Liberal bias with a concentrated whiff of transatlantic condescension, courtesy of a fundraising email from the ultra-left UK-based newspaper The Guardian. Eyeing the liberal market in the United States during an election year, the outlet is tapping potential donors in their readership through a most condescending email package, under the signature of its “Southeast reporter” on “politics and democracy” reporter George Chidi:
I cover politics and democracy for the Guardian from down here in Atlanta. My beat is the southern states – the heart of both Trump politics and far-right extremism. My interest between now and the election is in protecting democracy from the forces threatening to destroy it.
It’s well established that The Guardian isn’t exactly striving for objectivity or balance – more like the PBS/NPR market of easily scared liberals – but the email really puts their condescending stance down in black and white.
What I’m seeing down here, in the blood-reddest parts of these states, is conservative voters shutting off from reality, consumed with far-right media outrage. It’s a machine telling them that we can’t solve problems with civil conversation anymore.
Don’t worry, Chidi will ride to the rescue to assuage the gun-crazed Southern savages.
Just by talking to folks on their doorsteps, I am showing them that there's a way to have a conversation about politics that does not end with “grab a gun.” When I show up somewhere like the Appalachian territory of South Carolina and say I’m from the Guardian, I can show people that what they’re hearing on Fox or Newsmax or OAN isn’t true. They can see with their two eyeballs that the Guardian is here doing honest reporting and providing it for free to everyone.
The Guardian is in a unique position because we rely on a revenue stream that can't be corrupted by the same forces that are pushing the media narrative on the far right.
The paper’s strategy for fighting the “far right” media is apparently to propagate its own wacky far-left idea of “journalism.” A few examples here, here, and here.
I am out here in these places because I believe it is incredibly important for everyone concerned about the far right – in the United States and across the world – to understand why people here think the way they do. I am also hearing a rise in extreme rhetoric, and it’s important we document it now, because we don't know what's going to happen in the election or in the days and weeks following.
After all that extreme condescension, chiding Chidi had the nerve to suggest:
….If you're a political conservative and you're reading the Guardian, you should still be able to see the truth reflected in the words we publish. The Guardian has progressive values, but that doesn't mean that we compromise on journalistic integrity. I think it's quite the opposite. It's an upfront acknowledgment, and people I meet appreciate the honesty.
The letter ended with more guff about how the left-wing British rag was protecting democracy in the United States.
If we want to protect democracy, we have to keep getting out into communities where people don’t encounter the kind of reporting the Guardian does. I really believe that the work reporters do on the ground– talking to people across the US and then providing free, trustworthy reporting-- is the way we keep our democracy safe.
You can support that work by giving a dollar or more now. Thanks for reading.
