New York Times National Correspondent Jackie Calmes argued that some conservative media outlets are “against the compromise that’s needed to govern” in a discussion of her article on conservative media on Friday’s “Hugh Hewitt Show.”
Calmes was asked about the idea that “the outrage industry on the left is choking off free speech debate, and is actually killing things off. Are you worried about that proposition, that the left is the problem here, not the right?”
She answered, “No. I mean, the short answer is no. … I don’t think it’s comparable, and a lot of people — and most people I talked to, and most of whom were Republicans, didn’t think so, either, that the pressure points on the Democratic side are mostly the organized groups like Labor, and women’s groups, and environmentalists, more than any media. I mean, God knows, look at the New York Times. The New York Times has no influence to speak of or pressure. I’ve never seen, in the time I’ve — 30 years I’ve been in Washington, 31, I’ve never seem members say they were voting some way because of a New York Times editorial.”
Calmes concluded the discussion by arguing, “in terms of conservative media, that like Breitbart, and the Blaze, and the local and syndicated talk radio shows, and — it’s this constant like not, it’s against governing. It’s against the compromise that’s needed to govern.”
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