Sure, I don't disagree with that. But the existence of a backchannel is notable in itself and as far as I know wasn't publicly acknowledged.

It’s surprising that the teams around the most powerful political office in the country have communication lines open with media corporations?

That doesn’t strike me as notable or surprising at all, even if it’s new information.

For this to be surprising, I think one would have to implicitly believe one of a few things:

1) Twitter isn’t a meaningful political battleground, 2) politicians don’t know it’s an important political battleground, or 3) Twitter should treat a content report from “newuser18472” the same as a report from a notable organization or individual.

Reasonable things to believe, but IMO not surprising at all to find out they’re false.