The Righting deciphers conservative media for outsiders

NEW YORK (AP) — Nearly six years into monitoring the content of conservative media outlets for his website and newsletter The Righting, Howard Polskin hasn't lost the capacity for surprise.

Case in point: when Donald Trump announced his 2024 presidential candidacy, and many of his long-time media allies let fly with anger and insults. Two impeachments, two years of election denials and a U.S. Capitol riot didn't have the impact of a disappointing showing by Republicans in the midterm elections.

“I didn't expect the level of vitriol, there's no question about it,” he said.

Trump's inauguration in 2017 started Polskin on his journey. A New York-based former reporter and publicist for the likes of CNN and J.K. Rowling, Polskin was mystified at why his fellow Americans had elected Trump, and sought explanations.

He began studying outlets popular with conservatives and sending links to fellow left-leaning friends who wouldn't think of clicking on the Washington Free Beacon, the Epoch Times, PJ Media or Chicks on the Right.

“I didn't start it as a business,” he said. “I started it for myself.”

It has grown into a newsletter with subscribers that number nearly 10,000 and a website. Polskin, with a former Newsweek editor and freelance writers, does original reporting on people behind the outlets and coverage trends like the targeting of transgender rights and how powerful women of color are disparaged. He's produced an “A-Z Guide to Right Wing Media” with 130 entries.

The Righting also follows which sites are gaining and losing popularity in an industry fully dominated by FoxNews.com.

Polskin is impatient for more people who are not enmeshed in conservative media to read what he's compiling. He received an important endorsement when California Gov. Gavin Newsom said in...