IIn the past few months, Donald Trump has been making waves with a number of podcasters, including right-wing Twitch streamer Adin Ross, Dr. Phil, comedian Theo Fung, computer scientist Lex Fridman, and YouTuber Logan Paul. I conducted an interview with. Red Pill Podcast Tour”.
He constantly posts on his social media platform ‘Truth Social’. He created a live space on Twitter/X with the platform’s owner, Elon Musk. He spoke with Fox’s Laura Ingraham, called Fox & Friends, and spoke with other Fox hosts and personalities.
His media strategy is consistent with the current state of right-wing media. Fox remains a powerful news source, but for the most MAGA supporters, it’s not Trump-like enough, even as some of its hosts embrace election denialism. Instead, we’re seeing more fragmentation thanks to influencers and lesser-known media built around Trumpism.
This is the first election since Tucker Carlson, once the loudest voice in Fox’s prime-time spots, was reportedly fired by the network, but so far his solo efforts have been limited to It has not become a prominent presence. It is also the first election since the death of longtime Republican stalwart Rush Limbaugh. These major changes have left a hole in right-wing media that has been filled by an increase in influencers, content creators, and small publishers.
Adrianna Muñoz, 58, of Queens, New York, who attended a Trump rally in the Bronx earlier this year, mostly follows YouTube, X, and conservative commentators such as Tim Poole and Trump. He told the Guardian that he gets his news from sources such as Mr. benny johnson.
“I watched TV news every morning on network news and local news channels in New York,” she said. “I don’t do that now. I’m sold out. They won’t tell me the truth. I don’t want to hear that crap.”
Julie Millikan, deputy director of Media Matters, a progressive center that tracks conservative media, said President Trump’s grip on right-wing media is ironclad. She said Republicans and their candidates used to copy right-wing media and adjust their policies that way, but now the media is following Mr. Trump.
I used to watch TV news every morning on network news and local news channels, but not anymore. Sold out. they won’t tell you the truth. I don’t want to hear such nonsense
Adriana Muñoz
“If you don’t give in to what Mr. Trump and his enablers and his supporters are asking for, they’re going to shut you out,” Millikan said. She added that his influence has only increased since his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, and that “he now has greater control over the entire media ecosystem than he did before.”
As right-wing news organizations rise to prominence, the stories they cover become even more divergent from mainstream news, and the bubble that exists within America’s divided America becomes even more acute. Where before, you would see different takes on the day’s news in left-wing and right-wing news outlets, Millikan said, now you’re seeing stories that only existed in right-wing media.
“Every day feels like a new conspiracy or a new attack and it’s hard to even keep up with it anymore,” she said. “If you listen to someone who only watches right-wing media, half the time you won’t understand what they’re saying.”
TV news and right-wing websites
Traffic to news websites, including right-wing sites, is down compared to 2020. Howard Polskin, who tracks conservative media on his site The Righting, said several factors are at play in the decline. Facebook and other meta-social media currently de-emphasize news content, resulting in less traffic to news organizations. And in 2020, several major news events coincided: a pandemic that pushed people online more, nationwide protests over racial justice, and a hotly contested election.
Polskin tracks monthly visits to right-wing sites and creates traffic reports. Top 10 for August 2024: Fox, Outkick (sports and commentary site owned by Fox), Newsmax, Epoch Times, National Review, Washington Times, Daily Wire, TheBlaze, Washington Examiner, Daily Caller. Gateway Pundit isn’t far behind, and InfoWars, the once-maligned site led by bankrupt conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, is also in the top 20.
No star has ever dethroned Carlson or Limbaugh. Some conservatives told the Guardian that they stopped watching Fox frequently after Carlson left, or because the network wasn’t MAGA enough. Fox has agreed to pay $787 million to settle a lawsuit from Dominion Voting Systems over defamation claims for spreading falsehoods about the voting machine company’s role in the 2020 election. Carlson abruptly left the network shortly after the settlement, and claims his termination was a result of the settlement.
Frank Lipsett, a 63-year-old housing supervisor from the South Bronx, said he watches Fox because it’s “not saying it’s perfect, but it’s the most honest and most informative news organization.” spoke.
Like many on the right, he stopped reading mainstream newspapers. The reason is that “newspapers do not tell the truth.” He said he sometimes reads the New York Post, a right-wing tabloid owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, the same owner as Fox.
Another newspaper, The Epoch Times, is a far-right, anti-China news outlet linked to Falun Gong and is currently being sued by the Justice Department for allegedly operating as a money laundering and cryptocurrency scam. Despite this, it continues to be ranked highly among conservative news organizations. That story is often shared by right-wing politicians and influencers. “Their cultural and political influence appears to be much smaller than their distribution,” Polski said.
Karleen, 58, an Upper East Side native who attended a Trump rally in the Bronx, gets her news from The Epoch Times, Daily Wire and He said there are also.
“I’ve been watching less Fox News since they fired Tucker Carlson,” she said. “I’ve come to believe that Fox is just like everyone else.”
For Republicans who have little interest online, talk radio shows, especially those airing in rural areas, play a strong role in conveying conservative messages. At a time when local newspapers are closing and local news is in jeopardy, these radio shows are “reaching voters who don’t have access to the media spaces more common in big cities on both coasts.” Tripodi said.
To fill Fox’s hole on TV, some conservatives are turning to Newsmax and One American News Network, which are more to the right than Fox.
“One American News Network and Newsmax have done a very good job of establishing themselves as the place to verify President Trump’s statements,” Tripodi said.
David Fiedler, 67, of Rock County, Wisconsin, told the Guardian on the Republican National Committee’s “Protect the Vote” tour in September that he and his wife don’t watch Fox or local news, but they He said he streams podcasts. Watch the Daily Wire or the right-wing video platform Rumble.
“The biggest news we watch is Newsmax,” he said.
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podcasts and influencers
Right-wing news consumers are seeing a growing landscape of podcasts, YouTube channels, Substack newsletters, documentary filmmakers, and social media influencers trying to gain followers beyond television and news sites. You’ll notice.
“For every journalist who gets fired, there’s a new Substack,” Polskin said. “And that just fragments the news audience even further.”
There are many conservative names at the top of Spotify and Apple’s podcast charts, including Sean Ryan, Candace Owens, Carlson, and Megyn Kelly.
Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro has his own podcast, and his network, the Daily Wire, features some of the most influential right-wing commentators. “In terms of influence and power in the media world, to me he’s at the top of the field,” Millikan said. Polskin called Shapiro “the 800-pound gorilla of right-wing podcasting.”
Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, is also a key player. His organization focuses on making conservative college age groups, and in addition to a podcast and social media presence, he has been touring college campuses across the country in recent months.
“He’s almost become like his own authoritative media figure. You’ll never actually see him on Fox News, though. His audience tends to be quite older.” Millikan said.
Steve Bannon doesn’t have a huge share of the podcast market and is currently in prison for defying a Congressional subpoena related to the January 6 investigation, but his War Room show has made a huge impact on the right. It gives great influence. He has hosted big-name right-wing politicians and still has President Trump’s ear, but he’s never been in Polski’s top 20.
“Thanks to him, Project 2025 came to our attention last year because he hosted people involved in writing Project 2025 and is one of the early backers promoting the main tenants of the project. Because they were people,” Millican said. “It’s a smaller audience, but it’s still an influential one.”
Additionally, there are conspiracy-based websites and social media accounts from unknown creators, such as End Wokeness, that spread right-wing attack lines that can filter through to the mainstream.
David Jansen, who attended a Trump town hall event in La Crosse, Wisconsin in August, was a member of the platform founded by pillow salesman and election conspiracy theorist Mike Lindell, a conservative organization focused on election denialism. He said he was watching Frank Speech, a platform that streams content.
In parallel with the rise of right-wing influencers and news outlets, social media platforms are loosening content moderation and making changes to the way they manage political content. Republican elected officials and outside legal groups claim a broad censorship plan is at work to limit conservative voices online, and research platforms, government officials who interact with them, and misinformation. attacking someone.
Some of the right-wing organizing takes place on closed apps like Telegram, where mainstream conservative and far-right figures have channels to share news and commentary.
The underworld of Telegram is darker than other social media. The New York Times called Telegram “a global sewer of criminal activity, disinformation, child sexual abuse content, terrorism, and racist incitement.” Neo-Nazis are using the platform to coordinate their activities, and the app’s founder, Pavel Durov, has been arrested in France on charges of aiding and abetting criminal activity on the app, Frontline reported. It is said that they have been working in a hurry since the incident.
But right-wing organizing isn’t just happening in the far corners of the internet. The fabrication and amplification of rumors about Musk’s X is on the rise, including by Musk himself, who has shared various election-related falsehoods. Trump returned to the stage last year after being ousted after the riot, but he still posts primarily to Truth Social, where he rants in all caps, shares clips from rallies and campaigns. They often repost content from right-wing media that they support.
Muñoz, a Trump rally attendee in the Bronx, uses Telegram and Truth Social. Munoz said he loves Musk and his change to X because “we can talk freely now.” “I quit Facebook and Instagram because they don’t allow conversations.”
Ed Pilkington and Alice Herman contributed reporting to this article
