Biggest Election Winner: Alternative Media

By Beth Ann Rosica

There were big winners and losers this week, but perhaps the most important victory goes to the alternative media outlets who do not succumb to being the mouthpiece for a particular political party. Even the mainstream media outlets are acknowledging they have a problem.

Brian Stetler of CNN wrote the morning after the election, “[Trump’s] defeat of Kamala Harris is raising questions about the media’s credibility, influence, and audience. Some of the questions might not be answerable for years.”

Jeff Bezos, the owner of The Washington Post, penned an op-ed with a similar message. “In the annual public surveys about trust and reputation, journalists and the media have regularly fallen near the very bottom, often just above Congress. But in this year’s Gallup poll, we have managed to fall below Congress. Our profession is now the least trusted of all. Something we are doing is clearly not working.”

And then, there is The Free Press, a newish media company founded in 2021 and “built on the ideals that once were the bedrock of great journalism: honesty, doggedness, and fierce independence.” Hundreds of thousands of viewers watched their six-hour live coverage on election night. It seems likely that many of their viewers on previous election nights watched one of the legacy media’s coverage. The Free Press is unique in its insistence to cover every side of the story which may be the primary reason for their ever-increasing paid subscriptions.

The Daily Wire also provides alternative reporting to the mainstream media, representing right-of-center reporting. They unabashedly acknowledge their political leanings. “The Daily Wire does not claim to be without bias. We’re opinionated, we’re noisy, and we’re having a good time.” They also streamed live election night coverage to a faithful following.

Something that both outlets seem to have in common is an intellectual curiosity and the desire to have fun while pursuing the truth. Contrasting Bari Weiss from The Free Press and Ben Shapiro from The Daily Wire with some of the mainstream media’s journalists and broadcasters is like night and day. Weiss and Shapiro are both incredibly smart as are the rest of their reporters, and they also don’t take themselves too seriously. Even more importantly, they all present as happy people.

This doesn’t appear to be true for the major networks, CNN, and MSNBC, who might want to consider taking a page from their playbook.

Locally, I like to think that Broad + Liberty plays a similar role — of course, I am biased since I write here every week. Broad + Liberty was founded on the principles to “promote innovative ideas, diverse and disruptive viewpoints, and positive policies that hit home for our readers, supporters and followers.”

While many of our editorial pieces are right-leaning, we are always willing and typically eager to publish both sides. Occasionally, we run point and counterpoint stories to illustrate different perspectives. And our investigative journalism is consistently focused on presenting the facts and uncovering information that other news outlets are often unwilling to write about. We diligently differentiate between fact and opinion.

One of the prejudices of the mainstream media is selection bias — picking and choosing the stories to cover based on alignment with their agenda. For example, Broad + Liberty is the only media group that covered two local happenings that most would consider right-leaning. Both events included former presidential primary candidates who were in the local region, and only Broad + Liberty showed up to write about them.

On Sunday, October 23, 2024, in Philadelphia, the Independent Women’s Voice hosted a program with Riley Gaines and Tulsi Gabbard to highlight the issue of men competing in women’s sports. And on Thursday, October 31, 2024, Vivek Ramaswamy appeared at the campus of West Chester University to debunk myths about Trump’s policy positions.

Both events were well attended and represented the views of many voters in the local region as evidenced by the results of the election. Yet, neither the Philadelphia Inquirer nor any other local media outlet attended or wrote about it. Was the Inquirer so desperate to see Harris win that they chose to skip the coverage for fear of influencing their readers?

The purpose of journalism is to provide information to readers and allow them to form their own opinions. Yet, similar to public education, the mainstream media has lost its way and its understanding of its role. The Washington Post still boasts the motto, “democracy dies in darkness,” but even the paper’s owner finally understands that they have helped to create the murkiness.

One of the best outcomes of this election is the clear revelation that much of the public does not trust the legacy media and is seeking alternatives. The success of The Free Press, The Daily Wire, and even Broad + Liberty is thanks to the thousands of discerning readers and viewers who have had enough and are ready for a change.

The Free Press editors summed it up well the day after the election with this headline, “Free Press Readers Saw This Coming,” followed by the subheading, “It’s not because we told you what to think. It’s because we did the basic job of journalism: We held up a mirror to reality.”

Maybe the mainstream media are waking up to the reality that readers do not want to be told what or how to think. They want the truth and clearly identified opinions. And if viewers can’t get that from the legacy media, then they will go to the alternative outlets to find it. And that is good news for us.

Beth Ann Rosica resides in West Chester, has a Ph.D. in Education, and has dedicated her career to advocating on behalf of at-risk children and families. She covers education issues for Broad + Liberty. Contact her at [email protected].