Negative Objectives: The Right-Wing Media Circle and Everyone Else

Abstract

The argument that the media are liberally biased opened the door for a conservative alternative. There have always been influential conservative political media outlets, but today, there is something different. The right-wing media circle is a small, tightly enclosed, self-reinforcing set of outlets that stick to a coherent narrative while they cast aspersions at those outside their sphere. Media organizations inside this circle do not compete with one another, but instead have a negative objective which is to provide an alternative account of the news. The right-wing media circle outlets are not pro-conservative but anti-liberal, and within this structure, their audience chooses to consume information that is sometimes short on fact but long on anger. Dagnes explains those inside the right-wing media circle, describes how this system operates, and explores the ramifications of having such an internally coherent, insulated information system.