Gagged by the media giants, conservatives must fight via the Net – The Conservative Woman

SMALL c conservatives often think that the mainstream media is against them, and theyre right. The political bias of the BBC has been described ad infinitum here onThe Conservative Womanand documented in detail onNews-watch.

Even Jenni Murray, doyenne ofWomans Hour, has had enough of the BBCfurious, inter alia, at being reprimandedfor her on-air refutation of transgenderism. Sky News, Channel Four and ITV are all equally progressive and politically biased in their news and commentary.

By contrast, the US has Fox,the only conservative-leaning TV station; but the rest NBC, ABC, CBS and CNN are all vehemently anti-Trump, however much some make a pretence at neutrality.

Social media is little better initsinherent anti-conservative bias and censorship.TCWrecentlyreportedthe censorship by YouTube of Dr Scott Atlas for daring to challenge the conventional thinking on the Covid-19 pandemic.

Twitter and Facebook are the same. When a group of US doctors made a public call for hydroxychloroquine to be used as a therapy for coronavirus, Facebook closed down anyone posting their video and Twitter banned Donald Trump Junior for 12 hours after he posted it on his account. Yesterday they went into action against President Trump again, Facebook removing a tweet saying it violated its rules on Covid misinformation while Twitter added a public-interest notice saying the tweet broke its rules on COVID-19 misinformation.

Shadow banning of pro-Trump tweeters and right-of-centre supporters is widely accepted as routinely happening.

In addition to blocking content from potential viewers without informing the creator, censorship also often takes more subtle and indirect forms, such as demonetisation (preventing those with the wrong opinions making a living from their content), as described by Dave Rubin and Jordan Peterson here.

Yet despite these best efforts, its proved virtually impossible to prevent dissenting views from being heard and available, as subsequently demonstratedby Petersons and Rubins active resistance.

Where they led the way, others have followed.TCWposted a link to the Scott Atlas interviewhere, but you can also see it onBitChute, a video streaming service specifically created in 2017 to avoid YouTubes censorship. And its still available on more mainstream platforms such asApple,TuneinandFacebook.

You may find it a little more difficult to find the US Frontline Doctors press conference about hydroxychloroquine given several months ago, but not much (hereto save you the bother, though the comments have been disabled).

There is no doubtthat the internet has been a boon for anyone wishing to challenge Establishment views. The barriers to entry are low. The only things needed are a decent broadband connection and a smartphone. A few hundred pounds gets you a good microphone, camera and a bit of lighting.

While the tech giants try to muzzle those out of line of received wisdom, the reality is that articles and videos can be circulated with a speed with which Soviet dissidents could only have dreamed of spreading theirsamizdat.

And theres a plethora of conservative, Right-wing or free market voices out there. As well asTCWs socially conservative platform, my web favourites (from both sides of the pond) includeArchbishop Cranmer,Breitbart,Ann Coulter,Capx,Comment Central,Quilette,Theodore Dalrymple,Melanie Phillips,Matt Ridley,Mark Steyn,SpikedandHeterodox Academy, with a bit of satire fromThe Babylon Bee.

If I want to listen rather than read, then one can choose fromthinkspot(Jordan Petersons free speech alternative to the mainstream),The Daily Wire,Triggernometry,Gad Saad,Jonathan Pageau,Mayhar Tousi,Matt Christensen,Patrick Coffin,The New Culture Forumor Mark Steyn, again without trying hard to find anything.

TCWreaders will have their own favourites. One doesnt have to agree with everything to find it more informative and intellectually stimulating than anything the traditional media can offer.

The relatively small size of these outlets may make it look like a David and Goliath contest, though that fight didnt end well for the big chap.

The world of online has had plenty of major falls in its short history; if you remember Friends Reunited, Bebo or Myspace, youre already showing your age. And the mainstream media know that, despite their apparently large audiences, theyre struggling to win the online battle with the Right.

In April, theNew York Timeshad toadmitthatconservative commentator Ben Shapiro got 56million total interactions on his Facebook page in the previous 30 days, more than the main pages of ABC News, NBC News, The New York Times, The Washington Post and NPRcombined. Good news for conservatives on television is Fox Newss record audiences in 2020 for cable news, and also Tucker Carlson attracting arecord audience.

Britainremains a poor relation on both fronts. Alex Belfield, thoughpopular on YouTube, hardly competes with a Ben Shapiro in sophistication or reach.

And, with no broadcast equivalent here to Fox News, the jury is out as to whether Andrew Neilsnew 24-hour news channel GB Newswill provide the type ofRight-wing critiqueandopinionthat ismissing from TV here.

Admittedly, few viewing experiences have brought conservatives more pleasure in recent years than Cathy so youre saying that But Newman making a fool of herself when she interviewed Jordan Peterson wasby accident, not design.

Channel 4 chiefs put the half-hour programme on YouTube because they thought it went well for La Newman, illustrative of how out of touch they were with reality.

Largelyunnoticed were the viewing figures; the interview racked up around three million views in seven days (which would have made it the second most viewed Channel 4 programme that week) and two and a half years later it has over 22million views, the second most viewed video on Channel 4s YouTube channel (first place goes to a weather presenter pronouncing the longest Welsh placename).

Channel 4 News is rather coy about releasing its nightly viewing figures, butadmittedto only 7.4million a month in 2018, which is less than 400,000 a day.

The BBC isnt faring much better. The news that it lost 237,000 licence payers in the year to March 2020 comes after losses in recent years reversing adecade long increasein TV licence numbers to 2016.

Notably, these figures come prior to an inevitable backlash over its risible effort to make The Last Night of the Proms woke and its excuses for Black Lives Matters violence (27 police officers injured during largely peaceful anti-racism protests in London was the last straw for me).

The outrageous decision tomake over-75s pay for their TV licence is essential for the BBC to combat its declining revenue whilstmaintaining Loony Left initiatives such as 100million on more diversity and eye-watering salaries for many of itsindifferent presenters.

It will only get worse for the BBC. A recentpollfound 28 per cent of the public dontwatch BBC TV at all, 52 per cent think its too politically correct and 65 per cent support abolishing the TV licence. We can onlyhope that BBC stars wont be enjoying their exorbitant salaries forever.

The mainstream media are already exercising their power in the upcoming US Presidential election to hinder pro-Trump voices. So too are the corporates, attempting to stifle his supporters on social media.

Theyve already started; Facebook has restricted access to Tucker Carlsons official page due to repeated sharing of false news. No examples have been provided to support this assertion, as though facts arent needed for Left-wing censorship.

Its not clear that such exercises in manipulation will work; it didnt stop the Brexit vote or Trump being elected in 2016. Though the force of censorship has strengthened in the intervening years, time is running out for the mainstream media.

Their revenues and audiences are declining. Thats why theyll be trying harder than ever to control the message and why, in turn, conservatives will need to keep their antennaetuned, and keep up the fight, using all media available, to transmit their views.

Editors request:We invitereaders to recommendtheir alternativenews sources, especially from readers whohave turned their backs on theBBCand the paywalled newspapers such as the Times and the Telegraph. Which sources do you depend on for your daily news?

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Gagged by the media giants, conservatives must fight via the Net - The Conservative Woman