2026-08-06 / reuters.com
摘要
日益壮大的左翼媒体生态正成为进步派候选人的政治跳板
尽管比右翼媒体规模更小、资金更匮乏，左翼媒体机构仍在扩张
许多左翼媒体人士将观点新闻与行动主义相结合
纽约8月6日路透电——进步派候选人继续在美国各地的初选中接连获胜，这背后得益于新兴的左翼媒体生态系统，让他们能够按照自己的方式打造全国知名度，并绕过民主党建制派的传统把关人。
对于宾夕法尼亚州众议员克里斯·拉布（Chris Rabb）这位近期在国会初选中击败更温和对手的民主社会主义者而言，登上《萨姆·赛德与多数报告》（The Majority Report with Sam Seder）和《突破点》（Breaking Points）等节目是他取得政治突破的关键因素。
路透社内幕追踪新闻简报是您获取全球体育新闻的必备指南，点击此处订阅。
“这有助于提升我的曝光度、认可度和筹款能力，”拉布说，他将这种合作形容为“成功的交集”。
这个快速发展的左翼网站、播客主持人、YouTube主播和直播主圈子——其中许多人将观点新闻与行动主义相结合——为候选人提供了一个友好的空间，让他们能够打磨竞选信息并动员基层支持。但分析人士表示，这也可能加剧民主党内部的裂痕，并疏远联盟中的温和派人士。
本周二，进步派人士阿卜杜勒·赛义德（Abdul El-Sayed）在密歇根州民主党参议院初选中勉强击败了党内建制派青睐的候选人黑利·史蒂文斯（Haley Stevens）。
作为前州卫生官员和左翼媒体的后起之秀，赛义德在电视广告上的开支远远落后——这些广告资金来自亲以色列团体和其他外部组织的数千万美元——但他仍在这个2024年共和党总统唐纳德·特朗普（Donald Trump）拿下的摇摆州胜出。
新媒体创业者表示，他们正在填补主流政治报道的空白，为那些长期在华盛顿代表性不足的政见候选人提供平台。这些政见包括全民医保、废除移民海关执法局（ICE）以及切断对以色列的军事援助。
“不同的观点拥有受众、需求和渴望，”曾主持MSNBC节目、2024年推出自己的新闻机构Zeteo的迈赫迪·哈桑（Mehdi Hasan）说道。
“让我们媒体机构取得成功的同样动力，也让许多政治候选人获得了成功。”
日益壮大的受众群体
美国左翼长期以来拥有自己的节目和出版物集群。但随着传统媒体的影响力和公信力下降，消费者转向其他新闻来源，独立内容创作者正成为政治幕后推手。
尽管比右翼媒体规模更小、资金更匮乏，左翼日益壮大的播客、直播和数字出版商网络正成为民主党政治中一股日益重要的力量，影响着初选竞选、筹款和行动主义组织工作。
Zeteo在Substack上拥有70万订阅用户，较去年增长了50%。《萨姆·赛德与多数报告》在YouTube上拥有超过200万订阅用户，约75%的听众年龄在55岁以下。
左翼评论员兼活动家哈桑·皮克（Hasan Piker）在Twitch上拥有超过300万粉丝。
对于竞选策略师来说，这种新媒体环境的吸引力很简单。他们的候选人可以就政策问题进行长时间的深入对话——这种内容在有线电视新闻中难得一见——直接与选民互动，并制作可在社交平台上广泛传播的剪辑片段。
“我认为我们有助于营造早期热情，”萨姆·赛德说道，“我们的受众中有大量活动家和活动组织管理者，我知道我们还有很多立法助理这类人群。”
民主党策略师、政治播客《无人知晓一切》（Nobody Knows Anything）联合主持人杰西·莱里奇（Jesse Lehrich）表示，候选人通常会出现在同一批节目和创作者的活动中，让观众通过值得信赖的意识形态盟友了解他们。
反过来，左翼的后起之秀也能帮助新兴媒体人物打造品牌。
“这是相互关联的，”哈桑说，“我不认为其中一方必然主导另一方。”
“面向信徒布道”
近年来崭露头角的大多数左翼媒体人士都是毫不妥协的党派人士。
《突破点》联合主持人克里斯塔尔·鲍尔（Krystal Ball）参加了8月为赛义德和密歇根州其他进步派候选人举办的直播筹款活动。
皮克上周为弗朗西斯卡·洪（Francesca Hong）拉票，后者有望成为威斯康星州首位民主社会主义州长，并参加了赛义德在底特律的选举夜派对。
“工作才刚刚开始，”周二晚间最后一批选票陆续出炉时，他在X平台上发帖称。
皮克曾表态支持哈马斯，用“ crackers”一词指代白人，并称“美国理应遭遇9·11袭击”，他后来将这番言论描述为“不当言论”。他未回应路透社的置评请求。
他在每日Twitch直播中拥有一批极其忠诚的追随者，在直播中他会就热点议题进行自由讨论——这与2024年支持特朗普的有影响力的右翼播客主持人乔·罗根（Joe Rogan）类似。
对赛德而言，《多数报告》的目标与其说是说服摇摆选民，不如说是教育和激励那些已经站在自己阵营的人。
“我们或许是在面向信徒布道，但这些信徒随后会去向独立选民布道，”他说。
乔治城大学政府学教授汉斯·诺埃尔（Hans Noel）表示，这些创作者和机构“激励了那些认为政党纲领过于温和或乏味的选民”。
“与此同时，”他补充道，“派系声音并不总是热衷于妥协”，这可能给赛义德这样的候选人带来麻烦，因为他们需要在大选中争取更多温和民主党人的支持。
反对党
来自俄克拉荷马城的朋友詹妮弗·韦尔奇（Jennifer Welch）和安吉·“庞普斯”·沙利文（Angie “Pumps” Sullivan）于2022年创办了《受够了》（I’ve Had It）播客，最初只是一个发泄不满的平台，吐槽内容从真人秀明星的闹剧到他们自己调皮的孩子。
直到2024年总统竞选期间，他们才开始谈论政治，用典型的不敬口吻猛烈抨击特朗普。
很快，他们就采访了民主党总统候选人卡玛拉·哈里斯（Kamala Harris），并出席了在芝加哥举行的民主党全国代表大会。
目前，他们的节目在YouTube、Facebook、Instagram和TikTok上的订阅用户和粉丝总数超过520万。
“听众来找我们，是为了获取新闻，也为了听听我们对新闻的看法，”韦尔奇告诉路透社。
赛义德曾两次登上该播客，韦尔奇还在节目中公开支持他，她将这一决定描述为“理所当然的事”。
“我认为民主党基层比建制派意识到的要激进得多，”她说，“如果我们要成为反对党，像阿卜杜勒这样的候选人就是民主党未来的希望。”
海伦·科斯特（Helen Coster）报道；杰西·梅斯纳-哈奇（Jesse Mesner-Hage）和阿利斯泰尔·贝尔（Alistair Bell）编辑
海伦·科斯特是路透社国内事务记者，负责撰写现场新闻、深度报道和分析文章，聚焦政治与媒体领域。她此前曾报道2024年总统竞选，重点关注共和党阵营，在此之前则报道媒体行业。她作为路透社记者团队成员之一，荣获2026年普利策国内报道奖。
How the new generation of left-wing US media is powering progressive candidates
2026-08-06 / reuters.com
Summary
Growing left-wing media ecosystem is becoming political launchpad for progressive candidates
While smaller and less well-funded than right-wing media, left-leaning outlets are expanding
Many left-wing media figures blend opinion journalism and activism
NEW YORK, Aug 6 (Reuters) – Progressive candidates continue to rack up wins in primary elections across the United States, propelled by a new left-wing media ecosystem allowing them to build a national profile on their own terms — and sidestep the traditional gatekeepers of the Democratic establishment.
For Pennsylvania state Representative Chris Rabb, a Democratic socialist who recently prevailed in a congressional primary against a more moderate rival, appearances on programs like “The Majority Report with Sam Seder” and “Breaking Points” played a key role in his political breakthrough.
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“It helps me increase my visibility, validation and ability to raise money,” said Rabb, describing it as “a Venn diagram of success.”
This fast-growing world of left-wing websites, podcasters, YouTube hosts and livestreamers – many of whom blend opinion journalism and activism – affords candidates a sympathetic space to sharpen their message and mobilize grassroots support. But it also risks deepening the fissures in the Democratic Party, analysts say, and alienating moderates in the coalition.
On Tuesday, progressive Abdul El-Sayed eked out a victory in Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary against Haley Stevens, the preferred candidate of the party establishment.
El-Sayed, a former state health official and a rising star in left-wing media, was massively outspent in television advertising — funded by tens of millions of dollars from pro-Israel and other outside groups — but still managed to win in a swing state carried by Republican President Donald Trump in 2024.
New media entrepreneurs say they are filling a void in mainstream political coverage and providing a platform for candidates with views that have long been underrepresented in Washington. They include advocacy for universal healthcare, abolishing ICE and cutting off military aid to Israel.
“There is an audience and a demand and a hunger for different viewpoints,” said Mehdi Hasan, a former MSNBC host who launched his own news organization, Zeteo, in 2024.
“The same energy that enabled us to be a success as a media entity has enabled a lot of political candidates to be successes.”
A GROWING AUDIENCE
The American left has long had its own constellation of shows and publications. But as the reach of, and trust in, traditional media declines and consumers look elsewhere for news, independent content creators are becoming political kingmakers.
While much smaller and less well-funded than right-wing media, the left’s growing network of podcasters, streamers and digital publishers is becoming an increasingly important force in Democratic politics, shaping primary campaigns, fundraising and activist organizing.
Zeteo has 700,000 Substack subscribers, up 50% from a year ago. “The Majority Report with Sam Seder” has more than 2 million subscribers on YouTube and roughly 75% of listeners are under age 55.
Progressive commentator and activist Hasan Piker has more than 3 million followers on Twitch.
For campaign strategists, the appeal of this new media environment is simple. Their candidates can have long, in-depth conversations on policy issues – the kind seldom seen on cable news – engage directly with voters and generate clips that can be blasted across social platforms.
“I think we help create early enthusiasm,” said Sam Seder. “Our audience in particular has a lot of activists and a lot of people who run activist organizations, and I know we have a lot of legislative staffer types.”
Candidates often move through the same circuit of shows and creators, allowing audiences to discover them through trusted ideological allies, said Jesse Lehrich, a Democratic operative and co-host of the political podcast “Nobody Knows Anything.”
In turn, rising stars on the left help emerging media figures build their brands.
“It’s interconnected,” said Hasan. “I don’t think one is necessarily leading the other.”
‘PREACHING TO THE CHOIR’
Most of the left-wing media personalities that have risen to prominence in recent years are unapologetic partisans.
“Breaking Points” co-host Krystal Ball took part in a livestreamed August fundraiser for El-Sayed and other progressive candidates in Michigan.
Piker canvassed last week for Francesca Hong, who is vying to be the first democratic socialist governor of Wisconsin, and took part in El-Sayed’s election night party in Detroit.
“The work is only beginning,” he posted to X as the last votes trickled in on Tuesday night.
Piker has voiced support for Hamas, used the word “cracker” to refer to white people and said that “America deserved 9/11,” a comment he later described as “inappropriate.” He did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.
He has built a deeply devoted following on his daily Twitch streams, where he hosts free-floating discussions about hot-button issues – similar to Joe Rogan, the influential right-leaning podcaster who endorsed Trump in 2024.
For Seder, the goal of “Majority Report” is less about persuading swing voters than educating and energizing those already in their corner.
“We may be preaching to the choir, but the choir is then going out and preaching to the independents,” he said.
Hans Noel, a professor of government at Georgetown University, said these creators and outlets “energize voters who find the party’s platform too lukewarm or uninspiring.”
“At the same time,” he added, “factional voices are not always interested in compromise,” which could pose a problem for candidates like El-Sayed as they seek to win over more moderate Democrats in the general election.
AN OPPOSITION PARTY
Jennifer Welch and Angie “Pumps” Sullivan, friends from Oklahoma City, started the “I’ve Had It” podcast in 2022 – a venue to vent about all the things that annoyed them, from the antics of reality stars to their own misbehaving children.
It wasn’t until the 2024 presidential campaign that they began to talk about politics, savaging Trump in typically irreverent terms.
Soon they were interviewing Democratic presidential hopeful Kamala Harris and attending the party convention in Chicago.
Their show now has more than 5.2 million subscribers and followers across YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.
Listeners “are coming to us to get news and to get our opinion on the news,” Welch told Reuters.
El-Sayed appeared on the podcast twice, and Welch endorsed him on-air, a decision she described as a “layup”.
“I think that the Democratic base is so much further than what the establishment realizes,” she said, “and I think candidates like Abdul are the future of the Democratic Party if we are to be an opposition party.”
Reporting by Helen Coster; Editing by Jesse Mesner-Hage and Alistair Bell
Helen Coster is a National Affairs Correspondent at Reuters, where she writes a mix of spot news, enterprise and analysis stories, with a focus on politics and media. She previously covered the 2024 presidential race, with a focus on Republicans, and before then reported on the media industry. She was part of a team of Reuters journalists that won the 2026 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting.
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