The Media Diet Challenge: Conservative News Sources

As a self-proclaimed liberal, I went into this challenge with many fears and doubts. I have never watched more than a few highlights of Fox News, let alone the more radically Republican sites such as Breitbart or Alex Jones’ Infowars. These news sources go against almost everything I stand for and believe in; nonetheless, I tried to enter the challenge with an open mind, determined to watch and read as much conservative media as my left-wing mind could bear. Day One:On the first day, I decided to dive headfirst into one of the most extreme Republican news sources: Infowars. This daily radio show’s entire premise is to expose listeners to “what is really going on” and in effect bash Democrats and the government in general. The host, Alex Jones, is considered a conspiracy theorist by essentially all Democrats and many moderate Republicans.The show that day was almost three hours long. I pressed play and held my breath in anticipation for what was about to come.  After this initial segment, I started to see what I was in for. Granted, this site was as radically Republican as they come, but Jones alone was making me want to end the “challenge” on day one. However, I opened my computer back up and kept watching.Throughout the show, one of the most striking observations was that he compared almost everything he was reporting about to Nazi Germany or the KKK. From liberals to insurance companies to CNN, he stated that they were acting in ways identical to these racist groups. He also qualified almost every statement he made with phrases like “look it up” or “it’s a well-known fact”. This behavior mirrors that of Donald Trump’s, as he too says everything as a fact that is indisputable.After the long three hours, I concluded that Infowars was not a site I would return to on my own accord. Everything he reported was blown up to the extreme and the norm was to label the liberals as enemies who need to be stopped.  One of the more absurd comments Jones’ made was that liberals want to ban “everything”. From guns to soda, he explained how democrats simply want to put an end to everything well and good, and he included in that Trump’s parade. This just demonstrated the childish and illogical nature of the show. After day one, I could not wait for this diet to be over, but I promised myself to wait and see what a new day of Republican news would bring.Most outlandish remark:  Towards the beginning of the show, Jones flips through a series of “news” stories, and meanders on about a story written on Vice about black people going on retreats to get away from white people. He says that some black individuals think, “whites shouldn’t have any rights or should be allowed to travel...Public schools and media turns some black people into beyond the KKK...I mean the KKK isn’t calling for black people to not have passports and move around freely.”  Day Two: On the second day, I decided to listen to the Todd Starnes show, a talk show that is broadcasted on Fox News. When I tuned in to listen live, Starnes was talking about how families are changing. He argued that many Democrats believe a mother or father isn’t necessary in a family. He then said how when children do not have a father, they don’t have someone with a lot of “authority”. My hopes of being pleasantly surprised with day two were immediately dashed. This man was implying that families can’t function without men, and that is simply not true. It also proves Democrats’ point that conservatives are sexist and insensitive. The commercial breaks were just the icing on the cake: several commercials selling gold came on which said how getting physical gold and silver can fight inflation and help “protect” your family from another crash. Commercials like these further insinuate the beliefs that Republicans must always be “alert” because there is someone or something out to get them. Much of their party runs on the idea that they are being targeted and must therefore protect themselves and their family from the dangers of the outside world.  Day Three: When I got home from school on Feb. 14, I was immediately struck by the terrible news that at least 14 students had been killed in a school shooting in Florida. Being that gun regulation is one of the most polarizing issues, I wanted to see the Republican coverage of this tragic event. Fox News presented a show in which many people argued that schools should have armed guards protecting the school. They repeatedly said that the shooting was not a gun issue. Instead, they basically said it was every other issue: lack of security, a mental health problem, an FBI mistake, etc. Before this incident I had not yet been enraged by conservative news sources, but this completely changed my attitude. This just showed how illogical many Republicans are. They don’t want any government control (like controlling guns) when it helps them, but advocate for government control (hiring guards for schools) if it suits their agenda. This flip-flopping angered me, but also made me realize that (although in my opinion Republicans do this more often) Democrats are guilty of it too.  Day Four: I turned on Fox News on day four, already weary thinking about what they would say following the Florida High School shooting. However, after listening to my fair share of radically conservative media such as Infowars and Breitbart, nothing sounded better than good ol’ Fox News.  The reporter claimed that the gun did not kill those students and teachers, but rather the “warped mind” of the killer did. Fox News repeatedly referred to Democrats as “they” and “them”. “They are jumping to ineffective gun control.” This clearly made the argument biased toward the right wing and showed the divide this nation has. The reporter also said that gun control was simply not an option, as there were just too many guns in America. However, they also said that putting more restrictions on owning a gun with mental illness would be a discussion worth having. This stuck with me because I had always been told that Republicans are not willing to negotiate for any more gun regulations; seeing that a Fox News reporter said that this was a possibility made me aware that some left-wing media paints Republicans as a little more extreme than some maybe are. After watching the show for a little bit, it seemed like reporters were just listing any argument they would think of that would make the shooting not about gun control.  Their arguments included: gun control wouldn’t stop mass shootings; gun control isn’t even an option; this could have been stopped if people didn’t “isolate” him, criminals will find guns anyway.  At this point, it felt like the Republicans were scared of the gun hostility that would result from the Parkland shooting and were desperately trying to deflect the blame. Day Five: Next, I downloaded the Sean Hannity Show podcast. Hannity is a famous, notoriously Republican news reporter. The segment started off with hard facts about the Florida shooting. They said that there were several tips given to the FBI that Cruze wanted to kill people, but the FBI did not follow up. The FBI director personally apologized to the victims’ families because they did not take the correct protocol to potentially stop the shooting. This segment had no biased spin on it and he never brought up anything about gun laws or the second amendment. This was refreshing and a pleasant surprise, as I had begun to believe that all coverage about the shooting on right wing media was reporting solely to defend their party and the NRA. Wrap-Up: After watching a week’s worth of Republican media, I can confidently say that I have not been won over; I just couldn’t connect to almost any of the stories they were covering as I have completely different ideologies than most or all of the reporters. They seem to always refer to “the other side” (in this case the Democrats) as these far-off monsters waiting to attack them.  However, the challenge has also remarkably made me like Fox News more, as they seemed so logical after watching so many neo-Nazi conservative conspiracy theorists.  Another takeaway from this challenge is that Democratic media attacks Republican media in much of the same way Democrats say Republican media attacks them. For example, I listened to Breitbart News and hated how they would constantly refer to the left as the individuals fighting against what the United States stood for. I realized that liberal media sources like NBC or CNN attack conservatives in the same way by calling them names and criticizing their policies. So, even though I disagreed with almost everything the Republican media was saying, it opened my eyes to the hostility on both sides of media, not just Republican. This challenge didn’t particularly change my mind about conservative media, but rather opened my eyes to some of the problems with liberal media as well. At the end of the day, I’ll most definitely be sticking to NBC.