Last month, Kristin Brey, a podcaster, radio host and newspaper columnist, attended the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee as a credentialed journalist. She set up shop in a dank hockey arena, jostled in scrums with reporters for interviews and often could not get access to the floor of the convention hall because there was not enough space.
This week, she traveled to Chicago for the Democratic National Convention, under a new title. No longer labeled a journalist, Ms. Brey was now a “content creator” — better known as an influencer — and it proved to be a sizable upgrade.
She and other creators got face time with Gwen Walz, the wife of the Minnesota governor Tim Walz, aboard a private boat on Lake Michigan; they were treated to tiki bar parties and catered rooftop luncheons; they had exclusive access to two private lounges and a penthouse suite in the United Center that were stocked with free food and alcohol; and many were offered one-on-one interviews with some of the Democratic Party’s biggest names. Some of the influencers, although not Ms. Brey, received free airfare and hotel rooms.
Three of them interviewed Vice President Kamala Harris, who has not sat for a mainstream media interview since becoming her party’s nominee for president.
The two experiences were “wildly different,” noted Ms. Brey as she stood in a special box made for influencers on the convention floor on Tuesday night.
The treatment was part of an elaborate and unprecedented campaign to flood social media with positive messages about Ms. Harris and Mr. Walz as they accepted their party’s nominations this week. Democrats treated influencers like celebrities, hoping that free stuff and copious access in Chicago would reap buzzy posts on Instagram, TikTok or YouTube, the primary sources of news for a critical, and growing, slice of voters.
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