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Episode 198: The Destructive Elitism of 'The Atlantic' Magazine

Added 2024-03-13 15:04:54 +0000 UTC

“Teachers Unions: Still a Huge Obstacle to Reform.” “Countering Iran’s Menacing Persian Gulf Navy.” “Open Everything: The time to end pandemic restrictions is now.” “The Good Republicans’ Last Stand”

Each of these headlines comes from the same magazine: The Atlantic. For 167 years, the publication has enjoyed elite stature in the American literary and journalistic worlds, publishing such luminaries as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Barack Obama, and serving as a coveted professional destination for writers throughout the country. Founded by a number of esteemed 19th century authors, the magazine has long prided itself on its cultural and political depth.

But beneath all of its high-minded rhetoric about democracy, free expression, fearlessness, and American ideals is a vehicle of center-right pablum, designed to launder reactionary opinions for a liberal-leaning audience. As the employer of warmongers like Jeffrey Goldberg, Anne Applebaum, and David Frum, under the ownership of a Silicon Valley-tied investment firm hellbent on destroying teachers’ unions, The Atlantic, time and time again, proves a far cry from the truth-pursuing, consensus-disrupting outlet it claims to be.

On this episode, we dive into the history and ideology of The Atlantic, examining the currents of middlebrow conservatism, left-punching, and deference to boring business owners that have run through the magazine throughout its nearly 17 decades of operation.

Our guest is Jon Schwarz.

Guest

Jon Schwarz (@schwarz) is a political commentator and media analyst. For a decade, he was senior wrier at The Intercept.

Show Notes

The Atlantic and the Limits of Reasonableness

David Klion | October 20, 2020 | Thew New Republic

The Atlantic Celebrates 20th Anniversary of Iraq War with Lavish Falsehoods About Iraq War

Jon Schwarz | March 29, 2023 | The Intercept

Broken Windows, Broken Trust: The NYPD’s Racially Discriminatory Quality-of-Life Policing [PDF]

March 29, 2022 | Legal Aid Society

Political Correctness Is Destroying America! (Just Not How You Think.)

Jon Schwarz | July 18, 2020 | The Intercept

Conspiracies Pushed by Atlantic’s Editor Excluded From Atlantic’s Denunciation of Conspiracy Theories

Adam Johnson | August 10, 2017 | Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting

Laurene Powell Jobs’s $100 Million Mission to Disrupt American High School

Lisa Miller | October 18, 2016 | New York Magazine Intelligencer

Loose Cigarettes Today, Civil Unrest Tomorrow

Justin Peters | December 5, 2014 | Slate

The Final Proof That You Can't Trust the Persians

Nima Shirazi and Jon Schwarz | December 3, 2013 | MichaelMoore.com

Wagering on War Crimes: The Atlantic’s Latest Anti-Iran Propaganda

Nima Shirazi | August 2, 2013 | Wide Asleep In America

Jeffrey Goldberg's Anti-Boycott Bluster & Blunder

Nima Shirazi | December 19, 2010 | Wide Asleep In America

The Tycoon

Nick Paumgarten | July 16, 2007 | The New Yorker

Zuckerman Reluctantly Sells Atlantic

Leslie Kaufman | September 28, 1999 | The New York Times

The Lewis Powell Memo: A Corporate Blueprint to Dominate Democracy

Lewis F. Powell, Jr. | August 23, 1971 | U.S. Chamber of Commerce

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Transcript

For a full transcript of this episode, go here. You can find transcripts of past episodes, interviews and News Briefs here.

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