Caracal Daily | November 20

Caracal Daily is geopolitical business news + intelligence for comms pros.

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Happy Wednesday.

Here’s today’s Caracal Daily:

*** Ross Rant ***

Key findings from Pew Research Center on "news influencers"

A new study by the Pew Research Center provides actionable insights into the emerging ecosystem of social media news influencers. This unique Pew study offers a deeper understanding of the makeup and audience of the news influencer universe.

The research reveals transformative shifts in news consumption patterns based on an analysis of 500 influencers (selected from 28,000 accounts) and a nationally representative survey.

The Pew study found significant power in news influencers, with 21% of Americans—notably 37% of those under 30—regularly consuming news through these channels. 

The research exposes a stark demographic skew, with men comprising nearly two-thirds of news influencers. Most significantly, 75% of these influencers operate independently of traditional media organizations, indicating a fundamental restructuring of news creation and distribution channels.

For this study, Pew defined a news influencer as individuals who regularly post about current events and civic issues on social media and have at least 100,000 followers on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X (formerly Twitter), or YouTube.

The Pew Research Center's reputation for methodological rigor and nonpartisan analysis lends particular weight to these findings. As a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts, the Research Center maintains strict independence and abstains from policy advocacy, ensuring unbiased insights. Their computational social science approach, combining large-scale account analysis with demographic research, provides executives with actionable intelligence on this emerging media and news dissemination phenomenon.

This new study deserves close attention from business leaders as it illuminates profound shifts in information dissemination channels that will impact corporate communications, marketing strategies, and public opinion formation in the years ahead.

Pew's research and analysis is peerless. They cover numerous topics important to the C-suite and are always must-reads.

Here are the top 10 highlights:

1. Scale: About one in five Americans (21%) regularly get news from social media influencers, rising to 37% among adults under 30.

2. Platform Distribution: 85% of news influencers have accounts on X (formerly Twitter), followed by Instagram (50%), YouTube (44%), Facebook (32%), and TikTok (27%).

3. Demographics: 63% of news influencers are men, 30% are women, and there is a notable gender gap across all platforms except TikTok, which maintains near parity.

4. Political Orientation: 27% of influencers explicitly identify as right-leaning versus 21% as left-leaning, with the remainder expressing other views (3%) or no clear orientation (48%).

5. Industry Background: 77% of news influencers have no traditional media background, representing a significant shift toward independent content creation.

6. Monetization: 59% of news influencers monetize their presence through subscriptions (49%), donations (29%), or merchandise sales (21%).

7. Content Focus: 55% of news-related posts focus on politics and government, followed by social issues (18%) and international affairs (14%).

8. Cross-Platform Presence: Two-thirds of influencers maintain presence on multiple platforms, with 27% active on five or more platforms.

9. Alternative Distribution: 34% host podcasts, and 22% maintain newsletters, indicating diversification beyond social platforms.

10. Audience Trust: 65% of Americans who follow news influencers say they help them better understand current events, with 70% finding their content different from traditional news sources.

You can access the complete study here. 

*** Globalization + Geopolitics ***

VOA: Cracks emerge in G20 consensus over Ukraine as US ramps up aid

G20: Germany's Scholz voices regret over final communique: DW reports Chancellor Olaf Scholz has expressed frustration over a lack of clarity on Russia's responsibility for the war in Ukraine and Hamas's for the conflict in the Middle East.

+ Europeans at the G20 summit criticized the decision of Brazil’s president and the host, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, to issue a mealy-mouthed communiqué about the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

A nostalgic Biden fades out of the picture in talks with world leaders: As he made his final appearance at global gatherings, including at the Group of 20 summit in Brazil, President Biden lobbied for his foreign policy goals even as leaders shifted attention away from him. NYT

Trump isn’t at the G20 summit, but he’s dominating the debate: Foreign leaders gathered in Rio seem doubtful that Biden’s trade, climate, and security policies will endure. WSJ

Bloomberg: Can golf help tame Trump at G20? The next host is already asking

+ South African President Ramaphosa to host 2025 G20 when Trump will return

+ Trudeau shared his painful experience from a past summit

For Russia, nuclear weapons are the ultimate bargaining chip: NYT reports the Ukraine war has not only shattered millions of lives and shaken Europe. It also has inured Washington to the use of nuclear threats as leverage.

Macron urges Putin to 'listen to reason' on Ukraine: Le Monde reports Russia has reacted furiously to a decision by US President Joe Biden to change policy on Ukraine and allow Kyiv to use US-supplied long-range missiles to strike Russian territory for the first time. The tensions spiraled further on Tuesday after Russia said Ukraine used the missiles against a facility in Russia's Bryansk region.

Zelenskyy groans over Scholz’s call with Putin during speech to EU Parliament: Politico reports: “While some leaders think about some elections, Putin is focused on winning this war,” Ukraine’s president tells MEPs on 1,000th day of all-out war.

Russia-Austria gas dispute stokes fears of new energy crisis: DW reports Gazprom cut gas deliveries to Austria nation in a row over compensation linked to previous supply issues. DW explores how the disruption could affect energy security in Europe this winter.

Germany will reportedly begin delivering “several hundred” one-way attack drones to Ukraine in December, German newspaper Bild reported recently.

Reuters: Xi asks Germany's Scholz to help resolve issue of EU tariffs on Chinese EVs

USA-PHI: Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin signed a new defense pact with the Philippines.

Farmers descended on Westminster – some in their tractors – to protest Rachel Reeves’s decision to impose inheritance tax on farms worth more than £1m.

Reuters: Italian lawmakers urge government to scale back crypto, web tax plans

Le Pen’s protégé hints at presidential ambitions: The Times reports as the party leader’s embezzlement trial continues, its chairman Jordan Bardella said that candidates for parliament should not have criminal convictions.

Five Brazilian officers accused of plot to murder President Lula: The Times reports the suspects detained over an alleged plot in 2022 to kill the president before he took up his post include military personnel and a federal police officer.

Venezuela: US recognizes Gonzalez as 'president-elect': DW reports the move comes four months after incumbent Nicolas Maduro's controversial election win. Venezuela called the decision "ridiculous."

Bloomberg: US is now calling González the president-elect of Venezuela

+ Blinken has briefed US partners about decision at G20

+ Biden administration to refrain from ‘rightful president’ term

AP: Residents in Haiti’s capital stand with police in a battle to repel the latest gang attack

***  US Politics + Elections ***

Independent: Trump claims he has an ‘unprecedented’ mandate. Experts say it’s actually very small

+ Trump doesn’t have the mandate he thinks he does, presidential historians tell Richard Hall — and Democrats should stop acting like he does

+ Trump’s margin of victory, historically speaking, is very small. Although he may have won handily in the Electoral College by 312 to 226, he is estimated to win the popular vote by around 1.6 percent. That puts him in 16th place among post-Second World War presidential victories

Trump ignores transition rules. It’s a ‘hostile takeover,’ ally says. WP reports since his victory, the president-elect has not followed many of the practices intended to guide a seamless transfer of power.

CEOs brace for the chaos of another four years of Trump: The return of trade wars and governance-by-tweet. Bloomberg

+ “To my knowledge, there are no ‘national emergency’ authorities which permit the US military to carry out deportations.” -- Aaron Reichlin-Melnick of the American Immigration Council 

Documents with damaging Gaetz testimony accessed in apparent breach: WP reports the file contains unredacted sworn testimony from a woman who said Trump’s attorney general pick paid her for sex when she was 17, said a person who was notified of the hack.

Commerce: Trump says he has chosen Howard Lutnick, chief executive of Cantor Fitzgerald, as his nominee for Commerce secretary.

Bloomberg: Trump picks Cantor Fitzgerald’s Lutnick as commerce chief

+ Executive will help lead tariff and trade agenda under Trump

+ President-elect still weighing choices for Treasury secretary

Why the crypto community loves Howard Lutnick, Trump’s pick for Commerce secretary: If confirmed, Lutnick will be in regular talks with CEOs in the business community—and could be an influential evangelist of crypto acceptance. FC

Linda McMahon is expected to be named as secretary of the Department of Education.

Trump’s treasury challenge: A pick who loves tariffs yet calms markets: NYT reports the president-elect is considering a conflicting mix of qualities as he decides who will steer his economic agenda.

Walmart says Trump’s proposed tariffs could increase prices: FC reports Trump’s tariffs could raise prices on clothing, toys, furniture, appliances, footwear, and travel goods, particularly items where China is a major supplier, per the National Retail Federation, a trade group of which Walmart’s US head is the chair.

Bloomberg: Trump team targets auto mileage rules he blasted as ‘EV mandate’

+ Administration plans to ease policies pushing electrification

+ Plan echoes first-term push to dismantle efficiency standards

Tulsi Gabbard vs. Trump’s first term: As Director of National Intelligence would she underestimate security threats to dodge hard policy choices? WSJ - Editorial

With Musk in tow, Trump eyes changes to government policies on AI and its dangers: Donald Trump is poised to enter the White House for the second time. His agenda will include overseeing the development of artificial intelligence, potentially the most powerful technology of our time. CNN

The US Patent and Trademark Office banned staff from using generative AI: Wired reports the agency dedicated to protecting new innovations prohibited almost all internal use of GenAI tools, though employees can still participate in controlled experiments.

US government commission pushes Manhattan Project-style AI initiative: Reuters reports a congressional commission on Tuesday proposed a Manhattan Project-style initiative to fund the development of AI systems that will be as smart or smarter than humans, amid intensifying competition with China over advanced technologies. The bipartisan US-China Economic and Security Review Commission stressed that public-private partnerships are key in advancing artificial general intelligence, but did not give any specific investment strategies as it released its annual report.

Meta opens its AI models for the (US) military but will the second Trump administration see AI as a friend or foe? IEEE

Bloomberg: Nippon Steel’s Mori to meet with Pennsylvania Governor Shapiro

+ Japanese steelmaker’s move aims to sway influential Biden ally

+ Mori to make pitch that deal is good for Pennsylvania workers

San Francisco’s mayor-elect picks Sam Altman to co-chair transition team: FC reports Daniel Lurie wants to rebuild the city’s relationships with tech and business leaders. Altman can certainly help on that front.

Reuters: OpenAI's Sam Altman becomes latest tech executive involved in San Francisco government

Comcast greenlights $7 billion spinoff of NBCUniversal cable channels: WSJ reports the new venture will house channels like E!, USA and MSNBC; company to announce several leadership changes.

FC: 80 million Americans are expected to travel this Thanksgiving

*** Disruption + Innovation ***

How Mark Zuckerberg has fully rebuilt Meta around Llama Fortune

+ Zuckerberg has pushed Meta to build Llama into all its products and services, including its Orion augmented reality glasses.

Rox, a startup working on developing artificial intelligence-powered agents for salespeople, has launched with $50 million in funding from investors including Sequoia Capital and General Catalyst.

Artificial intelligence models are getting better at predicting the paths of hurricanes: Earlier this year, a model called GraphCast from Google’s DeepMind AI lab was able to accurately predict the path of Hurricane Beryl, forecasting that it’d take a turn away from Mexico and hit Texas. That prediction was correct — and came a week earlier than conventional meteorological models.

AI can learn to think before it speaks: Advances in reasoning will lead to substantially improved capabilities in mathematics and science. Yoshua Bengio

50: Foxconn said that AI-specific servers will comprise 50% of its total server revenue next year, citing “very crazy” demand for access to Nvidia’s AI chips.

Jaguar’s controversial rebrand is bringing the car into the EV era: The automaker ditched its iconic jaguar symbol for a logo that has left some people scratching their heads. FC

How Chinese is Shein? For the fast-fashion giant, nationality has become a vexed question. Economist

Milan beats London and New York as home to most expensive shopping street: FT reports rents on Via Monte Napoleone have jumped as tax break schemes lure the super-rich.

The Guggenheim, one of the art world’s most famous museums, gets its first true logo: FC reports designed by Pentagram, the new visual identity is a nod to the museum’s ever-expanding art empire.

*** Culture ***

Why you crave your evening glass of wine — and struggle to stop at one: It’s a surprisingly common midlife problem yet alcohol-use disorder has serious health risks. Maria Lally

Jon Batiste can’t stop thinking about Beethoven: Batiste’s latest album is a return to his classical music roots — on his terms. Hear him improvise on some of Beethoven’s classics. NYT

*** Sport ***

Rafael Nadal’s illustrious professional tennis career is officially over: TA reports Spain was eliminated from the Davis Cup, ending the career of one of the sport’s most successful players.

Jaylen Brown is taking on Nike with $200 sneakers: The Celtics star wants to rethink the way athletes do business with footwear giants. Bloomberg

The Times: Pep Guardiola expected to sign new one-year contract at Manchester City


Enjoy the ride + plan accordingly.

-Marc 

Marc A. Ross | Chief Communications Strategist @ Caracal