Breitbart News Editor-in-Chief Alexander Marlow, 27, recapped the myriad victories of the conservative grassroots in 2013 and highlighted some of the major issues Breitbart News intends to pursue doggedly in the new year.
Appearing on The Wilkow Majority on Sirius XM Patriot channel 125 with Breitbart News Executive Chairman and guest-host Stephen K. Bannon on Thursday, Marlow, who was the late Andrew Breitbart’s first hire, talked about how Breitbart’s news empire started. Working in the late Andrew Breitbart’s home overlooking the Los Angeles National Cemetery, where the country’s fallen soldiers are interred, and seeing the families of the fallen heroes was inspirational to Marlow. He added that it “fostered the fighting spirit” which became symbolic of Breitbart’s news empire and is a part of the Breitbart News ethos. Marlow said that Breitbart wanted to fight for the “many people – such as our veterans – that do not have a voice in the mainstream media,” and that is what Breitbart News will continue to do.
Among conservative victories achieved in 2013 were stopping the Food Stamp bill – that was laden with crony capitalism – amnesty, and more gun laws. In addition, the conservative grassroots and Breitbart News won victories against A&E in the Duck Dynasty battle, when the network reinstated patriarch Phil Robertson after having suspended him for supposedly anti-gay remarks to GQ magazine. Breitbart News, along with former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, pressured ESPN – owned by Disney as is A&E – to air an ad from a Catholic Hospital which had been rejected for being “problematic” due to the use of the words “God” and “Jesus.” Marlow said the “pushback was so overwhelming” that networks had to cave, and that is why it is of utmost importance to “fight back in the culture war.”
Marlow said that, while Breitbart News will always take on the institutional left, it has also pivoted to and focused on the institutional Republican establishment, which is often “in on the fix.” For example, he referred to policies such as amnesty, more government spending, and crony capitalism. The Republican establishment often backs candidates like Mitt Romney and John McCain who end up losing in the general election and emboldening Democrats and Obama. Case in point: during the Duck Dynasty battle, the Republican establishment was silent on the issue, while millions of grassroots Americans and even liberals, such as TMZ’s Harvey Levin and gay blogger Andrew Sullivan, were denouncing A&E’s suspension of Robertson.
Marlow also pointed to Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) to prove how powerful grassroots Americans and new media outlets were in shaping the debate and narrative in 2013. Rubio tried to moderate his image by taking the advice of establishment Republicans who urged him to champion amnesty. However, he swiftly went silent on the matter after the legislation that he co-wrote passed the Senate. New media outlets like Breitbart News and grassroots Americans using social media swamped the establishment and the mainstream press in the messaging wars on amnesty, and Rubio heard them.
For 2014, Marlow said a big focus at Breitbart News will be to report on the Republican establishment’s war against the Tea Party; the Democrats trying to give Obama false victories on the economy while millions of Americans, especially those in minority communities, remain unemployed; and the Obamacare disaster.
Marlow noted that the mainstream press may be starting to push back a bit on the Obama administration’s rosy spin on Obamacare. Mainstream media members probably feel like used prostitutes after the way the administration treated them during the Obamacare debate and even leading up to its implementation.
Marlow also said, in reference to Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank’s criticism of conservative media for covering the fact that Obama did not go to church on Christmas, that the mainstream press still does not get why conservative outlets like Breitbart News are so vigilant and relentless. BNN will always have a foot on the neck of the MSM, in the style of former Arkansas basketball coach Nolan Richardson’s “40 minutes of hell” full-court press.
“That’s what we intend to do,” Marlow declared. “We’re going to keep the pressure on.”
Perhaps most importantly, Marlow spoke about the democratization of media, especially when it comes to streaming content and new media outlets like Breitbart News and Sirius XM. This is challenging the monopoly that gatekeepers have had in news and entertainment. He said it was an issue that was “dear to my heart.”
Marlow added that, too often, news and entertainment organizations were not accountable to consumers but rather to their corporate interests, which have been more sympathetic to Obama’s viewpoint than to those of many of their patrons across the country, particularly conservatives.
For instance, Marlow mentioned that while the media reports on shootings at predominantly white high schools for weeks, it ignores the tragedy of black children being gunned down regularly in cities like Chicago, which is ruled by Democrats. He said the media tells Obamacare success stories without mentioning the fact that the person they are profiling is an Obama employee.
Outlets like Breitbart News, Marlow said, will continue to find what the mainstream media often omits in its press to protect liberals. He made a point to note that there is a foot race to build new media enterprises before the mainstream media gets so out of control that “there is no free speech left in this country.”
In particular, Marlow referenced an “anti-gay rant” by Alec Baldwin, an “anti-woman” attack on Sarah Palin by Martin Bashir, and a racist attack on Mitt Romney’s adopted black grandchild by Melissa Harris-Perry and her guests. All three of these hosts work[ed] at MSNBC, and Marlow said it was important to highlight their actions to show the retaliatory nature of liberals in the media.
He also said that Breitbart News would continue to cover stories that reflect the “human condition” – “minor cultural issues that tend to reflect things that are changing in society.” Bannon, the host, mentioned that because Marlow was working with Breitbart while Breitbart was still at the Drudge Report, Marlow understands the pulse of the modern news cycle as well as anyone in the country.
In describing the left, whom outlets like Breitbart News will continue to combat vociferously, Marlow said the late Andrew Breitbart’s description of them was perfect: they are “joyless.”
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