Conservative Media vs. Progressive Media: New #'s And A Great Milestone! (Featured @ DailyKos)

[ihavenobias]

By Cenk Uygur

The NY Post is run by Rupert Murdoch to further his conservative agenda. . The Washington Times is run by Rev. Sun Myung Moon to further his conservative agenda. By some estimates Rev. Moon has has never been profitable. The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review is run by Richard Mellon Scaife to further his conservative agenda. .

The Weekly Standard used to be owned by Murdoch to further his conservative agenda but is now owned by Philip Anschutz to further his conservative agenda. Either way, .

Do you know how many people read The Weekly Standard? They have a circulation of 80,000. To put it bluntly, that's pathetic. That means almost no one reads it. Its main purpose is not to turn a profit but to spread Republican propaganda in the guise of news. Conservative billionaires use these publications to give legitimacy to their political opinions, but don't actually expect to make any money for them. They're an investment, in propaganda. But without their wealthy benefactors, these publications would immediately go bankrupt and cease to exist.

On the other hand, progressive media has now built a self-sustaining business model on the web that makes money because people actually read the websites or watch the shows. I can't speak for other progressive outlets (Huffington Post for one seems to have a ). But I can speak for us. The Young Turks is a progressive that is popular and profitable all on its own. The Young Turks now has numbers that make conservative outlets look like a joke by comparison.

In fact, today the show crossed the 100 million views barrier on You Tube. The Young Turks now has 100,106,994 views on our You Tube channel alone. This doesn't count views on and the dozens of other outlets we're on, including Sirius XM Radio. Last month we had 7,289,549 views on . Now think about The Weekly Standard's sad, little 80,000 number (and how many of those people actually read the magazine?). And these clowns lose $5 million a year to run that operation. Spending over $5 million a year to reach 80,000 people? That amuses me.

Let me give you one last stat. The Young Turks is now averaging over 350,000 views a day on You Tube. That is more than four times The Weekly Standard's circulation. And we get that in just one day! And we do all of this at just a fraction of what they spend. How can they possibly compete with us in the long term?

The bottom line is that most of these conservative media outlets don't stand a chance. Sure, some will have staying power in representing a certain percentage of the population. Those are the ones that focus on opinions. But no one is taking their "news" operations seriously. On the other hand, a progressive colossus is rising on the web and the conservatives are powerless to stop it...

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[FiveGoodMen]

1. That's good to hear (well, read).

If this trend lasts a couple of decades, America may eventually have an informed populace again.

[Tempest]

2. In related news

In total audience, CNN and MSNBC is beating Faux News.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/26/new-nielsen-measurement-c_n_221607.html

[Kajsa]

3. That is good news.

We may return to true journalism and reporting
after all.

:)

[yellerpup]

4. How unsurprisingly cynical

They also pay for this very expensive platform to get booked onto television shows as guests and commentators where far more people are forced to listen to their alternate view of reality. Very glad to hear that Cenk is doing so well. Now, back to the mines.... K&R!

[philly_bob]

5. Don't forget Philadelphia Bulletin, out of business on June 1.

A name from Philly's two-newspaper past. Name purchased by investment banker Thomas G. Rice five years ago, became a mouthpiece for neocon and conservative Catholic propaganda. Seldom more than ten ads in the whole paper. Shut down on June 1.

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/20090601_The_Bulletin_folds_after_five_years.html

Good production values, lousy content, used public domain, out-of-copyright 'filler' content around wire stories rewritten with right-wing bent. Big on Obama-not-a-citizen conspiracies.

Hilarious low point in foaming-at-the-mouth conservative hysteria: Herb Denenberg, former state insurance commissioner, very pro-Israel. See http://thebulletin.us/herb_denenberg/

[Divine Discontent]

6. great!!!! eom

[fascisthunter]

7. excellent... the right wing's propaganda is not working that well

due to the internet and due to the fact that more people have access to it.

Sucks when you can't control speech, doesn't righties?

[pleah]

8. Maybe two wars and a recession/depression woke a few people up.

K&R

[mod mom]

9. Excellent. Glad they are losing their shirts!

[burning rain]

10. Used to live in Pittsburgh, and yes, the Trib has never....

had anything like the circulation of the Post-Gazette (the usual sort of annoying business- / market-oriented, socially liberal newspaper). The Trib is really out there, printing favorable articles on "white pride" groups, and the last newspaper to still carry Sam Francis' column. Their Sunday edition carries half the conservative columns in the country.

Anyhow, this shows what a fathead Bill O'Reilly is for blaming the decline of newspapers on their putative liberalism (which scarcely exists on economic issues, but I guess for Billo nothing less than Randianism really cuts it): it's a problem of newspapers, espeically, and other print media, period.

[starroute]

13. Since Sam Francis died in 2005, that makes them *really* out there

Are they channeling his spirit, rerunning oldies -- or did you merely leave out a "was"?

I'm not trying to be snotty -- just couldn't help chortling at the idea.

[burning rain]

15. I elided the "before he croaked."

~

[ellenfl]

11. kick for later. eom

[Enthusiast]

12. K&R, good to hear this!

[BR_Parkway]

14. Those numbers - how much would they have to pay in taxes before

hitting those sort of numbers?

You can sort of excuse the stupidity of the average Freeper - but you'd think guys with that sort of money to throw around would be able to figure it out

[Lisa0825]

16. AWESOME!!! nt

:woohoo:

[20score]

17. Great!

[Uncle Joe]

18. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, ihavenobias.

[slay]

19. Very cool

I have no doubt that the progressive message and path is the correct one. I've seen what these right-wing greed fucks do - they run some far right slanting story in either The New York Post or Washington Times - which is THEN cited AS NEWS by talking head idiots over on the Fox""News"" channel like ORiley, Hannity, Limbaugh, etc. A vicious circle of propaganda. K&R for the awesomeness that is Cenk and TYT!

[Senator]

20. K&R

[midnight]

21. American's are relieved to get news from places

like Huffington, and or TYT. Glad to hear that those outlets are making a profit.

[ThoughtCriminal]

22. This is why ratings don't matter as much

Sure they don't like losing money, and propaganda is useless if nobody is watching-listening-reading, but it really is all bout staying on message and catapulting the big lies. And just having the messages constantly pounded, as if they were legitimate points of view, gives credibility to claims and ideas that would otherwise be written off as insane. Combine that with the endless, shrill complaints about media liberal bias, and it worked miracles until the disconnect with reality was too hard for all but the hard-core dead-enders to take.

"Why me?"
"Because you're on television, stupid"
(Network)

[snot]

23. k&r'd

[snot]

24. The internet didn't kill print; its conservative buyers did.

[WillyT]

25. Woo Hoo !!! - K & R !!!

:bounce::woohoo::bounce:

:kick:

[JDPriestly]

26. Cenk, your success is well deserved.

You have such a level head.

[Rhiannon12866]

27. K&R. Wow! That is very reassuring...

It's yet another symptom of the American wish for change... And it's obvious that newspapers are becoming increasingly irrelevant (The Rocky Mountain News :-( ) since the advent of the internet...

[libodem]

28. The stats are very interesting

who'd a thunk it?

[Solly Mack]

29. K&R

[The Wizard]

30. I'm getting the impression

elements of the print media are lurching right in an effort to be purchased at inflated prices by Rupert Murdoch.
The paper of record in New Jersey, The Star-Ledger, recently downsized its newsroom by 67%. They've also nearly doubled the price of the paper. It appears that they're pumping up the bottom line so as to sell the paper at an inflated price. They're editorial page has lurched right and the ratio of letters to the editor is skewed right and does not reflect the political leanings of the state. It looks like another major newspaper is headed for the dustbin.
If right wing billionaires weren't buying in bulk the screeds and rantings of authors like Aryan Annie Ku Klux Koulter their mindless drivel wouldn't come close to any best seller list. They're pissing money down the rat hole to lend legitimacy to their bigoted, failed and outdated view of the world.
They reached their pinnacle during the Bush Administration when they declared that they make their own reality. At some point the free market will hit them in the face and objective reality will stop these fools from making others as miserable as they are.
I can only envision Aryan Annie and her ilk pushing shopping carts full of cans and bottles to a recycling center to get enough money for their next bottle of cheap muscatel.

[nxylas]

35. At the risk of sounding morbid, what happens when Murdoch dies?

I mean he's what, in his 70s? And he has cancer. If that's their long-term strategy, it's a very high-risk one.

[Pat Riot]

43. whoa

you just scairt me even more

[bulloney]

31. I've speculated for a long time that many RW media are propped up by corporate investors.

Their objective is to keep the RW propaganda on the airwaves or in the print media at a financial loss. In exchange, they keep a percentage of the population misinformed and scared into believing their side of the issues.

I include Limbaugh in that group.

[indimuse]

32. hmm..

interesting! Thx. KNR!

[Doctor_J]

33. all the right wing propaganda outlets are losers. So much for "letting the market decide"

I am surprised how many DUers buy the "right wing media sells better" bullshit. They have to pay people to read/listen to it.

[Doctor_J]

34. hartmann said yesterday he's adding affiliates every week

I predict you'll see the GOP try to destroy Dem media in the next year or so. I don't know how they'll do it, but something will be floated.

[dem mba]

36. true, however Rush and Hannity

get millions of listeners and viewers daily. RW news media may be weak and unprofitable, but RW opinion is thriving, and by some metrics (primetime cable ratings) has never been higher. In that perspective Cenk's argument falls apart.

Now, I watch YT clips daily and think an uptick in production value would really benefit the show. It feels too YouTubish to garner greater mainstream viewership. But that's a different topic...

[ihavenobias]

37. Of course.

All true, but this is still good news overall. And the best way to increase the production values of TYT is to become a member (and or make a donation) so that they get more revenue.

I'm not saying anything, I'm just sayin'.

;)

[harun]

40. While Rush has lots of listeners the real metric is how much advertising

revenue does he bring in? I don't know if it is a lot or not.

[dem mba]

47. its a lot

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121504302144124805.html

[ovidsen]

45. The reason Rush and Hannity have such big ratings.

Most of their fans can't read. Or they're only literate enough to read "My Pet Goat"

Newspapers aren't in trouble because they're too liberal. They're in trouble because more folks are getting their information from the Web and from radio talk shows (right and left wing).

I lived in DC for 12 years, and admit that the Washington Times is a good looking, slick newspaper. But even if it weren't owned by that convicted felon and right wing patsy Moon I wouldn't pay to read it. Its bias is so obvious you can't even trust its weather reports.

Which probably explains why almost nobody in the DC area pays to read it.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

38. Funny thing, I JUST had some garbage from Wash Times shoved in my face...

blaming Dem Congress members for increase in travel expenses. Cagey wording, focus on Dems..you know the shtick.

It got shoved in my face by someone on Facebook... Hahahha I'd love to send her this, but I just remembered-- I just UNfriended her. I don't need her wingnut ravings showing up on my screen. (She refers to Pres. Obama, who was rightfully elected by a landslide, as RESIDENT! And blames the 51 point whatever percent of us for that!)

[wroberts189]

39. KNR

[ejbr]

41. k & r n/t

[JohnWxy]

42. David Brock in his book - "The Republican Noise Machine" wrote about the faux news periodicals

which only stayed in business because rich right wing functional psychotics kept them running which huge infusions of money. Just to keep the propaganda flowing. Of course, it's nice as the M$M quotes these propaganda mills as if they are genuine news outlets- helping to create at least one cycle of news talking about some bullshit these outfits make up.

It's like a game to them. See how much disinformation they can get circulating. Keeps many barelly informed types quite confused (though they don't know it).

The Republican Noise Machine

As a young journalist in the 1990s, David Brock was a key cog the Republican noise machine. Writing for the American Spectator, a conservative magazine funded by billionaire Richard Mellon Scaife, Brock gained fame for his attack pieces on Anita Hill and President Bill Clinton. Then, in 2002, Brock came clean. In his memoir, Blinded by the Right, Brock admitted that his work was based on lies and distortion, and part of a coordinated smear campaign funded by wealthy right wing groups to discredit Clinton and confuse the public.

Since then, Brock has continued to expose the conservative media onslaught. In his newest book, The Republican Noise Machine, Brock documents how right-wing groups pressure the media and spread misinformation to the public. It's easy to see how this is done.

Fringe conspiracies and stories will be kept alive by outlets like Rush Limbaugh, the Washington Times, and the Drudge Report, until they finally break into the mainstream media. Well-funded think tanks like the Heritage Foundation overwhelm news reporters with distorted statistics and conservative spin. Mainstream cable news channels employ staunchly rightwing pundits -- like Pat Buchanan and Sean Hannity -- to twist facts and echo Republican talking points, all under the rubric of "balance." Meanwhile, media groups like Brent Bozell's Media Research Center have spent 30 years convincing the public that the media is, in fact, liberal. As Brock says, it's all a sham: "I have seen, and I know firsthand, indeed from my own pen, how the organized Right has sabotaged not only journalism but also democracy and truth."


(more)

[malaise]

44. K & R

Great news

[lonestarnot]

46. Whoopsie! Too late to rec!

:kick: Excellent news re Young Turks and thanks for sharing! :hug:

[Seldona]

48. Same. To late to rec.

But I can still kick. Glad to see TYT is kicking tail.

[autorank]

49. The health minds prevail;) k*r CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!