The Bernie Sanders campaign has regularly complained about the “liberal” media, particularly MSNBC, the country’s leftmost cable news outlet. Faiz Shakir, Sanders’s campaign manager, told Vanity Fair last month that the network’s anchors and guests are “constantly undermining the Bernie Sanders campaign” by fearmongering about his policies and comparing his movement to, among other things, the rise of Nazi Germany. Even Fox News was “more fair,” according to Shakir. “Fox is often yelling about Bernie Sanders’s socialism, but they’re still giving our campaign the opportunity to make our case in a fair manner, unlike MSNBC.”

Over the course of two presidential campaigns, Sanders has found a measure of success bypassing traditional outlets, particularly cable news. In 2020, he built a campaign that resembles a digital media company, with its own podcast and television show and newsletters that highlight Sanders’s policies (and negative coverage of his opponents). But Sanders’s post–Super Tuesday slide has also underscored the limitations of this approach, the need for more media allies, and the persistent influence of cable news. There are many explanations for Sanders’s lack of support among older people; cable news, which is disproportionately watched by the elderly, is one of them.



A number of news outlets are seeking to fill the sizable gap to MSNBC’s left. Though they’re emerging too late to aid Sanders’s presidential run, they are jockeying to become a go-to news source for his movement. And while these emerging outlets and shows may not yet present a serious ratings challenge to the old guard, they may end up pushing mainstream networks to the left.



Vice is the largest and most interesting new entrant. The media company is rebranding yet again, after experiments in prestige nightly news partnerships, comedy, and more traditional late-night fare. As The New York Times’s Ben Smith reported earlier this week, “Vice’s research, from the expensive strategy firm Magid, found what populists everywhere are discovering: Angry outsiderism is a growth industry.” Vice’s television chief, Morgan Hertzen, told Smith the network’s new mantra is: “The everything system is broken—let’s fix it together.” Its first big acquisition is Anand Giridharadas, the author of Winners Take All, who has become a star as a rare populist voice on MSNBC, particularly Morning Joe.

“When you get to that level of television, everyone is prosperous at the table,” Giridharadas told Smith. “I’m not sure I’ve ever sat next to an uninsured person on television. I sit next to uninsured people on the subway all the time.”