Earlier this week, we filed a live, local, late-breaking report about KOCO finally learning that Ryan Walters is “considering” a run for Governor in 2026.
Toward the end of that post, I openly voiced my concern that KOCO’s story – which seemed more like an attempt to capitalize on the Ryan Walters outrage news beat than report actual news – could ignite an arms race in the local media, with all the players trying to outdo each other with their own teaser reports about Ryan’s expected candidacy.
For example:
I have a feeling this KOCO report is going to ignite a “Ryan Walters is considering a run for governor” arms race in the local media — with reporters, producers, and news directors across all stations scrambling to tease, cover, and add to the speculation, mostly so they can bask in the sweet, sweet social media outrage engagement the headline brings.
Not to give it up to myself, but it looks like my concerns were justified!