In the last decade, the listenership of podcasts has increased significantly. In 2023, at least 42% of people ages 12 and over have listened to at least one podcast in the past month, according to Pew Research. In 2020, several of the Top 200 Apple podcasts were right-leaning, including shows belonging to Ben Shapiro, Glenn Beck, and Stephen Crowder.
Conservative media has flourished, always, in places outside the mainstream -- AM talk radio, for example. So it's natural that podcasting would appeal to conservative content creators and listeners, two demographics sorely (and intentionally) underrepresented in traditional mainstream media.
So The New Republic (TNR) is realizing that podcasting is popular on the right because it circumvents the mainstream media.
One reason podcasting has taken hold to the extent that it has on the right: Conservatives are skeptical of the media, and podcasting allows them to bypass the press altogether. https://t.co/h8ALAhC3KJ
— The New Republic (@newrepublic) January 3, 2024
Duh.
That's the point.
They write:
In recent years, however, politicians have turned to another, newer format: the podcast. After washing out of the presidential race in 2020, Pete Buttigieg launched The Deciding Decade, which focused on issues like gun violence and the minimum wage. (He abandoned it when he got a real job as secretary of transportation.) Podcasting is especially popular among sitting politicians on the right: Ted Cruz and Matt Gaetz have reasonably popular podcasts, as does their fellow Republican member of Congress, Dan Crenshaw. Mike Johnson, the newly installed speaker of the House, did as well—until unceremoniously abandoning it after being elevated—though his was far, far less trendy. The rise of political podcasting is a reflection of the ongoing blurring of right-wing media and politics: Sitting congressmen not only take cues from bloviators like Tucker Carlson and Ben Shapiro, they playact as them between votes. The idea is that podcasting rewards authenticity, providing politicians with a direct line to constituents, avoiding pesky filters like the press in the process. In practice, however, these podcasts are dreary and disposable bite-size campaign books.
'The ongoing blurring of right-wing media and politics', as if the mainstream media hasn't been an arm of the Democrat party for decades.
Wait
— Corporal Punishment (@CplPunishment_) January 3, 2024
Do the frauds at @newrepublic actually think they are journalists???
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
Yes, they do.
The author of this piece has a podcast
— Dylan Housman (@Dylan_Housman) January 3, 2024
As we are fond of saying, that, somehow, is (D)ifferent.
Everyone not a moron is skeptical of the media.
— Jer Smith (@yorick_jrs) January 3, 2024
American's trust in the media, as of October of last year, was at an all-time low, with just 32 percent of people polled having a 'great deal' or 'fair amount' of trust in the media.
Anyone who reads Twitchy knows why that is.
actual lol at the idea that podcasting is a right wing phenomenon https://t.co/J0AdcMOslr
— Joe Gabriel Simonson (@SaysSimonson) January 3, 2024
It's not, and there are several left-wing podcasts, as well as countless others covering everything from true crime to cooking.
Did I just step into an alternate dimension or something? https://t.co/H5vJdqcbqF
— Drew Birling (@actdrewary) January 3, 2024
It does feel that way, doesn't it?
Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz, one of the podcaster politicians mentioned in the article, highlighted TNR's complaints about him:
“Government spending has been a mainstay of right-wing media for decades. But Gaetz isn’t ranting about waste in a wide-eyed, apoplectic fury like Rush Limbaugh or discussing the deficit in smug, staccato disbelief like Ben Shapiro. He discusses it like a congressman, not a… pic.twitter.com/0eu9wBDuDP
— Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) January 2, 2024
So he's not bombastic like the late Rush Limbaugh, but instead 'discusses [things] like a congressman'?
The horror. The horror.
Seriously, that's their complaint? Make it make sense.
“Matt Gaetz Podcast Sucks. Here’s Why You Should Listen”
— VISH BURRA 🏴☠️ (@VishBurra) January 2, 2024
-Corporate Media probably
The Streisand Effect is real, people.
"He discusses it like a Congressman."
— Joey Mannarino (@JoeyMannarinoUS) January 2, 2024
Maybe because you are one?
And that somehow makes him bad at podcasting?
Sure, TNR.
Left had the mainstream news, social media algos (FB, TikTok, IG), TV shows/movies/comedy, schools, music and more promoting their message everyday
— Mark (@jmooo100) January 2, 2024
Exactly. Remember their meltdown when Musk took over Twitter? They were so mad they lost one platform of the many they dominated. They want control and get mad when they lose even an ounce of it.
Could it be that Americans are tired of the performative media B.S. and want someone who will *gasp* be authentic and honest with them?
— Hustle Chief | MAGA Moneybags | Freedom CEO 🌞🇺🇸 (@hustle_chief) January 3, 2024
Nah - he probs just doesn't know how to pod, bro https://t.co/GYUCDxiJNS
And if Gaetz was like Limbaugh, TNR would complain he's 'apoplectic' and 'outraged' and also say he's bad at podcasting.
Heads they win, tails you lose.
Whoever wrote this drivel needs therapy. https://t.co/c27elDP3NP
— Jack in the East (@talkradio200) January 2, 2024
Probably wouldn't hurt.
The right flourishes on alternative forms of media because people want that content, and they can't get it from CNN, MSNBC, or ABC. Those outlets are shamelessly left wing.
Listenership tells us whether or not a podcast, or a podcaster, is good and the market will decide which shows live or die. We don't need TNR to try to shame the right for 'blurring' politics and media. The Left did that long ago.
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