RedState at 20: My Career Path to the Site Where Truth and Bold Reporting Are Prioritized

I am normally not prone to write about myself, but as this outlet is celebrating two decades of conservative coverage I am compelled to explain how I arrived at this portal that is so valued. The staff is one where a rare collegial atmosphere exists, and our editors do yeoman’s work molding and improving our work (read: “mine”). This is indeed a rarity in publishing, and my path to RedState looks destined in ways.

I began my RedState tenure around the time of Donald Trump’s inaugural, coming on board as a culture writer. I finally had a base where I could expand into the realm of cultural conservative thought.

My past writing homes prevented this expansion. I have long held the desire to write, and when looking for a way to gain entry into publishing, I hit upon the idea of doing so as a movie critic. This fit my skill set, but there was a challenge: It looked like tens of thousands of people had a similar idea of reviewing film as the internet was exploding. I needed to find a way to distinguish myself and gain a foothold.

I was brought on the independent movie-based site Film Threat, where my first major writing inflection point took place. I began covering more of the business side of Hollywood, and one day, I felt compelled to take on Michael Moore. He was being celebrated across the industry for his film “Bowling For Columbine,” and his ego was swelling to a size that matched his corpulence. At the Academy Awards, he bellowed, with trophy in hand, “We like nonfiction, and we live in fictitious times! We live in the time where we have fictitious election results that elect a fictitious president!”

This bombast rankled me, and not because he opposed the Iraq war or President Bush; it was because the man pushed fictitious elements in his film. “Bowling For Columbine” is now regarded by some as agitprop, but at the time, few made a deep exploration into the numerous falsehoods in the film. The iconic scene of him getting a rifle for opening a bank account? Staged. The claim kids were motivated by parents who worked at a weapons factory? False. (The facility decommissions missiles to retrofit them into NASA rockets.) Worst was making NRA President Charlton Heston into a frothing madman by splicing different speeches together and hiding his cut-and-paste edits with footage of the school shooting.

These, and numerous other fake scenes in Moore’s “documentary,” were laid out in my lengthy article. Weeks later, my publisher, Chris Gore, encountered Moore at a film festival, and the filmmaker told him I had plagiarized my article from a right-wing website. Gore was concerned and came to me to say this was a serious accusation, and I needed to answer for myself. I was taken aback and anxious, as my burgeoning career was at risk – at first.

After a time I explained a few things to Gore. First, Moore only made an accusation; he gave nothing in the form of proof. Next, I noted Moore did not stipulate anything in my piece was inaccurate; he was just trying to shoot a messenger. Third, I had the foresight to back up all of my contentions; my piece was filled with citations and links to support all of my items. I explained, “If Moore wanted to slam me, he should say I stole my work from the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal,” and numerous others.

While standard practice for most of us today, this cemented in me the importance of having the facts on your side. Though I held the belief already, this proved the value of collecting the details. Adhere to the truth, and you battle back the emotional attacks. You know, basic journalism — a rarity these days.

The next major lesson came while working at MovieLine, a great site at the time filled with smart and hilarious writers who loved movies yet avoided treating Hollywood like a cathedral. While there, I kept my conservatism hidden, not due to pressure but by my own choice. I did not see it as an asset at a journalism outlet, let alone one rooted in entertainment. But at times this perspective served me on select stories.

I spotted one news item regarding Harvey Weinstein well before his rape activity was exposed. (We frequently torched the man for being a rapacious studio head.) Harvey was going to Sacramento to beg politicians for help preserving jobs in Hollywood. Movie and TV productions were fleeing the state, mostly for Canada but also for developing locations like New Orleans and Georgia. Weinstein was asking for studio benefits, tax breaks, and easing off of union fees and restrictions to stem the production flight.

I pitched my editors the story, and they just shrugged, stating it was a logical move by Harvey so not much of a story. I explained Weinstein was a major bundler for Barack Obama, whose major platforms at the time were higher taxes, promoting unions, and demonizing corporate welfare. It did not register with them how Harvey was demanding that his taxes be lowered, begging for a corporate handout, and lobbying unions to ease up on their demands. But then, a dawning came over them, and they greenlighted my piece. 

This showed me a conservative vision can cut through the liberal lens. When MovieLine was transformed to a pure promotional outlet, I decided to seek out a spot in conservative media, eventually finding my path to RedState. While here I have expanded into coverage of the journalism complex, those experiences showing the way to take on the partisanship in the monolithic industry. I now have a daily media column at Townhall, the Lie-Able Sources podcast, and frequent pieces laying out how our journalism complex has become corrupt.

Earlier this year, Steve Krakauer sat with Glenn Greenwald, and they spoke about media criticism. Greenwald noted that much of the time, the critics are the ones who do the core journalism, as there is the need to research and get the facts to show where the errors and misguided journalism are taking place. Those are lessons followed here at RedState. One of the best aspects about this site — and the Townhall Media family of outlets — is the conviction and willingness to present the facts, especially when they counter the media narratives. We have been routinely targeted by social media, search engine titans, and the major news outlets for some of our coverage, all while being roundly accurate. 

Truth is something no longer at a premium in the media landscape, as the narrative takes priority. This has led to the major press outlets today suffering from severe credibility problems due to multiple issues, such as Biden’s debate fallout, the divisive coverage ahead of the assassination attempt, and the eruption of leftist antisemitism. As a result, the press is scrambling.

Those outlets and journalists with no foundation are now altering their messaging, changing positions and coverage rapidly – exposing their fraud as they attempt to save credibility. Here at RedState, our standard of adhering to the facts leads to remaining consistent, and therein lies…integrity. 

This is how 20 years in the industry takes place.