Mark Major

ABSTRACT

Contrary to conventional wisdom, Donald Trump’s public loathing toward the press is not an outlier in conservative political development; rather, he is part of a understudied tradition of conservative animosity toward the press. I examine aggression toward the news media in a broader historical context of the conservative movement by analyzing the origins of the idea of the “liberal media.” I argue that this idea develops in the “conservative countersphere,”a partisan discursive space that developed in the 1950s and 1960s. Based on a content analysis of Human Events between 1955 and 1970, the origins of the “liberal media” emerge during the civil rights movement. I focus on the role of racism, white supremacy, and resentment toward Black liberation and civil rights in the development of conservative critiques of the press, shining light on the past to illuminate the present state of partisan vitriol towards the media.

From: New Political Science 2020 42 (1)

Editor: Wang Yi