By Howard Polskin: For the week beginning July 10, I followed Trump’s voluminous Truth Social posting of links to right wing websites . Breitbart seems to have a special place in Trump’s world view, according to a review of the past seven days.
Publication: A Righting Original
Climates Denialism Heats Up as Temperatures Soar into “Unchartered Territories”
By Kevin Howley: In recent weeks, climate scientists have issued dire predictions that 2023 is on track to be the hottest year in recorded history. But the denial is strong in conservative circles. And we’re not referring to the results of the 2020 presidential election. With few exceptions, right wing media have hit peak stupidity this summer.
Conservative Audiences Boost Summer’s Most Unlikely Hit Movie
By Amanda Coopersmith: “Sound of Freedom” actor Jim Caviezel , who plays a former Homeland Security Agent who saves trafficked children, stoked controversy for the film with a number of eye-raising comments including support of Q’Anon and fringe conspiracy theories.
Is Nigel Farage the Next Tucker Carlson?
By J. Max Robins: Nigel Farage certainly checks the boxes on the job description for Raging Right-Wing Ranter. A major MAGA fanboy during The Donald’s 2016 White House run, he got up close and cozy with the campaign, forging an alliance with Brexit fellow-traveler Steve Bannon and Trump himself.
Right Wing Media’s OCD with Hunter Biden
Kevin Howley: From Hunter’s laptop to “Cocainegate,” right wing operatives cast Joe’s boy as a drug-addled liar whose political connections are the only thing standing between him and prison. A review of recent headlines castigating Joe’s boy for scurrilous behavior demonstrates the right’s obsessive-compulsive disorder with Hunter Biden.
Right Wing Media Fish for Racial Controversy in “The Little Mermaid”
By Amanda Coopersmith: The casting of Black R&B singer Halle Bailey as Ariel in 2019, a character traditionally portrayed as white, began a sustained years-long criticism of the film “The Little Mermaid” by right wing media.
Right Wing Media Tread Carefully Reporting on Tempestuous Trump
By Jon Friedman: If the right-wing media wrote damning stories about Trump, they’d not only risk incurring his well-honed wrath. They’d also risk angering his flock of followers, who might then prefer to get their brand of information from a source that had expressed total fealty to the former president.
Leading Politicians Fuel GOP Impeachment Fever Dream
By Kevin Howley: Who are GOP leaders like Ted Cruz and Jim Jordan gunning for this summer? It depends who you talk to. For some, Homeland Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is public enemy number one. For others, it’s Attorney General Merrick Garland. Still others are out to get President Joe Biden – aka the boss of the “Biden crime family.”
Right Wing Media Money Mavens Cozy Up to RFK Jr.
By David Lieberman: The Democratic candidate for president has received backing from the likes of Silicon Valley venture capitalist David Sacks, a supporter of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, as well as Omeed Malik, a contributing editor and minority owner of the Daily Caller.
Journalists on the Right Take Cronyism to New Heights
By Jon Friedman: Right wing journalists will take any bit of dirt and try to find a way to bring it to President Biden’s door – and as far as possible from Mar-a-Lago and Bedminster.
“Wokester” Pentagon Lands in the Crosshairs of Right Wing Media
By Kevin Howley: Conservatives are tearing into the Defense Department’s recruitment efforts. As this year’s Pride Month festivities wind down, it’s worth considering how right wing extremists and their hate-filled allies are targeting military personnel with their “anti-woke” demagoguery.
Gay Group with Conservative Connections Fights Against LGBTQ Rights
By Michael Lovito: Gays Against Groomers doesn’t believe that all gay or trans people are groomers – but they do believe that introducing children to concepts related to homosexuality and trans identity could make them vulnerable to sexual exploitation. Its leadership has an unmistakably right wing pedigree.
Looking Back at Kaitlan Collins’ Work as a Reporter for a Right Wing Website
By Amanda Coopersmith: Early in the CNN’s anchor career at the Daily Caller, Collins took some cheap shots at female Democratic leaders reporting cheekily that Hillary Clinton was “old as dirt” and offering advice on “how to glare like Michelle Obama.”
Cheerleading the Pride Month Backlash
By Kevin Howley: With less than two weeks left in this year’s Pride Month, right wing media are claiming victory for putting “ultra-woke” corporations, politicians, and activists on the defensive. It remains to be seen if it will have a lasting impact on corporate America’s conditional commitment to DEI.
Pride Nights Throw Major League Baseball a Nasty Curve
By Jon Friedman: MLB teams have been admirably celebrating Pride Night throughout June in ballparks. Still, the National Pastime is finding that inclusion, while a worthy pursuit, is not always easy to embrace. The sport must show that it can expand its notion of diversity when even some of its players make this goal difficult.
Heated Anti-Transgender Documentary Takes Over Twitter
By Amanda Coopersmith: Produced by The Daily Wire and released to its subscribers in 2022, “What Is a Woman” has become one of the most controversial Trump-era documentaries especially since it was released free to Twitter at the beginning of Pride Month.
Will DeSantis and Conservative Media Hold Their Fire Over Trump Now?
By Jon Friedman: Taking the long game remains a sensible political strategy. Why should DeSantis go out on a limb at this early juncture? Why risk looking reckless and stupid later? But for the righty journalists who are taking a wait-and-see attitude, out of fear, the posture stinks, pure and simple.
The Right Tunes into Mandates for AM Car Radios
By David Lieberman: Sean Hannity, whose radio show airs on more than 700 AM and FM stations, said that removal of AM in cars would be “a direct hit politically on conservative talk radio in particular, which is what most people go to AM radio to listen to.”
PublicSq Promises Woke-Free Shopping for Conservatives
By Michael Lovito: PublicSq is designed to connect conservative shoppers to online and local retailers who pledge not to support causes and organizations that have drawn the ire of right-wing commentators and consumers.
Target Is Public Enemy No. 1 This June
By Kevin Howley: There was a time when conservatives blushed at the very thought of interfering with corporate profiteering. Not anymore. Move over Disney. You too Bud Light. Target is Public Enemy No. 1 this June.
Debating Pride Night Is Our New National Pastime
By Jon Friedman: Pride Night – the practice of sports teams showing their support for the LGBTQ movement – has become a signature event on the American sports scene. The franchises and stadiums hope that these gestures will show that they recognize the place of the LGBTQ+ community and all people who understand the importance of these occasions.
This Comprehensive Guide Has Provided Tips on Inclusivity for More Than 25 Years
By Jaden Satenstein: A Q&A with Rachele Kanigel, the editor of a valuable online resource that provides guidance to journalists on how to cover multicultural communities with accuracy, nuance and sensitivity.
Right Wing Media Weigh in with Dog Whistles as Scott Runs for President
By Kevin Howley: American Thinker’s Peter Barry Chowka dropped this dog whistle about Scott. “He is what used to be called a Dark Horse in the race (no pun intended).” Not to be outdone by the racist wordplay, The Washington Free Beacon offered this head-spinning headline: “Historic Candidate: Tim Scott Would Be America’s First Black President.”
Here Is the Next Generation of Right Wing Media Stars
By Howard Polskin: Who’s the next Tucker Carlson? Or Rush Limbaugh? The conservative media watchdog group, the Media Research Center, believes it may have some answers such as investigative reporter Andrew Kerr of the Washington Free Beacon.