Right-Wing Populism and the Media

The United States has intermittently experienced left- and right-wing populist movements that challenge established forms of corrupt political authority and promise to return America to the ideals of its founders and people. For those who might have hoped that the new century would bring an end to ideology or even to familiar ideological conflicts of the Left and the Right, the Tea Party movement and other forms of right-wing populism, in the U.S. and abroad, offer little hope of such a resolution. Most eruptions of populist anger are directed against elites and elite values; however, the most recent manifestations of populism are also characterized by the omnipresence of corporate media and the important role that popular media personalities play in actively promoting right-wing populism. Together, these insightful scholarly articles provide new understandings of contemporary right-wing populism, including the ways in which the media either have actively promoted such populism or, more passively, failed to challenge its ideas and political consequences. This collection will be useful for students of American politics as well as students of contemporary right-wing politics.

This book was published as a special issue of New Political Science: A Journal of Politics and Culture.

Claire Snyder-Hall is a scholar-activist who writes academic and popular texts about issues of concern to democrats, feminists, and progressives.

Cynthia Burack is professor of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies at Ohio State University and the author of Tough Love: Sexuality, Compassion, and the Christian Right.