Something Is Happening in the Commentary Space

In the time since The New York Times published an opinion piece on the socalled amp8220Intellectual Dark Webamp8221 in May Quillette arguably the standardbearer of the space has continued its march forwardamp160 The readership of the Sydney Australiabased online magazine has nearly doubled since May as prominent intellectual figures have praised the magazine for its commitment to covering some of the sticky topics that many mainstream publications have recently steered clear ofamp160 Founded in 2015 by Claire Lehmann a grad school early leaver the magazine has risen from a niche publication in a corner of the internet to become a major hub of thoughtamp160 Its number of Twitter followers is rapidly rivaling or surpassing that of The Week The New Republic Harper39s Magazineamp160and midsizedcity newspapers such as The Des Moines Register or The Providence Journalamp160 Politico magazine keeping up with the buzz included a 3500word feature on Ms Lehmann in its NovemberDecember 2018 issueamp160 And flipping through The Wall Street Journal as of late one might encounter an oped authoramp8217s biography to read that soandso is amp8220an editor at Quilletteamp8221As this New York Times oped so poignantly argued Quillette is just one example in a sea of new cerebrally minded media outlets that have been picking up steam on the webamp160 And this media movement is not just confined to online journalsamp160 Ben Shapiro and Dave Rubin two media personalities often associated with the amp8220Intellectual Dark Webamp8221 have witnessed their respective podcast and YouTube series balloon as well amp160Shapiro logs more than 15 million downloads per month and Rubinamp8217s Rubin Report has grown nearly 32 in its number of YouTube subscribers since MayFrom Shapiro an ardent Ted Cruz supporter to Areo magazine editor Helen Pluckrose whose Twitter bio reads that she is a amp8220secular liberal humanistamp8221 to Rubin the Democrats left him he might say the contentmakers behind these media projects come from political factions of all sorts To this effect Bret Weinstein the Evergreen State biology professor pressured to resign for opposing a minority walkout day at his school and a newlyminted member of the amp8220Intellectual Dark Webamp8221 tweeted just before New Yearamp8217s Eveamp160 quotIn 2018 we turned a corner the phony narrative began to give wayamp160 The left isn39t deadamp160 It is fiercely dividedamp160 And the center isn39t about centrists or centrismamp160 It is where good faith players of every stripe come to discuss the tensions that shape societyquotamp160 Weinstein a vocal Bernie Sanders supporter finds himself to have some unlikely bedfellows in this media movement from conservative feminists to leftleaning libertariansSo where does the hunger for these platforms come fromamp160 Sure some of it comes from the quality of the writingamp160 Perhaps some of the interest lies in the topics of coverage which touch on the perennially interesting subjects of social issues genderamp160and the campus ideology wars that have dominated headlines in recent yearsamp160 But in reality the popularity of these publications is likely a product of these timesamp160 With the media and political landscapes increasingly moving towards mudslinging and hot takes Quillette Areo and the thinkers who support them are looking to provide an antidoteamp160 Perhaps this is the reason their critics have labeled this group of publications and thinkers as amp8220reactionaryamp8221And how does this group of publications and media projects make their moneyamp160 Unlike some of the other political magazines like the nowdefunct Weekly Standard which relied heavily on the generosity of a phenomenally wealthy patron or two these outlets take a page from the crowdfunding model of the 21st century which is perhaps by no coincidence also coming to prominence in the political realm as wellamp160 Like The Guardian they ask for the financial support of their readersamp160 And theyamp8217ve been getting itBut their moneymaking remains linked to their ideologyamp160 Some are not agnostic as to the source of their fundingamp160 Similar perhaps to the dream of the divestment movements at universities Rubin and Jordan Peterson a thinker who has been a big help to Quillette decided to leave Patreon in late December after the platform removed the page of a British commentator who had used a racial epithetamp160 Alleging that Patreon was guilty of political discrimination Rubin and Peterson decided it was worth upsetting their comfortable revenue streams and taking their business elsewhereAlthough the readerships of Quillette and the like are still far from those of the socalled papers of record their riseamp160while others are falling has some interesting lessons to teach usamp160 Quilletteamp8217s bounce rate according to Amazonamp8217s Alexa data continues to beat out that of other publications from politically oriented outlets like Roll Call to more longform magazines such as The Atlantic or The New Yorkeramp160 Rapidly flying in the face of those who say the news industry is marching steadily towards clickbait at these sites to get to the bottom line one might actually have to read the entire pieceBut more than anything their rise must be seen in contextamp160 Malhar Mali the founder of Areo described its founding on November 22 2016 as a distinct response to a polarized media climateamp160 Seeking to offer a response to amp8220Huffington Post and Breitbartamp8221 Mr Mali like Quillette emphasized free and thoughtful exchange with a touch of the controversialamp160 These publications like any arenamp8217t entirely removed from selfselection according to political bias as more and more conservative writers have been congregating at Quillette and liberal writers at Areoamp160 Nevertheless their unexpected growth tells us that there is still a hunger foramp160the thoughtful and the featherruffling even when such isn39t betrayed prematurely by a headline or a feature photographClick the social buttons above or below to share this story with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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Something Is Happening in the Commentary Space

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Erich J. Prince

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