A week on from Douglas Murray’s incendiary performance on The Joe Rogan Experience, the online Right is still in flames.

The latest explosion is a new post by Konstantin Kisin. As one half of the Triggernometry podcast, Kisin is one of the most prominent figures on the online Right, even if he does describe himself as a purveyor of “politically non-binary opinions”. Therefore, his critique of what he calls “Podcastistan” (i.e. his own industry) deserves our attention.

He used to be such a fan: “For years, I have celebrated the rise of new media and its impact on our ability to seek truth, challenge false narratives peddled by legacy institutions, and transform the way we conduct our public debate.” In an era when mainstream media, academia and politics all fell into the same woke morass, a plucky band of “curious, open-minded, inquisitive podcasters” offered a lifeline. However, it’s now come to Kisin’s attention that Podcastistan may not be the land of heroes he imagined it to be. All too often, its clickbait economy provides a refuge for the scoundrel.

That’s always been the case, of course. From its earliest days, the online Right has had its alt-Right shadow realm. But Kisin is more concerned by who gets interviewed by the biggest names in Podcastistan — the likes of Joe Rogan and Tucker Carlson — than the comments on obscure message boards.

This order of priorities is correct. The conservative cause would be better served if its most popilar podcasters always exercised the highest standards of journalistic quality control. And yet Kisin’s key charge — that podcasters are subject to the same “incentive structures and thought patterns we would typically associate with the entertainment business” — is why their failings matter less than those of the mainstream media.

The fact is that traditional news sources still enjoy higher levels of public confidence than newer, more opinionated platforms. But when a trusted broadcaster or newspaper makes a bad editorial decision — for instance, describing trans-identifying male sex offenders as women, or destructive riots as mostly peaceful, or the possibility that Covid escaped from a lab as a conspiracy theory — the harm it does to society is because of the investment in quality journalism, not despite it. To buy that degree of credibility — sometimes with public money — and then abuse it for ideological reasons does more damage than the bias of a talking head on the internet.

This vital difference is made bigger by the fact that Podcastistan tolerates a great deal more dissent than the mainstream media. When Kisin speaks out or James Lindsay condemns the “Woke Right”, the errors of the online Right are at least aired — and might even be corrected. Don’t forget that Murray made his comments about Rogan’s podcast on The Joe Rogan Experience; it would also be no surprise if he were invited back. It would be refreshing to see senior BBC editors subjected to the same unfiltered criticism.

Kisin and company are right to kick off against the BS merchants on their own side. But they shouldn’t lose all faith in Podcastistan. The very fact that it can hold itself accountable shows just how much we need it.

---

Peter Franklin is Associate Editor of UnHerd. He was previously a policy advisor and speechwriter on environmental and social issues.

peterfranklin_

---