CiviSocial says DNC’s media failure is a warning for local governments

By AI, Created 3:00 PM UTC, May 22, 2026, /AGP/ – CiviSocial founder Sam Toles says the Democratic National Committee’s post-2024 election autopsy points to a broader communications problem now showing up in city halls nationwide. He argues local governments need to shift from press releases and paid media to creator-style, trust-based storytelling.

Why it matters: - The 2024 election exposed a gap between how institutions spend money and how people actually pay attention. - CiviSocial says local governments can no longer rely on old-school announcements, flyers and press releases if they want residents to trust and engage with them. - The stakes are public trust, turnout and whether governments can reach people in the channels they now use every day.

What happened: - Sam Toles, founder and CEO of CiviSocial, released an essay arguing that the DNC’s post-2024 autopsy identified a communications collapse that extends beyond national politics. - Toles says the Democratic Party relied on television-era tactics, consultant-led strategy and institutional media while audience attention moved to creators, podcasts, social video and personality-driven trust. - Toles said, “The problem wasn’t simply messaging. It was distribution. It was trust. It was culture. Institutions still think attention can be purchased. It has to be earned!” - The essay is titled “The DNC Autopsy Missed the Real Cause of Death: The Collapse of Institutional Media in an Algorithmic America.”

The details: - The 2024 presidential campaign spent $3.2 billion on media. - Kamala Harris outspent Donald Trump nearly two-to-one on digital platforms. - Harris still lost. - The DNC’s autopsy concludes that money can buy reach but not salience. - The Reuters Institute’s 2025 Digital News Report found that social media and video networks now reach 54% of American adults for news weekly, surpassing television and traditional news websites for the first time. - Among Americans ages 18 to 24, the shift to social and video as a primary news source rose 13 points in a single year. - Tech for Campaigns found conservative organizations consistently outspent Democratic-aligned groups on Facebook and Instagram during non-election years, building audiences while Democratic-aligned groups went dormant. - Toles has worked with local governments for two years through CiviSocial, a communications consulting and training firm focused on city and county governments in more than 20 states. - Toles says many local governments still rely on one-way announcements, institutional messaging disconnected from platform culture, reactive communications habits and systems built for press releases instead of human connection. - Toles said residents trust people more than institutions, and that local officials and workers already have built-in credibility with their communities. - The essay points to the police officer who volunteers at the Senior Center and the parks worker who tends the community garden as examples of trusted local voices. - CiviSocial wants local governments to move away from what Toles calls “digital bulletin board communications” such as static graphics, meeting notices and institutional announcements. - The company is pushing human-centered storytelling that features city managers, public works staff, firefighters, librarians and other local employees. - NextGen America’s 2024 data showed that among young voters engaged consistently throughout the year, 67% voted, compared with 54% youth turnout nationally. - Toles also said the city manager who coaches Little League and the public works director residents already know should be treated as trust-building assets, not communications liabilities. - The full essay is available upon request at civiosocial.com. - Toles’ LinkedIn and CiviSocial’s Instagram are listed in the release.

Between the lines: - The argument is bigger than one election cycle. - Toles is framing the problem as a structural shift in how trust gets built, not a temporary messaging error. - Local governments may have an advantage because they already sit closer to the people and relationships that national campaigns have to manufacture. - The release suggests institutions that keep optimizing for press releases will keep missing audiences that now expect video, personality and platform-native content.

What’s next: - CiviSocial says its work will continue helping local governments adapt their communications to a video-first, multi-platform environment. - Toles says the future of institutional communications looks more like a creator’s living room than a traditional campaign war room. - The company is positioning local governments to adopt year-round storytelling before election-style urgency becomes the only trigger for communication.

The bottom line: - CiviSocial’s message is blunt: institutions cannot buy back trust with media spending alone. They have to earn attention through people, proximity and modern distribution.