On The Time of Monsters: Taylor Lorenz on the shadowy groups backing some big Democratic influencers.
Here's where to find podcasts from The Nation. Political talk without the boring parts, featuring the writers, activists and artists who shape the news, from a progressive perspective.
On August 27, journalist Taylor Lorenz reported for Wired on a dark-money project funded by
anonymous Democratic Party donors to shape social media. Her article documented that,
"In a private group chat in June, dozens of Democratic political influencers discussed whether to
take advantage of an enticing opportunity. They were being offered $8,000 per month to take
part in a secretive program aimed at bolstering Democratic messaging on the internet.
But the contract sent to them from Chorus, the nonprofit arm of a liberal influencer marketing
platform, came with some strings. Among other issues, it mandated extensive secrecy about
disclosing their payments and had restrictions on what sort of political content the creators
could produce."
I talked to Taylor about her article and the considerable backlash it provoked from the people
she wrote about. We also discussed why Republicans have done so well on social media and
why this latest effort is both morally dubious and ineffective.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
On August 27, journalist Taylor Lorenz reported for Wired on a dark-money project funded by anonymous Democratic Party donors to shape social media. As she wrote:
In a private group chat in June, dozens of Democratic political influencers discussed whether to take advantage of an enticing opportunity. They were being offered $8,000 per month to take part in a secretive program aimed at bolstering Democratic messaging on the internet. But the contract sent to them from Chorus, the nonprofit arm of a liberal influencer marketing platform, came with some strings. Among other issues, it mandated extensive secrecy about disclosing their payments and had restrictions on what sort of political content the creators could produce.
I talked to Taylor about her article and the considerable backlash it provoked from the people she wrote about. We also discussed why Republicans have done so well on social media and why this latest effort is both morally dubious and ineffective.
Subscribe to The Nation to support all of our podcasts: thenation.com/podcastsubscribe.
The Time of Monsters podcast features Nation national-affairs correspondent Jeet Heer’s signature blend of political culture and cultural politics. Each week, he’ll host in-depth conversations with urgent voices on the most pressing issues of our time.
The issue of Canada’s national unity is heading towards the ballot box as Alberta is having a referendum on the issue of separatism. I spoke with Canadian journalist Nora Loreto about the background to this dispute, the backing the referendum is receiving from right wing US political actors such as Steve Bannon and lobbyists connected to the oil industry. The discussion also takes up the role of Prime Minister Mark Carney, who is using the crisis to push a neoliberal agenda. For more commentary by Nora, you can go to the podcast Sandy and Nora Talk Politics, which is found here.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Jeet HeerTwitterJeet Heer is a national affairs correspondent for The Nation and host of the weekly Nation podcast, The Time of Monsters. He also pens the monthly column “Morbid Symptoms.” The author of In Love with Art: Francoise Mouly’s Adventures in Comics with Art Spiegelman (2013) and Sweet Lechery: Reviews, Essays and Profiles (2014), Heer has written for numerous publications, including The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Virginia Quarterly Review, The American Prospect, The Guardian, The New Republic, and The Boston Globe.