Would you trust a so-called journalist whose goal is to “facilitate social justice”? Me neither. So why do so many conservatives still engage with these people?
News that a Politico reporter will soon release a book about abortion prompted this question now, but it’s a tale as old as time in Washington: Conservatives continue to engage with corporate media that despise them.
Leftist Publisher
Politico released an excerpt of a forthcoming book by Alice Miranda Ollstein, one of its reporters, over the weekend. The book’s title, Side Effects: How Abortion Bans Impact Everyone’s Health, provides a strong suggestion about its tone and contents.
But if the title didn’t provide enough confirmation, consider how the book’s publisher, The New Press, describes itself on its website:
The New Press amplifies progressive voices for a more inclusive, just, and equitable world. As a nonprofit public-interest publisher, we leverage books, diverse voices, and media engagement to facilitate social change, enrich public discourse, and defend democratic values:
– A diversity of perspectives ensures a more inclusive set of public conversations on issues of equity, racial justice, political access, and representation. …
– Our work mainstreams critical perspectives on immigration, racial justice, education, civic engagement, environmental justice, and more.
With that kind of information, I don’t need to read the book — not that I would give someone like Ollstein my money to buy it. Even if Ollstein wanted to write a politically neutral book — and I doubt someone who previously worked at The Atlantic, La Opinion, and Talking Points Memo would want to — The New Press would never publish it. Any publisher that describes itself as “a book publisher with a social justice mission” and “a home for the nation’s leading progressive thinkers, journalists, scholars, political leaders, and activists,” and that wants to “serv[e] as a platform for progressive organizations whose work has national implications,” would never publish anything but a strongly pro-abortion view.
Don’t Engage Corporate Media
This development raises two obvious questions: First, why does Politico employ a purportedly objective “reporter” who affiliates with a social justice publisher? Would Politico allow me to serve as a “journalist” while writing conservative books such as The Case Against Single Payer in my spare time, as Ollstein did? (As if Politico would hire an actual conservative!) Unfortunately — but unsurprisingly — Politico did not respond to multiple requests for comment about whether it believes it has “a social justice mission” (and if so, what that is); if not, why it permitted Ollstein to write for a publisher with a clear political bias; and whether it could provide any examples of Politico reporters writing for publishers with a clear conservative lean.
Second, why do people who call themselves conservatives talk to these types of reporters — let alone these types of media outlets? That problem pervades the conservative ecosystem. This week brought a prime example when Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., granted an exclusive interview to Politico. Why was that? Were places like Newsmax and Fox News unavailable, or is Thune just too preoccupied with corporate media access and accolades to care about Politico’s apparent “social justice mission”?
Another example: Less than two weeks after the president barred Politico, along with CNN and MS NOW, from the White House grounds, the administration leaked a story about the president’s upcoming political travel to… Politico. Why? Would no other press outlet run this type of story? (I doubt it.) Putting aside the legal question of whether the president can bar reporters from the White House based on their reporting, if President Trump is so outraged by Politico’s coverage, why is a “senior White House official” leaking to the outlet days after the barring?
Don’t Feed the Swampy Press
Therein lies the problem. Inside-the-Beltway conservatives become so enamored with publicity, so eager for attention, so willing to show off their knowledge and access, and so easily flattered that they continue to engage with corporate media that despise them, their voters, and the principles they stand for.
To the obvious rebuttal — “If we don’t talk with the press, they won’t include us in stories” — comes an equally obvious retort: GOOD! I don’t want to give the press a patina of credibility by giving them a quote from a “token conservative,” or get down on hands and knees and beg for reporters to run one story about exploding health care spending so it can be swamped by dozens talking about supposed program “cuts.”
Live media such as cable television provide a possible exception to the above rule. At least a press hit on CNN or MS NOW can give conservatives an opportunity to speak directly to voters unfiltered and call the corporate media out on their bovine excrement (provided said conservatives have the cojones to do so). But by and large, engaging with print reporters like those at Politico or similar outlets amounts to a fool’s errand; they can easily omit or edit quotes that conflict with their predefined narratives, just like they stealthily rewrite articles to avoid admitting their own errors.
Sadly, too many Republicans in Washington become too fixated on the approval of the D.C. swamp to realize this truism. Most politicians run for office because they want to be liked, so it’s probably not in their nature to tell reporters to pound sand. But conservatives should spend less time ingratiating themselves with a press focused on its “social justice mission” and trying to get Democrats elected, and more time contributing to a media ecosystem of their own.
