Tomi Lahren and Benny Johnson were “suspended” from their respective positions as TV host and chief content officer on back-to-back days, both for actions that didn’t sit well with their bosses and both exemplifying different but equally important issues facing the future of conservative media.
Lahren’s latest firestorm began with her appearance on ABC’s The View last Friday, where the usually argumentative and defensive host announced that she is pro-choice.
“I can’t sit here and be a hypocrite and say I’m for limited government but I think the government should decide what women do with their bodies,” Lahren told the ladies of The View. While the statement was met with relative approval from the notoriously dogged women of The View, the social media backlash came swiftly, including comment from The Blaze founder and veteran conservative pundit Glenn Beck who seemingly mocked his employee’s assertion that her stance came from being a “Constitutional.”
Lahren stood her ground, firing back on Twitter, “I speak my truth. If you don’t like it, tough. I will always be honest and stand in my truth,” but the famously argumentative commentator’s self-defense wasn’t enough this time.
The sharp criticism culminated on Monday when it was reported that Lahren’s show on The Blaze was suspended.
“All I can say is that Tomi’s show will not be in production this week,” managing editor of The Blaze, Leon Wolf, told the Washington Examiner.
The same day, Beck spoke out on his radio show, first addressing that he employs people with all different viewpoints and then went on to explain why pro-life beliefs and conservatism go together.
Less than 24 hours later, another conservative outlet handed down suspensions after publishing and later retracting a conspiracy-laced article about Obama’s trip to Hawaii and the state’s subsequent block of Trump’s revised travel ban.
Independent Journal Review’s founder Alex Skattel told Business Insider that following the story’s retraction, three IJR employees were placed on suspension, including Chief Content Officer Benny Johnson who was reportedly warned that the conspiracy theory had no backing but assigned the story anyway.
“We are committed to an editorial team that includes voices, perspectives and geographies that span the country but equally committed to quality standards in our newsroom,” Skattle commented on the suspension and subsequent investigation. “ Last week we got it wrong and ultimately deserve all the criticism if we want to be taken seriously.”
Though three people were suspended, much of the attention thus far has centered on Johnson, who like Lahren has quickly risen to notoriety for his viral videos. But his chance encounters and light-hearted videos weren’t his first forray into the public eye — Johnson was publicly fired for plagiarism from BuzzFeed in 2014.
In both instances, Lahren and Johnson’s proverbial “slap-on-the-wrist” came with very public remarks from their bosses that unveil deeper issues than just the surficial indiscretions that landed both outlet’s stars on the indefinite suspension train.
While it hasn’t officially been announced whether Lahren’s disappearance from The Blaze this week is directly due to her abortion comments on The View, it is clear that they seemed to be the tipping point in what the Daily Caller reported were mounting tensions among Lahren and coworkers. Regardless of whether Beck and The Blaze publicly admit her comments as the direct reason for her show’s (as of now) one-week suspension, the speculation and criticism from both sides has already done its damage.
“Beck’s public criticism made a one-day firestorm into something bigger. Lahren could have gone back to her show, gotten back on message, and things would have blown over,” DePaul University communication professor Jeff McCall said to The Hill.
“Now Beck comes off as forcing people who give opinions to all have the same opinion. That’s not healthy, even for media outlets that have particular angle on politics.”
The Lahren suspension puts conservative media in a poor light, reinforcing stereotypes that conservatives are archaic and hold only certain values, are not being open to conversation, and — an accusation that used to be saved for the Left — that they eat their own.
In the case of IJR and Johnson’s suspension, the controversy reflects a different struggle for conservative media outlets that have quickly gained popularity and attention — the struggle to remain seen as legitimate in an ever-increasing world of skepticism towards right-leaning outlets.
Where sites like Breitbart and InfoWars have quickly gotten themselves put in the lane of “right-wing-wacky,” IJR’s suspension of Johnson, and subsequent investigation into the conspiracy-theory-laden story that started it all, seems to be their way of cautiously making sure they move toward a direction that retains credibility.
“The Independent Journal Review already has access to the Trump administration. Now it wants something else: respect from the rest of the media,” begins The Washington Post’s coverage of the suspension aptly titled “The Independent Journal Review wants to be taken seriously, so it suspended Benny Johnson.”
Two suspensions, two differing paths right-leaning media will face: what is the conservative message in a changing political landscape under an unconventional Republican administration? Is there one definition of conservatism still or has this past political cycle proven that the message needs to evolve, or at the least, shown us that we will continue to see individuals like Lahren question what the definition means? And, how will conservative outlets maintain the same criticism and legitimacy under a Republican administration as they did under a Democratic administration?
While the optics of these two suspensions within conservative outlets don’t look favorable in an atmosphere that is already contentious towards the media, it is a chance for the Right to answer some tough questions so that the news and the message can be the center of attention again.
