When President Donald Trump announced he would accept a $400 million custom, luxury Boeing 747 from the Qatari royal family, and use it as a new, temporary Air Force One, there was uproar from not only ethics experts and Democrats, but also Republicans and alternative media influencers in Trump’s orbit.
Criticism from the right started with right-wing podcaster Ben Shapiro, who has a massive online following with more than 30 million subscribers across YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other audio platforms.
On his podcast, Shapiro expressed concern about Qatar’s relationship with the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas, and went so far as to say, “If you want President Trump to succeed, this kind of skeezy stuff needs to stop” and “I think if we switched the names to Hunter Biden and Joe Biden, we’d all be freaking out on the right.”
After Shapiro’s comments, far-right MAGA influencer Lara Loomer entered the fray on X and the New York Post penned an editorial entitled, “Qatar’s ‘Palace in the Sky’ jet is NOT a ‘free gift’ — and Trump shouldn’t accept it as one.”
That got us thinking, in this moment, who had greater reach and influence? Ben Shapiro, a right-wing alternative media podcaster, or the New York Post? New school vs. Old school.
Here’s what the numbers say across YouTube, X, and BlueSky:
As the above graphic shows, Shapiro has far more influence and reach on this topic than the New York Post, including 6x more engagements, 9x more people discussing and sharing the content, and 7x the total potential reach across the online media landscape.
As communicators and public affairs practitioners, we consider this episode a vivid example of the power of alternative voices and media sources to shape news cycles. Global Strategy Group recently released our 2025 Media Consumption Report, which highlights the explosive growth of podcasts over the last several years.
At the same time, no news source – social media, traditional media, or new media – is completely trusted by more than 22% of Americans, so the lesson is not to write off traditional media. If anything, it’s never mattered more for savvy communicators and public affairs professionals to think holistically about how information spreads and to include podcasters and influencers as a part of their media outreach alongside traditional outlets for a truly comprehensive strategy.