The Scoop
The Daily Mail is ramping up its political coverage in advance of the 2024 election and bringing two new columnists: Donald Trump’s former counselor and campaign manager Kellyanne Conway, as well as Michael Wolff, the media writer and author of Fire and Fury.
“I am excited to pen a regular column at such a pivotal moment in our nation’s history,” Conway said in a statement first shared with Semafor. “Just as I do on Fox News and Fox Nation, my goal will be to push past the soundbites to provide a substantive look at the issues, ideas, individuals and images that readers crave.”
Conway, reviled by Democrats and so close to Trump that she spoke at the Republican National Convention this summer, is part of a complicated and high-profile political household. Wolff’s coverage shaped the narrative of an out-of-control Trump White House and of an tumultuous Fox News.
Kellyanne’s ex-husband George Conway is a key player at the Bulwark, one of the election’s breakout success stories, while her daughter Claudia Conway has emerged as a social media start and influencer who supports liberal causes.
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The Daily Mail has grown its footprint in the US media market since launching in America a decade ago, and has aggressively asserted itself as a player in this election cycle with coverage of the presidential race and exclusive reporting on Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff. The tabloid published stories asserting that he had an affair during a previous marriage, tolerated a misogynistic workplace, and got into a physical altercation with an ex-girlfriend. Other media outlets have not matched the Mail’s reporting, and the campaign denied the allegations in a statement to Semafor.
The publication brings splashy London tabloid values, and while its lens tilts right, it doesn’t have the history of playing directly in electoral politics in the United States the way it does in the United Kingdom, or the way Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News and New York Post do in the US. So far, it appears mostly to be playing hard for online audience, competing at least as much with TMZ as with Fox News.
The FWIW newsletter, which chronicles digital politics and is backed by Democratically-aligned Courier Newsroom, noted that the Daily Mail’s TikTok account has also had some of the biggest posts of the election cycle that have reflected poorly on Harris.
The digital tabloid celebrated its growth this week at a rooftop party in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, where rapper Common performed a medley of songs laced with shoutouts to the Daily Mail. In a pitch to advertisers in attendance, the publication’s leadership touted its large online reach, recent push into digital video, and slate of editorial hires and political columnists.