Not only are top officials on TV and social media constantly; they are bypassing all the usual media filters to do it. They do live interviews, podcasts and social-media posts and videos.

A false social media post suggesting Trump was considering a 90-day pause for tariffs on all countries, except China, caused a brief upswing in U.S. stocks.

However, this election cycle seems to be generating a fresh reality: The relationship between news outlets and politicians, commonly referred to as the political-media complex, seems to be on the ...