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How Right-Wing Media Fuels The Political Divide 

A woman shouts slogans as Trump Supporters gather during a car rally named as Stop the Steal on November 22, 2020 in Long Valley, New Jersey. (KENA BETANCUR/AFP via Getty Images)
A woman shouts slogans as Trump Supporters gather during a car rally named as Stop the Steal on November 22, 2020 in Long Valley, New Jersey. (KENA BETANCUR/AFP via Getty Images)

Matthew Sheffield started his career as a conservative blogger. He says many Americans don’t understand how powerful right-wing media really is — or how damaging it is to American democracy. Now, he says he wants to free people from it.  

Guests

Matthew Sheffield, former conservative blogger. Founder of the right-wing site Newsbusters. Host of the Theory Of Change podcast. He’s working on a memoir about growing up in a Mormon family. (@mattsheffield)

Nicole Hemmer, historian. Author of “Messengers of the Right.” Co-host of the This Day in Esoteric Political History podcast. (@pastpunditry)

Eliana Johnson, editor-in-chief of the Washington Free Beacon. Former White House correspondent for Politico. (@elianayjohnson)

From The Reading List

New York Times: “A former right-wing media creator on how a ‘different reality’ became so prominent.” — “Matthew Sheffield started his first conservative website in 2000, dedicating it to criticizing the former CBS News anchor Dan Rather, who Mr. Sheffield believed was a partisan liberal and not critical enough of President Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky scandal.”

Washington Post: “The Trailer: The very different view of the election from pro-Trump media” — “Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election, carrying 306 electoral votes. Dozens of lawsuits, brought by both President Trump’s campaign and by conservative activists, have been knocked down, failing to find irregularities that had any effect on the vote.”

New York Times: “Newsmax, Once a Right-Wing Also-Ran, Is Rising, and Trump Approves” — “Flanked by aides in the Oval Office on Wednesday, President Trump dialed up a friend in the news media with a message: Keep up the good work.”

Politico: “Dan Bongino leads the MAGA field in stolen-election messaging” — “As far-right media entrepreneurs seize on Trump’s fraud claims to build new audiences, a former Secret Service agent rises to the front of the pack.”

On The Media: “Another World Entirely” — “With President Trump refusing to accept the results of the election, analysts are asking if he’s trying to wage a coup. On this week’s On the Media, why so many Republicans support the president’s claims, despite the evidence.”

Politico: “How Trump Blew Up the Conservative Media” — “Months before Donald Trump blew up American politics with his surprise win in November, he did the same thing to the conservative media.”

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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