Sanders campaign to launch own ‘newsletter with scoops’

Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (I-Vt.) presidential campaign is launching its own newsletter filled with “scoops, insights and news nuggets” about the 2020 election. 

The “Bern Notice” newsletter launch, announced by his campaign on Wednesday, follows the senator’s recent attacks on mainstream media and its coverage of his presidential campaign.

The “Bern Notice” digital newsletter will “have all sorts of goodies,” for readers, whether “you are a journalist, an activist or a news junkie,” the description said.

NEWS: We are launching Bern Notice — the @BernieSanders‘ campaign’s digital newsletter with scoops, insights and news nuggets about the election. Subscribe at this link — and please retweet: https://t.co/azuM2VgcW7

Bern after reading…

— David Sirota (@davidsirota) August 14, 2019

Sanders doubled down on his media criticism in an email to supporters Wednesday, discussing the “corporate media’s dislike of our campaign.”

“It is no shock to me that the big networks and news organizations, which are owned and controlled by a handful or large corporations, either barely discuss our campaign or write us off when they do,” he said in the email. 

“When we trail in a poll, it gets endless coverage. When a poll is great for us, it barely gets a mention. When someone out-raises us in fundraising, it’s non-stop news.” 

Sanders said a recent wave of mergers and takeovers meant that “only a few large corporations like Verizon, AT&T, Comcast, Fox, Disney, Viacom, and CBS control the vast majority of what we see, hear, and read.”

“This is outrageous, and a real threat to our democracy,” he wrote. “Because in case you haven’t heard, these corporations have an agenda that serves their bottom line.”

Sanders, however, distanced himself from President Trump’s frequent “enemy of the people” attack on the media. 

“To me, that is an outrageous remark from a president which has the purpose of undermining American democracy. Because the truth is, a knowledgeable and informed electorate is essential to a working democracy, and the work of journalists in this country and abroad is absolutely critical to our communities and to maintaining a free society,” Sanders said. 

He added that he hopes “the coverage of this campaign generally, and our campaign specifically, changes in the weeks and months ahead.”

Sanders has a history of creating his own media as an alternative to traditional press coverage. As mayor of Burlington, Vt., Sanders hosted his own community television show speaking with members of the community and current events.