About the Conservative Media

This is a thread of tweets by Matthew Sheffield, a former right-wing media activist and journalist, published a few days after the election as Trump and his wing of the Republican party were grappling with his loss. (12/27: There's an ugly repetition as Twitter carries over the previous tweet to embed the thread. For a cleaner copy you can read Sheffield straight from his first tweet on Twitter.) 

He's been down the road and sounds convincing. Here's the 2019 Washington Monthly article he mentions in this last tweet for more reading: "The Conservative Establishment’s Nightmare Is Only Just Beginning," 

As a former conservative activist and journalist, it has been so frustrating to see my former compatriots spreading wild and unchecked claims about "voter fraud." @jacknicas of the NYT took a deep look at claims of "dead" people in Michigan voting. Link in next tweet.

— Matthew Sheffield (@mattsheffield) November 7, 2020

While examining claims made by right-wing activists who are not credible individuals is a thankless task which elite media editors despise, this is vital and important work in this age of fake news. Here's the link: https://t.co/WljvhMZnK6

— Matthew Sheffield (@mattsheffield) November 7, 2020

As the co-creator of NewsBusters, the most prominent anti-media website, I was part of a decades-long tradition of complaining about media elites being "unfair" to conservative views. There is still much to that argument, but eventually I saw that I was missing context.

— Matthew Sheffield (@mattsheffield) November 7, 2020

What I did not realize until I began expanding my work into creating actual media and reporting institutions such as the Washington Examiner (I was the founding online editor) was that U.S. conservatives do not understand the purpose of journalism.

— Matthew Sheffield (@mattsheffield) November 7, 2020

What I did not realize until I began expanding my work into creating actual media and reporting institutions such as the Washington Examiner (I was the founding online editor) was that U.S. conservatives do not understand the purpose of journalism.

— Matthew Sheffield (@mattsheffield) November 7, 2020

This became evident to me as I saw that conservative-dominated media outlets were MUCH more biased than outlets run by liberals. The latter had flaws that arose from a lack of diversities (note plural) but they operated mostly in good faith. That's not how the former operated.

— Matthew Sheffield (@mattsheffield) November 7, 2020

I eventually realized that most people who run right-dominated media outlets see it as their DUTY to be unfair and to favor Republicans because doing so would some how counteract perceived liberal bias.

— Matthew Sheffield (@mattsheffield) November 7, 2020

While I was enmeshed in the conservative media tradition, I viewed lefty media thinkers like @jayrosen_nyu as arguing that journalism was supposed to be liberally biased. I was wrong. I realized later that I didn't understand that journalism is supposed to portray reality.

— Matthew Sheffield (@mattsheffield) November 7, 2020

This thought was phrased memorably by @StephenAtHome as "reality has a well-known liberal bias" which is an oversimplification but is more accurate than the conservative journalist view which is that media should promote and serve conservative politicians.

— Matthew Sheffield (@mattsheffield) November 7, 2020

I also discovered as I rose through the right-wing media ranks that most conservative media figures have no journalism training or desire to fact-check their own side. I also saw so many ppl think that reporting of info negative to GOP pols was biased, even if it was true.

— Matthew Sheffield (@mattsheffield) November 7, 2020

People ask sometimes if conservative media figures like Sean Hannity or anyone associated with the Federalist could actually be so credulous as to believe unfounded and non-specific allegations of "voter fraud." But the reality is that they don't actually even think that far.

— Matthew Sheffield (@mattsheffield) November 7, 2020

Truth for conservative journalists is anything that harms "the left." It doesn't even have to be a fact. Trump's numerous lies about any subject under the sun are thus justified because his deceptions point to a larger truth: that liberals are evil.

— Matthew Sheffield (@mattsheffield) November 7, 2020

This assumption is behind all conservative media output. They never tell you what their actual motives are. Most center-left people don't realize just how radical many conservative elites are, largely because they don't wear it on their sleeves.

— Matthew Sheffield (@mattsheffield) November 7, 2020

Newt Gingrich, William Bennett, and a bevvy of GOP elected officials have no problem parroting unverified rumors as fact because conservative journalism is not about supporting conservatives, not about finding facts.

— Matthew Sheffield (@mattsheffield) November 7, 2020

Thanks for reading my rant.

If you would to see some of my writing that explores this topic at greater length, here is an older piece I wrote about the vulnerability of "own the libs" conservatism to reaction. https://t.co/zhG2ZBI81T

— Matthew Sheffield (@mattsheffield) November 7, 2020

Note 12/27: A few minor edits at the beginning.