Last week, writer Ben Howe (formerly of RedState) penned an op-ed for the Daily Beast wherein he reprimanded conservative outlets for failing to engage in more original reporting and hoped more George Soros-like right-wing billionaires would sponsor original reporting from right-of-center publications. The piece did not go over well among right-of-center publications, and for good reason. Still, there’s something to this debate over the media and its conservative counterpoints that’s worth expanding on.

The problem is not quite, as Howe argued, that conservative outlets don’t do much original reporting — it’s that they do and the biggest news outlets largely ignore it. This is not only why conservative and libertarian donors helped fund said outlets in the first place, but more importantly that a deep chasm exists between the two that will never be repaired. Instead of wishing for it to become whole again, conservatives must make peace with the rift, accept that the bigger media outlets will never let them into their clique, and march ever forward.