A.J. Bauer

cup.columbia.eduMaking the Liberal Media | Columbia University PressConservatives have disagreed about many things, but they have long been united by the belief that the mainstream—or “liberal”—media is biased against... | CUP

10 Dec 2025

You can now pre-order my book, Making the Liberal Media, directly from Columbia University Press! Use the discount code CUP20 and save $7! cup.columbia.edu/book/making-...

archives.tufts.eduarchives.tufts.edu

Earlier this year we lost the great anti-fascist researcher Chip Berlet to cancer. Chip hailed from a long line of right-watchers dating back to the progressive era, including his mentor George Seldes. As a right-wing studies researcher, I'm honored to house Chip's personal Seldes library. 🧵

I learned so much about right-wing organizing in the 1940s thanks to Seldes. Chip's work is a vital guide for researchers of right-wing politics in the 1980s-1990s. His papers and research files are archived at Tufts: archives.tufts.edu/repositories...

academia.eduAgent and Archive: Chip Berlet and the historicity of right-watchersQAnon is an insidious and capacious conspiracy theory that lionizes Donald Trump's fctive struggles against dark forces and the deep state. In summer 2020-a year of compounding crises and entrench...

My deep gratitude to Karen Moyer for entrusting me with this little piece of right-wing studies history. And to @transform6789.bsky.social for thinking of me and facilitating the connection. We will keep Chip's legacy by carrying the torch that George Seldes handed him.

It wasn't until years later, as my dissertation research sent me down a George Seldes rabbit hole, that I realized he was linked to Chip. At some point I'll write more about the right-watching tradition they established. Here is a first stab: www.academia.edu/95027577/Age...

plutobooks.comThe Anti-Defamation League - Pluto PressThe ADL says it fights hate. Its record tells a different story

I also wrote a bit about Chip and George in my chapter on Birch-watching in this new critical reader on the Anti-Defamation League. Chip continued a true anti-fascist tendency of right-watching that was later muddled by anti-communist efforts like the ADL. www.plutobooks.com/product/the-...

Karen also recalled Seldes' celebration of life: "The memorial was lovely. George's ashes were planted under a rose bush in front of the house. Martinis were passed around and a toast was given. Chip saved some of the martini drink in the bottle and brought it home with us."

I was lucky to meet Chip at a workshop for researchers studying the Tea Party movement, sometime in the fall of 2010 (I think) at CUNY. He provided generous and hand-written feedback on our papers and gave a talk that featured magic tricks.

The collection includes an empty gin bottle, which Chip kept in his freezer for 30 years up until the day he died. It once contained a very dry gin martini, mixed and mostly consumed as part of a celebration of life for George Seldes, who died in the summer of 1995 at the ripe old age of 104.

Chip's partner, Karen Moyer, remembered accompanying him on his occasional trips to visit his mentor in Vermont. "George would make martinis for everyone," she recalled. "When he reached around 100, his grand (?) niece, made the drinks-diluting George's drink so there was hardly any alcohol."

insidehighered.comConservative Group Used to Target Media. Now It Hunts DEI.Accuracy in Media deploys billboard trucks and undercover recordings to accuse students and staff of supporting Hamas or running illegal DEI programs. Its current leader says the organization’s tactic...

Really fascinating reporting about Accuracy in Media's shifting focus in recent years. Fascinating that Don Irvine is distancing himself from their latest stunts!

Ryan Quinn@ryanequinn.bsky.social

The son of Accuracy in Media's founder said the group has become “like another version of Project Veritas, which I was never fond of in the beginning anyway.” www.insidehighered.com/news/diversi...

Tour starts this Friday! Give a shout if you're along this route and want to connect.

A.J. Bauer@ajbauer.bsky.social

Gearing up for the Europe leg of my MAKING THE LIBERAL MEDIA book tour in a couple of weeks: Oct. 30 — Brussels, BE (VUB) Nov. 2 — Paris, FR (Université Paris Nanterre, Mediamérica) Nov. 3 — Paris, FR (Sciences Po, médialab) Nov. 4 — Geneva, CH (Graduate Institute) Nov. 6 — Odense, DK (SDU)

A.J. Bauer reposted

abusablepast.orgAbout – The Abusable Past

If you’re at ASA this weekend swing by the @haymarketbooks.org table, they’re selling The Anti-Defamation League: A Critical Reader, edited by @mishmoshk.bsky.social and Heike Schotten and featuring a chapter by me!

A sample.

Also I’m around, hmu

I’ve joined the digital collective of @abusablepast.bsky.social and the editorial collective of Radical History Review. Send me pitches! abusablepast.org/about/

A.J. Bauer reposted

Sciences Po: medialab.sciencespo.fr/en/news/beyo...

medialab.sciencespo.frBeyond Bias | médialab Sciences PoDuring this médialab seminar, A. J. Bauer will present his research on the history of the conflict between conservatives and the “liberal media” in the United States.

graduateinstitute.chMaking the Liberal Media: How Conservatives in the US Built a Movement Against the PressBook talk with A.J. Bauer

Geneva Graduate Institute: www.graduateinstitute.ch/communicatio...

Brussels: www.researchcenterdesire.eu/ajs-seminar....

researchcenterdesire.euAJ's SeminarSeminar with A.J. Bauer co-organised by ECHO and DESIRE Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Room i.2.02 30.10.26 from 15:00 to 17:00

crea.parisnanterre.frSéminaire Médiamerica - Making the Liberal Media: How Conservatives Built a Movement Against the Press - A. J. Bauer - Centre de Recherches Anglophones (CREA)

Université Paris Nanterre: crea.parisnanterre.fr/seminaires/s...

careers.ua.eduCCIS - Southern Progress Professor of Media Entrepreneurship, Journalism and Creative Media - 530646 - Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United StatesDepartment/Organization207451 - Journalism and Creative Media RankProfessor Position SummaryThe Department of Journalism & Creative Media in the College of Communication & Information Scienc...

I'm co-chairing a search for a full professor in the area of "media entrepreneurship" (extremely broadly defined). It comes with an endowment! If you're ranked full or senior associate with research adjacent to the themes in the call, don't hesitate to reach out! careers.ua.edu/jobs/ccis-so...

A.J. Bauer reposted

🎧 My pleasure to talk with Jamila Michener & Neil Lewis. You can find Futures Forum podcast on all platforms. We discussed my book TROOP MOVEMENTS — the links between war and justice, from the 1940s to 1960s to 2020s. While it's a serious topic — this is a fun & accessible chat! Check it out...

Leaning into the diaper rumors to raise money.

Full email.

American Studies/Chicago folks, come hang on Friday!

Republicans are in disarray. Let’s check in on the NYT op ed section.

A.J. Bauer reposted

dlvr.itTrump Says Katie Zacharia Will Stay in the Admin: ‘Maybe in a More Pleasant Form’President Donald Trump insisted Friday that White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia would remain in the administration after being fired. The post Trump Says Katie Zacharia Will Stay in the Admin: ‘Maybe in a More Pleasant Form’ first appeared on Mediaite.

📣 BOOK TOUR 📣 —> Ithaca —> Chicago —> L.A. —> NYC —> “Troop Movements: Labor, Race, and Global Freedom Struggles in America’s World War II” — by Tejasvi Nagaraja Spread the word — stay tuned — get in touch! 📕🏟️

42. (Yesterday)

As Katie Zacharia awoke one morning from uneasy dreams she found herself transformed in her bed into a gigantic insect.

Mediaite@mediaite.com

Trump Says Katie Zacharia Will Stay in the Admin: ‘Maybe in a More Pleasant Form’

theatlantic.comWhat Hasan Piker BelievesHe’s right to complain that a few provocative quotes do not capture his worldview.

I can’t wait until we can openly ridicule this scare workout being subjected to death threats.

A.J. Bauer reposted

Roy Edroso

@edroso.bsky.social

The full weight of the fascist state is employed against Ilhan Omar and here's what Jonathan Chait is exercised about www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/1...

A.J. Bauer reposted

jamelle

@jamellebouie.net

is there anyone thinking/writing about the actual mechanics of disentangling the US government from elon musk?

Trump hates the media's coverage of him so much that he wants to compel them to cover him.

David Folkenflik@davidfolkenflik.bsky.social

The Justice Department is investigating five major US networks for collusion I'll join NPR's @ayesharascoe.bsky.social on Weekend Edition at 9.06AM to break it down.

youtube.comI Wanna Be at the RNCYouTube video by Nick Lutsko

He looks like if The Man In The Stairs wore a wig. www.youtube.com/shorts/09Nan...

Kevin M. Kruse@kevinmkruse.bsky.social

My man looks like Neo waking up in the goo pod

politico.comPeter Thiel slams Obama, Pope Leo in new ‘Antichrist’ lecturesThe tech billionaire accused them of using AI concerns to “boost their own popularity,” according to recordings obtained by POLITICO.

If we're supposed to call the Department of Defense the Department of War now, shouldn't we call the Department of State the Department of Nature? Go full Hobbs.

"For sale: baby shoes, never..."

Daniel Bellingradt@dbellingradt.bsky.social

Wrong answers only. My bet: thanks for all the fish.

I'm joking. Clearly her last five words were "Andrew is still my favorite."

A.J. Bauer reposted

Checkout my book tour — in these two listings… “Troop Movements: Labor, Race, and Global Freedom Struggles in America’s World War II” — by Tejasvi Nagaraja Spread the word — stay tuned — get in touch!

More like an intellectual Jets, amirite?

Ron Filipkowski@ronfilipkowski.bsky.social

36 minutes before the hearing started.

@matthewboedy.bsky.social

Someone should probably let Eric Schmitt know that Caitlin Clark is not the Hawk Tuah girl...

A.J. Bauer reposted

Matthew Boedy

Turning Points Live on Substack tomorrow at 1pm Eastern, if you are interested. This week: Media studies professor @ajbauer.bsky.social and we’ve got the Erika Kirk Vanity Fair profile out!

A.J. Bauer reposted

Spencer Sunshine

@transform6789.bsky.social

My “A Short History of Nazi-Satanism,” the first comprehensive overview of Nazi-Satanism, is finally out! Runs from the 1970s alliances b/t the Church of Satan & neo-Nazi groups thru today’s Order of Nine Angles and NVE. Link for PDF download. (captcha req) escholarship.org/uc/item/1f57...

A.J. Bauer reposted

I'm co-chairing a search for a full professor in the area of "media entrepreneurship" (extremely broadly defined) at the University of Alabama. It comes with an endowment! Curious? Don't hesitate to reach out. careers.ua.edu/jobs/ccis-so...

Seems like “migrant caravan” season gets earlier every two years…

Finally reached the stage of my career where I’m getting “major revisions” on an article for insufficiently engaging with my own earlier work 🫠

A.J. Bauer reposted

Yesterday in NYC — Thanks to all the lovely people who came to my book launch at NYU. Tomorrow in VA — If you’re at the Af-Am conference, please come to my book panel with great people…