In a new piece for MSNBC, I underscore the extent to which the right is dominating the online media ecosystem — with right-wing narratives seeping into supposedly nonpolitical shows and right-wing media figures branching into pop culture.
Right-leaning online shows disproportionately reach a variety of audiences and shape political discourse and public perception
Written by Kayla Gogarty
Research contributions from Courtney Hagle
Published
For decades, the right has built a massive media ecosystem to prop up right-wing narratives and politicians. In recent years, they’ve successfully expanded beyond print and television media into talk radio, social media and now podcasts, streams and other online shows. Some, like [Candace] Owens and [Megyn] Kelly, are now drawing even bigger audiences by stretching outside their comfort zones. Meanwhile, right-wing narratives have been seeping into supposedly nonpolitical shows, like those of Joe Rogan at Theo Von.
Those shifts have impacts. For instance, you may have heard about how Trump’s appearances on popular podcasts brought young men into his winning coalition. But just how bad is the disparity between audiences of these right-leaning versus left-leaning shows? A new Media Matters study assessing popular online shows found that the right’s online audiences are five times larger than those of progressives. And many of those shows don’t present themselves as political at all.
In fact, 72% of the shows we examined that describe themselves as focused on topics like sports, pop culture or comedy were actually right-leaning in terms of their content or guests. Some of the top online shows — like those of Rogan, Von, Andrew Schulz and the Nelk Boys — fall in this category. That means that their tens of millions of followers are hearing not just from celebrity guests like Timothée Chalamet but also from Trump, his allies and right-wing media personalities.
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The right’s expansive online ecosystem plays into a fundamental aspect of the current online environment: Outrage and fearmongering garner more attention and engagement than facts. And right-wing media figures have leaned into pop culture to garner more audiences for their content, while comedians, sports commentators and entertainers are pushing right-wing content. The result is that right-wing narratives are seemingly everywhere. And this environment allows Trump and his allies to easily spread propaganda to wide swaths of Americans.