SPRINGFIELD, (AP) To deliver his first extensive remarks on the contentious Dakota Access oil pipeline, all the new North Dakota governor needed was a camera and a Facebook account. The simplicity of the setup spared Republican Gov. Doug Burgum from having to answer questions from reporters on Thursday and allowed him to convey his thoughts unfiltered and unchallenged by the press. It's a strategy that's been used for a while by governors, state lawmakers and other elected officials in more tech-savvy states and becoming increasingly popular among new-to-politics officeholders, such as Burgum, Illinois Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and, of course, President-elect Donald Trump, who heavily relies on Twitter to share his thoughts. By making social media platforms the first stop to announce or react to events in a controlled setting, the politicians are bypassing the press — who would call into question assertions made at news conferences — and taking their message to where their audience is most likely to be engaged. "Politicians are always trying to communicate with potential voters. They want to get a message out and they want to tell the story the way they want to tell it," said Christopher Mooney, director of the Institute of Government and Public Affairs at the University of Illinois. This week, Democratic U.S. Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced her run for New Mexico governor in a YouTube video. In Utah, Republican Gov. Gary Herbert declared on Twitter he was pulling his support for Trump after a video surfaced in October of the businessman making lewd remarks about women. Some House Republicans in Colorado film a YouTube message every week during the legislative session because "we can't be sure how it will be covered," House GOP spokesman Joel Malecka said. A July report from the Pew Research Center on Journalism and Media found that 44 percent of U.S. adults said social media was the platform that informed them of events in the 2016 presidential election during a week in January. About 29 percent said they relied on a local print newspaper.
