By Denise Brogan-Kator: I believe it is especially important at this time in our struggle to be part of the American story to counter the negative and destructive narrative that some legislators and far right commentators have been spinning out these past several months.
For the debut edition of our ongoing feature, columnist David Lieberman looks at radio giant iHeart Media’s controversial choice of election denier Tudor Dixon as its latest talk show talent. Lieberman also unpacks Truth Social’s rocky finances and the big paydays for Salem executives while shareholder value tanked.
By Howard Polskin: Truth Social appears stuck in rut bigger than a Trump International sand trap. Since launching a little more than a year ago, the conservative-friendly social media platform has barely grown its audience, according to our exclusive research based on Comscore data.
By Kevin Howley: Like any serviceable wingnut conspiracy, the antiwoke crusade neatly accounts for recent calamities, while presciently anticipating every eventuality. (Image: Pixabay)
By J. Max Robins: Rupert Murdoch has a history of dictatorially jettisoning his most potent Fox News stars when they become liabilities. That’s what happened with Glenn Beck when he sailed off the reality rails with his rallies and proto-QAnon conspiracy mongering. Likewise, Bill O’Reilly, when he got caught up in multiple sex scandals. (Image: Flickr)
By Michael Lovito: Vibrant in illustration but crude in content, what cartoonist George Alexopoulos describes as his “current events strips” take aim at the abortion rights movement, the LGBTQ community, vaccine mandates, and even progressive trends in the comics industry with a vicious, spiteful tone that aims to provoke.
By Kevin Howley: His brand of extremism is genuinely disturbing. The Florida governor has made no secret of his capacity for crass opportunism, press intimidation, and political payback. (Image: Wikimedia Commons)
By David Andrew Stoler: Thirty-three-year-old Michael Knowles is going to play the role as written, and right now the Right demands outrage from its podcast hosts. Knowles is so good at it, one can’t help but wonder if he’s got his eyes on a bigger prize: that of public office. (Image: Flickr)
By Jaden Satenstein: Since losing her reelection campaign last month, Chicago’s mayor has been a target of right wing media looking to tear down a Black gay woman. Powerful Black women like Lori Lightfoot represent a direct threat to the systemic and structural forms of racism that right wing media uphold, and scorn is the only way they know to strike back. (Image: Flickr)
By David Lieberman: Salem shares fell more than 22 percent March 10 after it warned that revenues in the current quarter could decline from the same period in 2022. Despite its relatively small size, the publicly traded company offers one of the clearest insights into the financial health of right-wing media.
By J. Max Robins: Want a weekly sampling of vintage Tucker Carlson nationalist whines, without having to hate-watch his Fox News gabfest? Then let 23-year-old Kat Abughazaleh be your ultra-right-media sommelier.
By Kevin Howley: Of all her stunts, provocations and protestations, Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Presidents’ Day call for a national divorce is the most insidious.
By Michael Lovito: Despite its title, the Hungarian Conservative is an exclusively English-language journal and doesn’t limit its pool of contributors to Hungarians. Recently published authors include The American Conservative’s Rod Dreher. Former Margaret Thatcher speechwriter John O’Sullivan is one of the journal’s editors-at-large.
By Howard Polskin: In the 11-month period following the contentious 2020 presidential election, traffic to Foxnews.com cratered, while the audience to Newsmax grew dramatically. It was the realization of the fear that Tucker Carlson had expressed to his producer.
By David Andrew Stoler: The former Fox News and NBC News anchor is, above all, a preeminent “media personality” who knows her audience, and the fact that she was booted for her racist views dovetails nicely with the current Republican focus on the culture wars.
By Kevin Howley: Last month, Tucker Carlson dismissed the House Select Committee’s findings and downplayed the significance of the J6 insurrection, describing it as “a forgettably minor outbreak…” Carlson’s gift for understatement tells you all you need to know about what his “investigation” will uncover.
By Jaden Satenstein: Those who are still happily aboard the Trump train have unleashed nasty attacks on Haley for daring to challenge their leader. And, it seems, for daring to be a woman of color.
By David Andrew Stoler: For such a prodigious podcast, it is also almost unlistenable, filled with non-sequiturs, twisted metaphors, and seemingly random sound bites. There have been more than 2500 episodes!
By Kevin Howley: According to conservative news outlets and affiliated media hysterics, if you’ve been on the receiving end of a Covid jab, you’re one heartbeat away from eternity.
By Michael Lovito: The Florida Standard and Florida’s Voice, two right-leaning news sites covering the Sunshine State, aren’t just a pair of new publications catering to conservatives skeptical of mainstream media. They are two pieces of a larger strategy by Florida Republicans to reshape the state’s media landscape.
By Kevin Howley: Tradwives aren’t simply rejecting feminism, they’re waging a war against a radical left agenda that promotes reproductive rights, critical race theory, gender affirmative care, and an assault weapons ban.
By David Andrew Stoler: She knows how to step blandly into a controversy, yes; and there’s no need to guess why an attractive podcaster who is both Black and keen to propagate the finest White Supremacy sentiment might become popular with the Far Right. But to delve much deeper into her podcasts is to find yourself hitting bottom right quick
By J. Max Robins: Since its launch in 2019, The First has been a kind of witness protection program channel for a murderer’s row of mostly past-their-prime-pundits. Recently, however, The First’s fortunes brightened. Late last month, DirecTV announced it would carry the conservative network, making it available to its more than 13 million subscribers.
