- Pritzker Fellows
- Former Fellows
- Steve Hayes
Steve Hayes
CEO & Editor of The Dispatch & NBC News Political Analyst
Fall 2022 Pritzker Fellow
Seminar Series: "Crisis of Noise: Information, Media & the Modern American Right"
Stephen F. Hayes is CEO and Editor of The Dispatch, a fact-driven conservative digital media company he started with Jonah Goldberg in 2019, and an NBC News political analyst. He is the author of two New York Times best sellers: The Connection: How al Qaeda’s Collaboration with Saddam Hussein Has Endangered America and Cheney: The Untold Story of America’s Most Powerful and Controversial Vice President.
Hayes worked at The Weekly Standard magazine for nearly two decades, first as a writer and eventually as editor-in-chief. His work has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Reason, National Review and many other publications. Hayes has written extensively about national politics, international affairs and the country’s current political leadership.
Hayes spent 12 years as a Fox News contributor, featured prominently in the network’s coverage of Supreme Court nominations, major presidential speeches, and primary and general election nights. Before joining Fox, Hayes was part of CNN’s “Best Political Team on Television,” which won a Peabody Award for its coverage of the 2008 elections. He is a regular panelist on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Hayes is a native of Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, and a graduate of DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana. He studied public policy at Georgetown University and received an MS from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. He previously worked as a senior writer at National Journal’s Hotline and as director of The Fund for American Studies’ Institute on Political Journalism at Georgetown University. He lives in rural Maryland with his wife and four children.
Seminars
“Crisis of Noise: Information, Media & the Modern American Right”
Conservative complaints about the media are nothing new. Even before Spiro Agnew’s famous speech attacking the media in 1969, politicians and activists on the right grumbled about establishment outlets and sought to circumvent their filters. But options were limited. And the dominant outlets would dominate for decades to come.
Fifty years later, it’s a different world. There are countless alternatives to the New York Times and the Washington Post, to ABC News and CNN. A powerful right-wing media establishment rivals the legacy media in its ability to shape the national political conversation. Elected Republicans are often more inclined to give interviews to Breitbart or Newsmax or Steve Bannon’s WarRoom podcast than Politico or the Wall Street Journal. And with a vast constellation of smaller right-wing outlets - podcasts, newsletters, websites - it sometimes feels as though there are as many different information sources as there are information consumers.
The differences between legacy media and right-wing outlets are not just ideological, they’re often journalistic. Many outlets on the right - including several of the most influential - prioritize opinion over reporting, speed over accuracy, outrage over explanation, affirmation over information. These changes bring with them profound effects on our understanding of politics, even our perceptions of reality.
We will explore the evolution of conservative media over the past sixty years, with special attention to the acceleration of change over the past twenty years. How does the speed of information affect our understanding of politics and governance? What are the economic incentives of the new journalism? Do most news consumers want to be informed or to have their views affirmed? With politicians, parties and interest groups creating their own distribution channels, what is the future of campaigning? Who are the gatekeepers and what’s their function?
There is a reason conservatives have long been skeptical of the mainstream media. Media bias is real. But running against the media is also a political strategy - and lately a rather effective one. We’ll look at studies on ideological bias in the media and the ways in which center-right politicians have campaigned against the media.
Conservatives have long sought to work around the mainstream media, even before Rush Limbaugh and the rise of modern talk radio. We’ll look at those efforts - the challenges and the successes - as a harbinger of things to come.
Special Guest: Paul Matzko, Historian, Research Fellow at the Cato Institute & Author of "The Radio Right - How a Band of Broadcasters Took on the Federal Government and Built the Modern Conservative Movement"
The speed of information today was inconceivable just twenty years ago. There is more information available to us in an instant on our phones than could have been housed in the more extensive college libraries. How have these changes affected our consumption of news?
Special Guest: Christine Rosen, Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute & Fellow at the University of Virginia’s Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture
The news industry has undergone massive changes over the past half-century, accelerated over the past three decades by the proliferation of media outlets. How has this transformation affected news consumption? What incentives - economic and otherwise - drive the behavior of journalists and news executives? How has the 24/7 news cycle and the growth of cable news shaped our understanding of politics and even reality? We'll welcome Chris Stirewalt, former digital politics editor at Fox News who was famously let go after Fox's controversial and consequential call of Arizona for Joe Biden on election night in 2020. Stirewalt, who brings long experience in both print and broadcast journalism, is the author of the newly published book, "Broken News: Why the Media Rage Machine Divides America and How to Fight Back."
Special Guest: Chris Stirewalt, former Digital Politics Editor at Fox News & Author of "Broken News: Why the Media Rage Machine Divides America and How to Fight Back"
Donald Trump actively sought to undermine the mainstream media, telling Leslie Stahl it was part of his strategy: “I do it to discredit you all and demean you all so when you write negative stories about me, no one will believe you.” Trump adviser Steve Bannon said: “The Democrats don't matter. The real opposition is the media. And the way to deal with them is to flood the zone with shit."
Special Guest: Tim Miller, Writer-At-Large at The Bulwark, Host of the Snapchat Show Not My Party, Author of Why We Did It: A Travelogue from the Republican Road to Hell and former Political Director for Republican Voters Against Trump & Communications Director for Jeb Bush 2016
If Donald Trump’s presidential campaign dramatically changed the way political campaigns are covered, his presidency may well have the same effect on covering the White House. Trump’s ad hoc governing style and aggressive dishonesty presented new challenges for journalists who covered him - and for those who spoke on behalf of his administration. And what if Trump runs again? How do you cover a candidate who is effectively anti-democratic? How do you cover a candidate who is… also running against the very democratic system that makes all of this possible? Those are questions posed by Jonathan Karl of ABC News, author of two bestselling books on the Trump presidency. We’ll get him to answer his own questions.
Special Guests: Jonathan Karl, Chief Washington Correspondent for ABC News, Co-Anchor of This Week with George Stephanopoulos & former President of the White House Correspondents Association
Special Guest: Jonathan Martin, Political Analyst at CNN, Author of "This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden, and the Battle for America's Future," and former Political Reporter at The New York Times and Politics Bureau Chief and Senior Political Columnist at POLITICO