History suggests we shouldn’t laugh off what’s happening in right wing media right now. Plus, profiting off of racism is a business model as old as the news.

Nicole Hemmer, an associate research scholar at Columbia University and author of Messengers of the Right: Conservative Media and the Transformation of American Politics, explains how right wing media serves -- and surrounds -- its audience.

Then, Channing Gerard Joseph, a journalism professor at the University of Southern California-Annenberg, describes how today’s most notable newspapers built their businesses by selling racism and anti-Black violence. He breaks down the research for his recent cover story in The Nation magazine, “American Journalism’s Role in Promoting Racist Terror.”

Companion listening for this episode:

MAGA, the New Confederate Lost Cause (11/16/2020)

White supremacist myths turn defeated leaders into heroic victors. Will Donald Trump now get the same transfiguration as Robert E. Lee?

Down the Rabbit Hole (10/13/2016)

A journey into the right wing media world through which Donald Trump built his movement.

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Notes from America airs live on Sundays at 6 p.m. ET. The podcast episodes are lightly edited from our live broadcasts.