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Conservatives have disagreed about many things, but they have long been united by the belief that the mainstream—or “liberal”—media is biased against them. Why did conflict with the press become so central to conservative identity, and how has antipathy toward the media shaped the modern conservative movement? A. J. Bauer traces how decades of right-wing criticism of the “liberal media” reshaped US news culture and came to define conservative politics.
In the 1940s, progressives saw the newspaper industry as a reactionary bastion and supported regulations such as the Fairness Doctrine to ensure a wider range of viewpoints over the airwaves. Anticommunist campaigners soon borrowed tactics from their foes, adapting claims of structural media bias and fostering skepticism toward mainstream outlets. Bauer tracks the conservative turn to media activism, demonstrating how allegations of bias bridged the gap between relatively mainstream figures such as William F. Buckley and more extreme groups like the John Birch Society. Bauer considers key moments from Texas oilman H. L. Hunt’s bankrolling of the supposedly nonpartisan Facts Forum in the 1950s to Spiro Agnew’s tirades against the media elite and the rise of watchdog groups such as Accuracy in Media in the 1970s. By cultivating grassroots hostility toward the press, conservatives built an audience base for the right-wing media sector that emerged after the Reagan administration lifted the Fairness Doctrine. From Rush Limbaugh to Fox News to today’s right-wing podcasts and influencers, this book shows why conservative media ultimately eclipsed the movement that enabled it. In recounting the long history of conflict between conservatives and the press, Bauer offers a compelling new origin story for today’s polarized media environment.
— Rick Perlstein, author of Reaganland: America's Right Turn 1976-1980
Through meticulous archival research, Bauer shows that “liberal media bias” is not just a slogan but foundational to modern conservatism. From anticommunism to MAGA, newspapers to Joe Rogan, Making the Liberal Media traces the roots of right-wing media criticism and how it structured and legitimized the modern right. An essential read for understanding how conservative critiques of journalism became a political strategy, an identity marker, and a driver of media innovation.
— Alice E. Marwick, director of research, Data & Society
Well-written and deeply researched, Making the Liberal Media delivers new and significant insights into how conservative leaders employed the "liberal media" claim to build a movement that came to dominate US politics and policy formation. Bauer is an exceptional storyteller.
— Sid Bedingfield, author of Newspaper Wars: Civil Rights and White Resistance in South Carolina, 1935-1965
The book is thorough in its historical narrative, and its focus on the idea of the liberal media provides a unifying thread through what might otherwise become mired in the conservative movement’s internal divisions and tensions.
A compact but rich contribution to the history of American conservatism.
A new and excellent book.
Introduction
1. The Fairness Doctrine and Its Subtexts
2. The Progressive Origins of Conservative Press Criticism
3. Cultivating a Conservative Critical Disposition Toward the Press
4. Beyond Buckley
5. Liberal Media Goes Mainstream
6. Conservative Press Criticism and the New Right
7. The End of Fairness
Conclusion
Acknowledgments
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index