A new study from the Southern Poverty Law Center reveals just how much Newsweek has fallen further and further down the fringe-right rabbit hole, thanks largely to the magazine turning over its opinion section to a stridently conservative activist.
Hatewatch, which monitors the American radical right for the SPLC, published an extensive analysis on Friday spotlighting Josh Hammer’s role in “buoying extremists and promoting authoritarian leaders” on Newsweek’s pages since the outlet—which was once The Daily Beast’s sister publication—brought him on as opinion editor in late 2020.
Earlier this year, The Daily Beast’s media newsletter Confider reported that concern had grown over Newsweek’s opinion page having “seemingly gone off the deep end,” noting that Hammer had published op-eds from notorious Pizzagate conspiracy theorist Jack Posobiec and MAGA diehard Charlie Kirk, among others. Additionally, Confider noted, former President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner has maintained a “cozy relationship” with the magazine.
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According to the study’s author, Michael Edison Hayden, “Newsweek has also failed to disclose potential conflicts of interest emerging in the content published through Hammer’s opinion section and his Newsweek-branded podcast.” For instance, not only has Hammer donated to the campaign of MAGA-worshiping GOP Senate candidate Blake Masters but he’s also published at least four columns written by a prominent Masters fundraiser.
Also, on his podcast, Hammer has also urged his listeners to look at recent news and political events through the prism of civil war, telling his audience that “we” must defeat “our” enemies.
“The onus for our side is… to call out the nonsense… to soberly recognize where we are in what appears to be a falling, decadent, late-stage republic and to act accordingly,” he said in an August broadcast featuring Posobiec. “To know what time it is… and to command our side’s battle stations accordingly… to go to battle in this roiling, cold civil war against our domestic foes.”
As Hammer has promulgated overheated “wartime” rhetoric and regularly advanced bigoted commentary on the magazine’s opinion pages, much of Newsweek’s staff has accused management of coddling Hammer and his editorial push towards the hard right.
“Hatewatch interviewed over two dozen current and former Newsweek employees, most of whom intersected with Hammer, and the feedback they gave about him and his worldview was universally negative,” Hayden wrote. “Employees, the majority of whom declined to be named, citing conditions of Newsweek’s contract, described the company’s managerial staff as giving Hammer preferential treatment and a kind of celebrity status, which they did not believe his resume or contribution warranted.”
While one former employee noted that he was fired by Newsweek for “violating a policy of advocating political support for left-leaning causes” on social media, a public relations agency speaking on behalf of Newsweek noted those same rules don’t apply to Hammer.
“Newsweek has a firm policy of newsroom editors and [reporters] not donating to political campaigns. This does not apply to those in the opinions section,” LBG PR told Hatewatch.
And in a general response to Hatewatch’s study, LBG PR wrote: “Newsweek’s opinions section features voices across the political and cultural spectrum. While he offers up his own opinions on the Newsweek platform, as Opinions Editor, Josh Hammer has embraced the mission of ‘The Debate’ and delivered an expansive forum for diverse perspectives and dialogue.”
Read the full Hatewatch study here.
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