Lukoil said it wasn’t in the process of merger negotiations. Representatives for Gazprom Neft didn’t respond to requests for comment. And speaking of Russia’s war in Ukraine, both Moscow and Kiev launched record numbers of aerial drones against each other over the weekend as they try to make whatever gains they can ahead of the inauguration of Donald Trump, who’s pledged to end the conflict raising the prospect of peace talks. Russia is advancing slowly but steadily along the front lines of the conflict, particularly in Ukraine’s East. The United Nations COP29 Climate Summit opens. Today the two-Week event has been billed as the so-called finance cop with a focus on how to find the money for the transition away from fossil fuels to limit global warming. Journal sustainability reporter Yusuf Khan is in Baku, Azerbaijan to cover the summit and says, the host country doesn’t see its deep links to the oil industry as a cause for concern.

Yusuf Khan: These countries, whether it be last year’s host UAE, this year’s host being Azerbaijan, they’ve become rich through fossil fuels, have become rich through oil and gas exports, and they’re not going to shy away from that. They like to keep exporting. They don’t see that model changing, but they also see that as a way of raising the cash that can then be used for energy transition technologies. Whether those two work together is a different question and whether those countries are willing to give up a significant share of what their GDP would be is another question.

Luke Vargas: Attendance this year is expected to be less than half that of last year’s summit with companies including major banks sending smaller delegations or skipping it altogether. Donald Trump’s victory in last week’s election has also clouded much of the U.S.’s climate policy going into the conference. Trade stresses are mounting in Canada after dock workers in Montreal rejected a fresh pay offer last night that prompted the Maritime Employers Association, which represents companies operating at the port to declare a lockout halting the flow of cargo through Canada’s second largest seaport. Meanwhile, a push to end a separate lockout at ports in British Columbia is showing no signs of movement.

The lockouts risks spilling over into the U.S as shippers divert goods to America’s coastal ports, potentially triggering trucker shortages and delivery delays and adding to costs. And finally, in a look at what’s happening in markets, Bitcoin is trading above $82,000 today a fresh record as the crypto world prepares for a Renaissance under Donald Trump, who’s vowed to ease the regulatory burden on crypto and create a reserve to hold the nation’s Bitcoin supply. And it’s shaping up to be a busy week with the latest U.S consumer price index update due on Wednesday ahead of October’s retail sales update on Friday. And in a relatively light week for earnings, Home Depot, Tyson Foods and Spotify are set to report results tomorrow with Disney following on Thursday.

And that’s it for What’s News for Monday morning. Today’s show was produced by Kate Bullivant and Daniel Bach with supervising producer Cristina Roca. And I’m Luke Vargas for the Wall Street Journal. We will be back tonight with the News show. And until then, thanks for listening.

Excerpts: Wall street Journal