The TYT pile-on (which needed to happen)

Progressive alternative media evolving in the wake of the US Presidential election

The tanking ratings and possible near-term demise of MSNBC is one of the events that focused commentators on the reality that the Republicans and the right in the US more generally have established a far more robust media environment than the Democrats and the political left have been able to do.

The demise of the now-long-ago US media environment dominated by three TV networks (ABC, CBS, NBC), weekly news magazines like Newsweek, Time, and US News & World Report and a large network of dead-tree newspapers has left us with media environment that relies increasingly on online media. I wouldn’t want to idealize that era. But there was more of an expectation, encouraged by the Fairness Doctrine for television news that Ronald Reagan put an end to, that at least “respectable” news media would present facts accurately as far as possible and give a sense of the kinds of wider debate over issues and events.

Those rules don’t apply to today rightwing media environment. And while the wealth of information available online is an incredible thing that provides opportunities for people to easily access a volume of information from a huge diversity of sources that is qualitatively different than the pre-Internet information environment. But today’s environment also makes fact-checking and critical thinking by information consumers more important than ever.

There is a left-leaning media environment online including podcasts that is much smaller than the equivalent on the right. Well-heeled donors love to donate money to right-leaning online media. The left side of that spectrum relies much more heavily on subscriptions and revenue from sites like YouTube. Liberal foundations and donors are more likely to want to see coverage like MSNBC’s Morning Joe provided for years.

The biggest online podcast network in the progressive side of the spectrum has been The Young Turks, aka TYT. But, ironically and sadly, just as the awareness among progressives for the need for a much larger, high-quality online media network has been sharped by the 2024 US elections, TYT is in the middle of rebranding itself as a MAGA-friendly, anti-left brand. This summary from Benjamin Dixon tells the story well¹:

In market terms, TYT is trying to position itself as a MAGA-oriented source with some left-populist rhetoric of the sort that J.D. Vance used to build his brand as a salt-of-the-earth man of the people before he decided being a full-on Peter Thiel disciple and Trum lapdog was preferable for his goals. As Benjamin Dixon makes clear in his podcast above, other left-leaning programs are eager to pick up on that left market that TYT spent so many years establishing. As Dixon’s report also notes, there are a number of TYT contributors who like John Iadarola and Francesca Fiorentini who haven’t pivoted to the MAGA position yet. Presumably they and others who don’t want to go that direction will be looking for alternative outlets.

I have been following Sam Seder’s Majority Report for years and they are not making any MAGA pivot.

Here are ten other examples of online media with a left-leaning or at least left-open perspectives. It’s always important to take a critical-minded approach to all news media, even (and maybe especially!) the most trusted ones, and pay attention to factual claims and their basis.

Al Franken

https://www.youtube.com/@AlFrankenYouTube

Amanpour and Company

Breaking Points

This channel features a left-and-right dialogue, with Krystal Ball on the left and Saagar Enjeti on the right.

https://www.youtube.com/@breakingpoints

Current Affairs

YouTube channel of the British progressive magazine Current Affairs, with editor Nathan Robinson normally hosting the YouTube interviews.

https://www.youtube.com/@CurrentAffairsMag

Novara Media (UK)

A recent report featured Matt Kennard who reports for Declassified UK https://www.declassifieduk.org/

There are a number of podcasters who focus on foreign affairs with particular attention to experts with a “restrainer” perspective.

Judge Napolitano-Judging Freedom (Andrew Napolitano)

https://www.youtube.com/@judgingfreedom

Napolitano is a genuine rightwinger. But he leans strongly toward a brand of actual isolationist thinking, which in his case seems to be mainly a concern for a foreign policy of restraint. He does a regular weekly interview with Über-Realist John Mearsheimer that I make a point to watch.

Old Right isolationism in the US is a tricky viewpoint, because its main manifestation has usually been hardcore militarist and narrowly nationalist. That’s not the approach he usually takes on his podcast. But he has been known to promote conspiracist thinking. He also promotes gold sales on the podcast, which for me is itself a reason to be cautious about him. But when he hosts actual foreign policy experts like Mearsheimer, they are typically able to get their points across, despite the reasons he has given us to be cautious about his perspective.

Just Security

https://www.youtube.com/@JustSecurityForum

Owen Jones

https://www.youtube.com/@OwenJonesTalks

Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft

Zeteo

Mehdi Hasan’s outlet

1. Why You Should Leave TYT: The Case Against Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian. The Benjamin Dixon Show 12/14/2024. (Accessed: 2024-14-12).