Local-news collapse and creator-economy diffusion have produced the era of candidate-owned channels

Potential 2028 U.S. presidential candidates are operating less like party-bound politicians and more like one-person media companies. The shift rests on two structural changes pulling in the same direction: the rapid collapse of America's local-news ecosystem, which has cut off the external coverage candidates once relied on, and the spread of creator-economy infrastructure that now lets anyone build a community on a platform. With both forces converging, candidates have begun running content production lines under their own names.

후보가 곧 채널이 된다 — 2028 미국 대선이 그리는 정치-미디어 융합 지형
지역 뉴스 붕괴와 크리에이터 경제 확산. 정치인이 ‘보도 대상’이 아니라 자기 채널을 직접 운영하는 미디어 회사처럼 움직이는 시대가 열리고 있음
K-EnterTech HubJung Han

An Axios analysis of potential candidates' digital footprints published May 9 shows that former Vice President Kamala Harris (카멀라 해리스, 58.2 million followers), Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (알렉산드리아 오카시오-코르테스, 29.0M), former Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson (터커 칼슨, 37.2M), and Donald Trump Jr. (도널드 트럼프 주니어, 35.2M) have established content footholds across X, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Substack, Rumble, and Bluesky. Politicians are migrating from being subjects of the news to operators of channels.