Is Left Media in Decline?
No. Harry's piece shows there's life among these breakthrough projects, and some of it is thriving. Novara, for example, is seeing subscriptions up, donations up, viewers up, and is expanding its worker collective while managing to pay staff more than the £15/hour living wage. In the immediate aftermath of the YouTube shutdown, it's in rude health. Discussing audiences with Skwawkbox's Steve Walker, he more or less admits audiences weren't what they were but is philosophical about them coming back when politics gets more favourable. Be that as it may, I'd suggest his blog occupies an unfilled niche in the media ecosystem by providing an outlet for leaks and off-the-record briefings for Labour insiders and the cognoscenti in several trade unions. The Canary, however, seems to have come off worst, going from eight million views per month to around 250,000 today. Figures I wouldn't mind, but much faded to be sure. Could we see the return to glory days at some point?
A couple of things the article doesn't touch on are worth noting. Novara is a multi-media project with a heavy emphasis on video. Double Down News and the new(ish) Owen Jones Show have the same slant, and are reaping the rewards. In other words, there's a shift from the printed word to the talking image - a strange repetition of trends online that we saw with analogue media about a century ago. There's no reason to think this won't continue. Spend 10 minutes reading an article or an hour with watching and, in some cases, interacting with a show as it's broadcast? No contest.
There are other reasons why the written output of new left media isn't pulling in the numbers that aren't reducible to politics. Firstly, work patterns have shifted for millions of workers due to Covid. Fewer people are commuting to work every day, and who might have filled their journey genning up on the latest leftist hot takes. With that reduced, some are finding other things to do at home instead. Perhaps spending more time watching broadcast news, leftist or otherwise as part of the breakfast routine. I know how much Covid has disrupted my routines, which means I don't read as much, and since Covid struck the numbers have declined here too - pretty much along the same lines as temporary audience blips every time there was a public holiday.
The second issue comes down to content. In 2017 millions of people were newly politicised and hungry for a left wing take on the big issues of the day. Four years on it's not that these audiences have lost interest in politics, though undoubtedly some are disappointed with the 2019 defeat, but that the same stuff won't cut the mustard. I'm thinking of The Canary, Evolve, and AAV here. The latter has proven adept at producing viral content for the absolutely humongous Facebook page, but the first two are doing what they've always done. The Canary posts as frequently as ever, Evolve much less so. The content remains focussed on nefarious deeds by the establishment and highlighting stories largely ignored by the mainstream, but I suspect most of its former audience simply use Twitter directly for their alternative news and analysis fix. It, like the broadcast efforts of new left media, offer the possibility of connectivity and conversation - though one might suggest the platform's well-known pathologies stifle and frustrate radical enthusiasm rather than cultivate it.
A dual picture then, a new left media of two halves with video charging forward and written journalism/opinion left in its dust. Is the latter doomed to remain the poorer? Probably - more have always tuned in to watch legacy media broadcasts than read papers, after all. The trick for any left wing writing project, whether Trot paper, a semi-obsolete blog, some sort of magazine, or a news outlet is to keep churning out fresh content regularly. Audiences will come and go with the flows of politics and the pertinence of issues, but one thing's for certain. No one will read and reflect on the information and analyses presented if leftist writers give up.
Image Credit