The Rise Of The Alt-Left British Media

[T_i_B]

https://www.buzzfeed.com/jimwaterson/the-rise-of-the-alt-left?utm_term=.ydpgQ3VeA8#.cewOoEPedR

Just as the likes of Breitbart broke into the mainstream during the 2016 US presidential election by exploiting a lack of right-wing viral news, the 2017 general election is driving record traffic to the loose collection of alt-left British outlets that are positioning themselves as Corbyn’s outriders, jumping on stories without much of the nuance of outlets that remain rooted in mainstream reporting traditions.

There’s nothing particularly new about such outlets. It’s well over a decade since political blogging established itself in the UK and Clark himself has been quietly running his site for seven years, with little initial success: Clark says he “used to punch the air” when a post reached 10,000 views. But until around 2015 most of these blogs remained aimed at an insider audience or local activists – featuring titbits widely read by those in the Westminster bubble or people who work at mainstream news organisations, or appealing only to the rare members of the public who waste their lives discussing political news. It usually took an established outlet to pick up a story in order to make it go mainstream.

What's changed is that, according to analysis conducted by BuzzFeed News during the first two weeks of the election campaign, articles by Another Angry Voice and other similar alt-left media publications such as The Canary, Evolve Politics, and Skwawkbox are consistently and repeatedly going more viral than mainstream UK political journalism.

Essentially, if you’re tired of biased right-wing reporting dominating the agenda, why not fight fire with fire? If millions of people, desperately willing the Conservatives to defeat, are looking for hope, why would you expect them to read and share reports about Labour’s failings? And so, even as Labour is struggling in the polls and local elections, these sites are surging among a growing band of true believers. “People know they’re being misled but they work hard making ends meet and don’t have the time to think it all through,” said Clark, who considers himself to be a writer rather than a journalist. “So they really like having a guy out there who can cut through the propaganda and put the counter-arguments into articles and infographics they can share."