Before the first prime-time hearing of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol nearly two months ago, U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin asserted that the new revelations would “blow the roof off the house.” The committee established high expectations — and needed to deliver.
After more than a month of public hearings, it’s difficult to refute Raskin’s assertion. The committee meticulously and methodically painted a picture of the extent to which former President Donald Trump abdicated every responsibility he carried as president before, during and after Jan. 6.
Both prerecorded and live witnesses — from former assistant to chief of staff Mark Meadows, Cassidy Hutchinson, to former Attorney General Bill Barr, to Trump’s own family member Ivanka Trump — underscored that the former president was informed countless times that he lost the election and about the violence at the Capitol. Not only did he fail to act (in fact, he watched television for hours during the insurrection), but continued to refuse his defeat.
After eight hearings, there is no clearer justification for why Trump must never hold office again. Yet, as effective as the hearings have been, the time between now and the next hearing in September (the exact date remains unknown) will be just as critical in reaching Americans — particularly young people — ahead of the midterm election. Fortunately, everything the committee has done to date places it in the perfect position to reach — and convince — millions more Americans.
But whether the committee achieves that depends on how they do it.
Following two impeachment hearings of former President Donald Trump — which people criticized for telling rather than showing — the committee understood that it needed to engage its audience. With the help of individuals like former president of ABC News James Goldston to assist on the production side, the committee did exactly that.
Unlike Trump’s first impeachment hearings, the Jan. 6 hearings went beyond telling viewers what happened. They showed viewers what happened. For instance, rather than having every witness testify live, the committee relied heavily on prerecorded videos of Trump administration officials. This enabled the committee to seamlessly interweave prerecorded and live testimony into the larger narrative arc of Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election.
While the first round of the hearings reached a high number of people — over 20 million viewers watched the first hearing through television networks and millions more through platforms like YouTube and other social media sites — the committee must reach more. In particular, it must reach more of my peers who may not fully appreciate the gravity of what happened on Jan. 6. Fortunately, now is the perfect window.
The simplest place to start is by re-airing hearings on news networks. During Watergate, the Senate hearings were telecast live during the day and were replayed at night. The purpose was so that those who couldn’t watch the hearings during the day could tune in at night. And it worked. But what worked during Watergate may not necessarily work now. For one, there were only three major networks, limiting ways to access information. And the majority of Americans watched the same news stations because there wasn’t much else to watch.
Today, not only are there more avenues to access information, but the majority of Americans, especially young people, don’t watch cable news. Consider that during the first Jan. 6 hearing less than 1 million of the viewers were between ages 18 and 34. That is why, in addition to replaying the hearings on cable networks, the committee must display the hearings where more of my peers access information — social media and streaming services.
With over 70% of America using social media — and 97% of young people on social media — the Jan. 6 committee should take moments from the hearings and amplify them not only on Twitter and Instagram but also on platforms like TikTok, Snapchat and Twitch. But given the waning attention span — especially among young people — the committee can’t just post any moment. It must post short yet engaging portions of the hearings. That will be key in getting through to my generation.
In the same vein, the Jan. 6 committee should package all the hearings and post them as a show on as many streaming platforms — Netflix, Hulu and HBO Max, to name a few — as possible. The data for doing so is compelling: 85% of households in America have at least one video subscription service and more than 60% of young adults rely on streaming services to watch TV. All the committee has to do is reformat the first round of hearings into a television series.
What will ultimately determine if the Jan. 6 committee does its job isn’t whether it reaches or convinces those who follow politics and the hearings closely. It depends on whether it reaches and persuades the majority of Americans — particularly my peers — about the threat Trump poses to democracy and the need to vote. By airing the hearings in most or all of the many places where people access information, I believe the committee can do so. After all, the future of democracy depends on it.
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ABOUT THE WRITER
Victor Shi, a junior at the University of California at Los Angeles, co-hosts the “iGen Politics” podcast.
