One of the biggest political stories of 2025
Launching a new series covering the fight for the heart of the Democratic Party.
One of the most important political stories of 2025 is the fight for the future of the Democratic Party. The old ideological faultlines of progressivism vs. centrism have been replaced by a battle between those who want to stand up, fight, and communicate authentically and others who choose to value gerontocracy and seniority over meritocracy and defend archaic procedural precedents over the kind of effective leadership this moment demands. You can probably guess which side I’m on.
Millions of young people are following that story closely, including many who decided to stay home or vote for Trump last November. As we watch these fights begin to unfold across the country and in Washington, our team at COURIER is uniquely positioned to cover them in new and innovative ways given our growing reach and engagement among these audiences on platforms like TikTok and Instagram.
What happens when a prominent Gen Z social media influencer decides to run for Congress against the political establishment? What barriers exist for first-time candidates, and can they be overcome? Our team is seeking to answer those questions and more with the launch of REPRESENT, a new series chronicling the campaign of Deja Foxx, a 25-year-old content creator and activist running in the special election for Arizona’s 7th Congressional District seat.
The show will launch June 2nd as a 3-part COURIER 🤝 Copper Courier crossover docuseries on YouTube— with accompanying social media distribution — covering the different stages of the young insurgent candidate’s campaign leading up to the primary on July 15th (and following should Foxx win the primary).
Watch the trailer here:
REPRESENT is just one of the exciting projects our team is working on this quarter to push the envelope on reporting that meets our local and national audiences with the stories and conversations they want to follow and engage with. That includes stories like Deja’s that infuse hope and change into our otherwise dark feeds covering the unprecedented corruption in Washington. The series also follows the launch of two new national newsletter products our national team published this week: Grave Injustice, a newsletter about the Supreme Court by prominent investigative researcher Lisa Graves, and Below the Belt(way), a daily, skimable newsletter from our new DC bureau and Correspondent Cam Stevenson on under-covered stories from the swamp. We’ll have even more exciting news to share from our national team in the coming weeks so make sure you follow @couriernewsroom on Instagram and TikTok, and subscribe to our YouTube channel so you don’t miss out.
Have a restful weekend,
Tara
When New Leaders Are in Charge
On the topic of why out-of-touch political leaders should step aside if they’re not able to rise to this deeply serious occasion, I chatted with my old colleague and friend Amanda Litman, founder and President of Run for Something, and author of the new book, “When We’re in Charge: The Next Generation’s Guide to Leadership” on IG Live yesterday. You can watch a clip of our conversation below, and buy her book here.
What I’m reading this week:
News Influencers are Reaching Young People, and the Media is Trying to Keep Up (Teen Vogue, 05/05)
“Relatability, perceived trustworthiness, ease of consumption: These are just some of the reasons young people say they’re turning to these influencer voices. Online-first news outlets like NowThis and AJ+ have long understood this; more traditional outlets, however, have only just started experimenting with what has been called “talent-driven journalism,” hiring news influencers who have a strong personal brand to lead their social presence.”
“News” in 2025 is in the eye of the beholder (Nieman, 5/15)
“People classify content as more or less “news-like,” and this varies across platforms and sources, as well as from one person to the next.”
Which Podcasts Rule YouTube? A New List Comes With Surprises. (NYT, 5/15)
“YouTube, now the most popular platform for consuming podcasts, is introducing a chart ranking shows by watch time.”
A New Report Takes On the Future of News and Search (CJR, 5/15)
“The Tow Center for Digital Journalism interviewed news and tech industry representatives about AI’s impact on platforms and publishers. They expressed some hope and a lot of trepidation.”
P.S. In honor of Memorial Day weekend, there will be no newsletter next Friday. I’ll be back in your inboxes on May 30th.