TikTok over interviews? Why Nevada candidates are changing their media strategy 

When Richard Bryan (D) served as Nevada's governor in the 1980s, the capital press corps was housed just below the governor's office in the basement of the Capitol.

Bryan and other governors would often chit-chat with reporters from the Reno Gazette-Journal, The Associated Press, United Press International, Nevada Appeal, Las Vegas Sun and Las Vegas Review-Journal, sipping a cup of coffee while hearing the latest goings-on.

"We wandered out of the same building, and you'd see them at the local bar or something," Bryan recalled. "I frankly enjoyed the media. They did not always agree with me, but they knew that I respected them."

That basement now houses an empty, unused press room and offices for state workers. Since Bryan left the governor's office, Nevada's population has roughly quadrupled. 

Legacy media outlets and newswires are a shell of what they once were; a patchwork of new digital and nonprofit outlets, alternative weeklies, local TV stations, bloggers, newsletter writers, influencers and regional news channels has taken their place in the media ecosystem, but not in the Capitol basement.

In the last few decades, a highly fragmented, 24-hour multiplatform news cycle has replaced one centered around 6 p.m. broadcasts and daily newspaper deliveries. Candidates across the nation, including in Nevada, are acting accordingly, using TikTok and Instagram to deliver their message and, in some cases, bypassing reporters and traditional debates. 

But experts warn that, for candidates — especially in Nevada's upcoming gubernatorial election — communicating with the public must be an all-of-the-above strategy. Combining direct-to-voter communications with traditional formats such as structured debates and press interviews is critical to building trust and having a functioning democracy, they say. Voters lose out without the vetting and follow-ups provided by professional debate moderators, reporters and editors.  

In this cycle's top-of-the-ticket governor's race, Attorney General Aaron Ford (D) is a heavy favorite but has not acknowledged a debate request from his primary Democratic challenger, Washoe County Commissioner Alexis Hill. She's made it a central message of her campaign.

It's not unheard of — in 2018, there was no debate in a competitive governor's race between then-Attorney General Adam Laxalt (R) and Steve Sisolak (D). 

A longtime Nevada political adviser, given anonymity to speak candidly, said in many instances, challengers will ask for a debate because they benefit by getting in the same room as the front-runner. From a purely strategic standpoint, he said debates only matter when there are close races and two viable candidates. 

Kenneth Miller, an assistant professor of political science at UNLV, acknowledges that front-runners are always going to try to avoid debates if they can because they represent the risk of a gaffe and can boost the public's perception of the underdog as a viable candidate.

But he said debates can help illuminate meaningful policy differences between candidates — especially in primaries. 

"It's an opportunity to convey some information about these candidates that's usually missing in state-level primaries, because those usually don't feature a lot of news coverage," he said. "They don't feature a lot of advertising, so there isn't a lot of communication with voters going on."

Risking accountability 

In a reshaped media landscape, candidates are also flexing their power to avoid or control reporter questions.

President Donald Trump (R) has not only talked directly to traditional media, but he has also appeared on myriad "bro" podcasts ahead of the 2024 election and shared his unfiltered thoughts on his own social media platform, Truth Social. 

More locally, Nevada campaigns and candidates have also limited questions or cherry-picked which outlets they want to grant in-depth interviews, often routing other questions through campaign spokespeople or staff.

Ford filmed a video of himself reacting to his opponent's comments on Trump's tariffs, a creative strategy historically used more by influencers than by the state's attorney general. But in a new media market, campaigns say it's another way to meet voters where they're at. His campaign has held traditional press conferences as well, but in one instance, limited the number of press questions at a news conference to one per outlet. 

Gov. Joe Lombardo's (R) campaign recently declined press questions at a Reno campaign office opening because he'd offered an exclusive to a local TV station, and in 2022, it excluded reporters from the Las Vegas Sun and Nevada Current from his victory event. 

In Nevada, this isn't new. 

Sharron Angle, the Republican U.S. Senate candidate in 2010, infamously ran away from reporters at her own press conference. Former Attorney General Adam Laxalt (R), in his 2022 U.S. Senate bid, attacked the Reno Gazette-Journal as a "liberal activist rag that pushes false narratives" and promised to "take our message directly to voters, not through the liberal media middle men at the RGJ."

Lombardo's focused more on longer sit-down interviews, including an hour-long interview with Indy CEO Jon Ralston earlier this year and done other lengthy sit-downs with several podcasts.

"Not hiding in the basement. I think that's the key component — to let people know exactly what you've done," Lombardo recently told Politico.

In a statement, campaign spokeswoman for the Lombardo campaign, Halee Dobbins, described Lombardo as "one of the most accessible governors in the nation." 

She added that he regularly takes questions from Nevadans and local media, as well as podcasts.

"Our campaign has made a deliberate effort to meet voters where they are," she wrote. "Embracing new and innovative ways to communicate — including launching the first-ever Team Lombardo TikTok account — to connect directly with Nevadans about Governor Lombardo's priorities and record of results."

The Ford campaign estimated that the attorney general has done 39 interviews since kicking off the campaign, not including pressers, gaggles or scrums.

Ford campaign spokesperson Prerna Jagadeesh wrote in a statement that the campaign has always focused on meeting voters where they are, and the attorney general is delivering his messages in newspapers, on the airwaves and online. 

"We will continue implementing creative new strategies like releasing direct-to-camera videos about how Ford will lead Nevada out of the mess of the Lombardo-Trump economy and defend Nevada against attacks," she said. "Ford is going to be a governor for every Nevadan, and is accordingly running a campaign designed to reach every Nevadan."

Paromita Pain, an associate professor at UNR's Reynolds School of Journalism, said social media has fundamentally reshaped political campaigning beyond the technological aspects. It has altered who controls political communication, how voters are targeted and how campaigns interact with the press, she said. 

Although it's not inherently a problem for candidates to respond to the press with prepared statements, which can help candidates communicate clearly and avoid misquotes, she said an overreliance on them can make candidates seem "evasive" or "overly scripted."

"The danger isn't about media relations," Pain said. "It is: What happens to accountability, information quality, democratic decision-making, because when a politician doesn't want to answer the press's question, essentially they are avoiding scrutiny."

Shifting away from legacy media

The longtime political adviser who has overseen campaigns for more than 40 years said one of the biggest changes in the Silver State has revolved around television advertising.

When former Gov. Brian Sandoval (R) ran for governor in 2010, social media began to play a bigger role as newspapers were beginning to decline in relevance.

Years ago, it was cheaper to buy ad time on talk radio and rural radio stations. But as the internet has offered alternatives, growth in that sector has increased.

He noted, however, that it's still critical to reach the press, and voters are used to seeing the governor out and about in the general public. Nevada is still a small state where a voter can run into the governor at the grocery store or a restaurant, he said. 

"Different governors do it differently. I think the ones that do it well are easy to access," the adviser said. "We have a custom in Nevada … it's a very special tradition about the accessibility and visibility of Nevada governors."

Candidates are trying to leverage social media to show they're accessible and authentic. The Lombardo campaign reupped video of the former sheriff's appearance on COPS to jump on a viral trend about the '90s and showed off a custom "Lombardo" bagel breakfast sandwich, while Ford's campaign apparatus produced videos of him munching tacos at Broadacres market and jamming to a karaoke singer at Filipino Town.

Hill posted fun family videos of her daughter and her decorating the Christmas tree and has used influencer introduction trends to share her message.

Shana Krochmal, director of communications for Hill's campaign, said it's easy to mistake jumping on a viral trend for making genuine connections with voters. The campaign's most successful social posts have focused on substantial issues, she noted, such as the "Policy in 60 seconds" series and its promised follow-up to answer any questions followers leave in comments.

"We trust our audience is smart enough to understand that Alexis is a real person who can laugh at herself and be silly on socials — but they desperately want candidates to hear what they're actually worried about and give real answers," Krochmal said. "Check the comments on a candidate's post to know what voters actually think."

Pain said "campaigns now operate in a 'hybrid media system' where they strategically combine traditional and digital channels rather than relying on one."

New challenges

Chris Borek, a professor of political science at Muhlenberg College, said that as campaigns have leveraged the power of the internet, they've zeroed in on smaller-scale influencers to micro-target voters. 

The concern, he said, lies in candidates bypassing the vetting and contextualizing of claims by traditional media.

"It's a chance for individuals to share their views in direct ways, and that's part of a broader discourse. I would always caution that it undervalues the historic and key role of the media in a democracy," Borek said. "The idea that there's not loss is really problematic."

For UNLV's Miller, politicians leaning into alternative outreach methods are also responding to declines in newspaper readership or engagement with traditional outlets. Direct interactions with voters allow candidates to more easily share their messages, but they also mean less transparency, context and oversight, he added. 

Pain said hesitancy to engage with the press or answer follow-up questions may erode public trust, though the consequences aren't immediately discernible.

"Candidates don't need the press in the same way they did 20 years ago — but they still absolutely need the press," Pain said. "The relationship has shifted from dependence to a more complex mix of bypassing, shaping, and leveraging journalism."