Textbook example of someone whose paycheck depends on being retarded, and no, it's not Jennifer Rubin this time:

https://twitter.com/jonathanchait/status/1430882402566647817

Textbook example of someone whose paycheck depends on being retarded, and no, it's not Jennifer Rubin this time: ~ Sixclaws at August 26, 2021 11:29 AM

Chait, not unexpectedly, mischaracterizes the media landscape. His argument initially is that the mainstream press will turn on an incompetent, troubled, or unpopular Democrat, but admits that same media starts out hostile to a Republican.

However, he characterizes mainstream media as "only describes roughly half the media landscape." The other half, he contends, consists of "a right-wing messaging apparatus that makes no effort to follow traditional journalistic norms."

Chait goes on to say, "Republicans communicate to their base through a media that functionally operates as part of their party, while Democrats communicate to their base through a media that still exerts substantial independence."

So, half the media is a collection of substantially independent mainstream outlets and the other half is a collection of Republican propaganda organs.

Chait leaves out that portion of the media that consists of radically left-wing apologists for any liberal administration, a portion from which the radical left wing base of the Democratic Party gets a great deal of its information and outlook. That portion, according to Chait, simply does not exist or is so minor as to be inconsequential.

He also skips over the fact that the mainstream media he so lauds as substantially independent does not generally turn on a Democrat officeholder until staggering incompetence or a high degree of unpopularity come into play, but those same media are hostile to a Republican officeholder at the outset. That's "substantial independence" to Chait.

While one can argue the exact placement on the AdFontes media chart of specific media outlets, the chart does show that unreliable and highly biased sources exist on both sides of the spectrum.

While the so-called mainstream media may be turning on Joe Biden, there are plenty of left-wing apologist organs who will continue to blame Republicans, Afghans, Trump, and fate for the staggering foreign and military policy incompetence shown so far by the Biden Administration; and plenty of left-wingers who will eat up whatever pablum those propaganda sites feed them.

And, before certain folks chime in to say that I'm dismissing the right-wing propaganda organs, I'm not. I'm merely rebutting Chait's claims that influential propaganda outlets exist only on the right.

Conan Says:

"While one can argue the exact placement on the AdFontes media chart of specific media outlets, the chart does show that unreliable and highly biased sources exist on both sides of the spectrum."

The fundamental problem with your so-called "rebuttal" is that you aren't actually comparing apples and oranges.

Your analysis is extremely black and white and lacks nuance and sophistication.

Let's take a closer look at the Adfontes media chart that you've provided as evidence of the existence of left-wing media (to be clear, Chait doesn't dispute the mere existence of such outlets, hence your rebuttal constitutes a strawman argument).

On the right side of the spectrum in the "selective, incomplete, unfair persuasion, propaganda" section of the chart we have the following:

Fox News (~80 million viewers)
OAN (~20 million viewers)
Newsmax (~60 million viewers)

All three of these are wildly popular amongst conservatives.

Now let's look on the left in the "selective, incomplete, unfair persuasion, propaganda" section of the chart we have the following:

Occupy Democrats
Alternet
Bipartisan Report

I haven't even heard of any of these news outlets.

The revenue and employee numbers for these three organizations are so small they are eclipsed by even one of the comparable right-wing organizations.

So while it is certainly true that looney left-wing media exists... it is also true that it isn't consumed regularly by millions and millions of people and thus commanding revenue streams in excess of 100's of millions of dollars.

So it seems to me that Chait's assessment is reasonable given the facts.

Extreme left-wing media simply does not have the reach or influence that right-wing media does.

As for mainstream media... that is largely corporatist media that sometimes flavors it's offerings one way or another... but these to not fall into the category of Tucker Carlson or Sean Hannity type nonsense.

Simply put... your so-called rebuttal fails on the merits because Chait isn't making arguments about existence... he is making arguments about reach and influence.