Summary
The “Rogansphere,” a sprawling ecosystem of podcasts and online shows led by figures like Joe Rogan, has become a powerful cultural force for younger audiences, functioning as a “Fox News for the young.”
With its mix of anti-establishment rhetoric, distrust of Democrats, and casual conversations blending left-leaning and conservative ideas, it normalizes figures like Donald Trump for a disillusioned, lonely audience—particularly young men.
Democrats risk underestimating its influence, as this ecosystem fosters deep listener loyalty and has contributed to a significant shift in young male voters toward Trump.
News outlets are the reason Rogan is taken seriously. Everything you said isn’t wrong, but it’s ignoring the differences between how “the media” treats Joe Rogan and how it treated other “comedic” figures before him. CNN and just about everyone else, except (maybe) PBS, talked about that bald clown like he was a force to be reconned with.
It doesn’t matter if people actually watched those news segments. People heard about it because, even though they don’t get views, the major news networks still hold more weight than independent media.
Would you know who Joe Rogan is if you weren’t already listening to his podcast and he never came up in the news? 5 years before COVID, he was just “the guy from fear factor” for me.
I’m not suggesting anyone ignore him, I’m suggesting people stop talking about him the way they are. There should be articles about fact checking him without attacking, so his viewers can go to it without feeling bad about watching/listening, not about how important his podcast is. If they weren’t attacking him and instead just fact corrected him in a sort of “by the way” kind of way, this election and COVID would have been a lot different. It’s still possible to do that now.
Edit: fixed an autocorrect I noticed