The Scoop: Political journalist Palmeri turns to YouTube to reach the ‘middle’

Political journalist Tara Palmeri is leaving startup media outlet Puck to strike out on her own YouTube.

After years of working at traditional outlets like Politico and ABC News, Palmeri is opting to create her own content, aiming for an audience that’s not necessarily defined by political sides. She’s focused on reaching “the middle,” a group seeking neutral, objective coverage that she believes is difficult to find in the podcasting landscape.

Palmeri, who was most recently at Puck, told the New York Times she values YouTube’s flexibility, allowing her to present political reporting in a direct, conversational style rather than the polished tone of legacy outlets.

She plans to be on Substack, too, with her newsletter, The Red Letter.

Palmeri said she saw an opportunity in YouTube’s push for long-form news analysis, with over a billion monthly podcast listeners. The platform’s grant program provided her with funding and resources to produce content independently. Neither Palmeri nor YouTube commented on the value of the grant.

The self-funded operation will produce about four videos per week.

“I don’t want you to go to this YouTube page and think, ‘I could have watched that on a cable channel,’” Palmeri told the Times. She aspires to “speak like a normal person,” rather than a news anchor and also “be more gritty.”

Why it matters: Palmeri’s move to YouTube shows the continued investment in independent media – for both media personalities and the brands that appear as guests.

Of course, the hands-off editing approach can also create challenges for brands. Without an editor in most instances, it can be difficult to fact-check and prevent the spread of misinformation that a legacy news outlet may have caught. Also, brands need to do their research on hosts, as many of these news-oriented podcasts tend to take divisive and partisan perspectives, whether that’s Tucker Carlson or left-leaning media collectives like MeidasTouch.

But assuming brands do their homework on the hosts, which they always should, there’s a lot to attract brands to independent media..

These news personalities have established fan bases and connections to niche audiences. Being independent also allows them to provide more authentic and unfiltered content, often bypassing the traditional editorial constraints of mainstream outlets. This enables the content creator to develop a more direct and personal connection with their audience.

Of her time at Puck, Palmeri told the Times: “It was the closest place I had gotten to me writing directly to an audience, but it was still edited in a style that was not me.” She described the tone as more “elite and impressive” than her natural voice.

That level of trust from an audience should be very attractive to brands.

Based on Palmeri’s deal with YouTube, this independent media trend is only going to get stronger. So if you’re not yet leveraging them as part of your media strategy, you’d be wise to start now.

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Casey Weldon is a reporter for PR Daily. Follow him on LinkedIn.