J.R. Taylor on how established conservative editors treat newer writers.
My mileage varies (well, come to think of it: generous big time conservative writers have championed my stuff to their bosses, with limited success. Guess I’m just too obnoxious. And I don’t look like Ann Coulter or Rachel Marsden. It’s like a guy who dumps you — they never tell you the real reason, and there’s no point asking.)
Now, I don’t try very hard to get published in conservative magazines. If they come to me, great, and when they have, I’ve taken the assignment gladly. That sounds arrogant, but I have a full time job and occasional side gigs already, along with this blog. Which leaves barely enough time for laundry.
Anyway, here’s Taylor:
“I’d like to link to the fine entry that Graham wrote some weeks ago at Hog On Ice, in which he noted how mainstream conservatives ignore young right-wing talent. A lot of people goofed on him at the time, with some claiming that Graham’s point was that right-wing bloggers were to blame for him not being sufficiently famous.
“Unfortunately, I can’t link to that post because Graham often deletes his political content. It’s not worth risking his career. I’m too old and self-destructive to have a promising career, but I’ve certainly seen younger talents disinvited from a prudish and provincial conservative media.
(…)
“I did, however, save one of the comments from that original Hog On Ice post, since it sums up a hard truth about why young writers should never work for an established conservative: ‘If Jon Stewart were conservative, Stephen Colbert would still be on his staff, and he’d be working for minimum wage. Or for “the valuable exposure.'”
“Anyway, I recently served as the middleman in brokering a story between an established conservative and the kind of writers who really risk their careers by having conservative beliefs. That established conservative ran with the story without bothering to give any credit to the brave upstarts. That established conservative safely kept things within the confines of the small world that makes right-wing media so reliably tired. There’s still a lot to respect about that established conservative, I guess, but where’s the next generation supposed to come from? Probably from some place that’s too dull for me to be reading.”
So what do you think? I’ve never been stiffed like that, but have you?
