Jump to content

PragerU

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Llll5032 (talk | contribs) at 05:08, 28 November 2022 (ce). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

PragerU
Formation2009; 15 years ago (2009)
Founders
Type501(c)(3) nonprofit organization
Area served
United States
CEO
Marissa Streit
Revenue (2020)
$28,000,000[1]
Expenses (2020)$28,000,000[1]
Staff (2018)
97[2]
Websiteprageru.com
PragerU
Personal information
NationalityAmerican
YouTube information
Channel
Years active2009–present
Genres
  • Politics
  • current affairs
Subscribers2.9 million[3]
Total views1.34 billion[3]
100,000 subscribers
1,000,000 subscribers2017
Last updated: August 7, 2021

PragerU is an American advocacy group that creates videos promoting a conservative viewpoint on various political, economic, and sociological topics.[4][5] It was co-founded by Allen Estrin and talk show host and writer Dennis Prager in 2009.[4][6][7][8]

Despite the name, short for Prager University, PragerU is not an academic institution and does not hold classes or grant diplomas.[5][8] PragerU is frequently criticised for presenting misleading and factually incorrect content in its videos.[9][10][11][12]

As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, PragerU relies on tax-deductible donations, with significant early funding coming from conservative oil billionaires Dan and Farris Wilks.[5][4][8]

History

PragerU was founded in 2009 by conservative radio talk show host Dennis Prager and radio producer and screenwriter Allen Estrin,[4][13] in order to advocate for conservative views and to offset what Prager regards as the undermining of college education by the left.[7][14] The two originally considered making it a brick-and-mortar university, but the idea was revised into a digital product to save money.[8] PragerU is based in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, California,[4] and it had around 50 employees as of January 2020.[8] Marissa Streit is the CEO and has presented some of its videos.[15] PragerU encourages students to join "PragerFORCE", an international student organisation to promote PragerU's videos and ideology, about 6,500 college and high school students promoted its videos as of 2020.[8] Despite the name, PragerU is not an academic institution and does not hold classes, does not grant certifications or diplomas, and is not accredited by any recognized body.[5][8]

Since a lawsuit over the use of a photograph in 2013, PragerU has used animation in its videos.[16] PragerU reached a billion views in 2018.[4]

Dennis Prager, co-founder of PragerU

In July 2019, PragerU representative Allen Estrin attended then-United States President Donald Trump's Social Media Summit, along with other conservative organizations and people such as Charlie Kirk and James O'Keefe.[17][18]

In the fall of 2020, PragerU started fundraising for PragerU Resources for Educators and Parents (PREP), a program targeted towards kindergarten and school-aged children. PREP released its first content in April 2021.[19] PragerU's school-age targeted content was later branded as PragerU Kids.

Conflicts with YouTube and Facebook

In October 2016, PragerU claimed that YouTube had put 21 of PragerU's videos in the "restricted mode" setting, which ensures content is age appropriate.[7][20] YouTube responded, saying: "We aim to apply the same standards to everyone and we don’t censor anyone. Often it’s not the right approach to say that videos with the same topic should get the same rating. We’ll need to take into consideration what the intent of the video is, what the focus of the video is, what the surrounding metadata of the video explains."[7]

In October 2017, PragerU filed a federal lawsuit against YouTube's parent company, Google, claiming that 37 of its videos were unfairly demonetized or flagged so that they could only be viewed with "restricted mode filtering", which limits views based on viewer characteristics such as age.[20] PragerU claimed that Google's demonetization and flagging violated the First Amendment by arguing that YouTube was a public forum. In March 2018, U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh dismissed the case, ruling that because Google was a private company, PragerU had failed to show that Google had infringed its free speech rights.[21][22][23] In February 2020, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld this ruling.[24][25]

In 2018, as part of its efforts to counter misinformation, YouTube added fact-checking tags to PragerU's videos about climate change.[26][9] In August 2018, Facebook removed two PragerU videos from its platform. It later restored the videos, saying that they "were mistakenly removed."[6][27] According to Francesca Tripodi, professor of sociology at UNC-Chapel Hill, there are plausible non-ideological explanations for Facebook's removal of several of the videos.[28] PragerU contended that Facebook had engaged in deliberate censorship.[6][27]

Finances

The organization depends on donations to produce its content.[29] Much of PragerU's early funding came from hydraulic fracturing billionaires Dan and Farris Wilks.[5][4][8] Two members of the Wilks family sit on PragerU's board.[4] The next-largest donor is the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation.[13][30] Other donors include the Morgan Family Foundation, Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund, Donors Trust, the late Republican megadonor Sheldon Adelson,[31] Lee Roy Mitchell,[31] and the Minnesota-based Sid and Carol Verdoorn Foundation, led by former C.H. Robinson CEO Sid Verdoorn.[30]

As of 2018, the organization reportedly had a $10 million annual budget, of which it spent more than 40% on marketing.[4] In 2019, 40% of its budget came from almost 130,000 online donors; the Los Angeles Times noted that PragerU attracted more donors than some Democratic presidential primary contenders had at the time.[5] In 2020, PragerU reported to have received about $28 million in revenues, most of it from donations, and reported approximately $28 million in expenditures, with 39% going into marketing.[1] PragerU consistently spends more on Facebook advertising than major political campaigns and national advocacy groups.[5] In 2019, it ranked among the 10 biggest political spenders on the platform.[5]

In 2020, PragerU received $704,057 in COVID-19 relief loans from the Paycheck Protection Program; this debt was later forgiven in full.[32]

PragerU provides an extensive range of donation methods including donations of cryptocurrency, stocks, the incorporation of PragerU into a will, and direct transfers from an individual retirement account.[33]

Content

PragerU releases one video per week on various topics from a conservative viewpoint that according to its site "advances Judeo-Christian values." As of May 2020, its YouTube channel included 968 videos.[34] Each video costs between $25,000 and $30,000 to create.[4] Dennis Prager "personally approves every item" and "edits every script" before publication, according to Mother Jones.[13] PragerU guests cover a range from the secular right, the far-right, and the theocratic right.[35] Some prominent video presenters have included Ben Shapiro, Tucker Carlson, Nigel Farage, Charles Krauthammer, Michelle Malkin, Bret Stephens and George Will.[8][36]

Among topics covered, PragerU videos have argued against a $15 minimum wage, against increased gun control, and in support of capitalism.[4] Although topical, PragerU videos largely avoided mentioning Donald Trump during his presidency.[8][29][37] PragerU is pro-Israel, and Dennis Prager has said that "Nothing better identifies incipient evil than anti-Semitism."[38]

Dave Rubin stated in a video that "racism, bigotry, xenophobia, homophobia, and Islamophobia" are "meaningless buzzwords". In a video about the alt-right, Michael Knowles argued that it has nothing in common with conservatism and instead is close to leftism, except the left is much larger.[4][35] PragerU videos also promote the Electoral College, arguing that it thwarts voter fraud and that "pure democracies do not work".[13]

Over a dozen videos promote fossil fuels and dispute the scientific consensus on climate change.[9] According to the non-profit think tank InfluenceMap, targeted ads posted on Facebook included misleading material that cast doubt on science, framed climatic concerns as ideological and hysteria and promoted a conspiracy theory that "big government control" is the real motivation behind energy policies to reduce gas emissions.[39]

By 2015, PragerU developed two partnership programs to promote its views, including religious material, in public and private schools. PragerU's Educator Program supplies teachers with lesson plans and study guides that accompany videos. Secondary school teachers and college professors can register their classes through PragerU's Academic Partnership program, which lets students sign up and allows teachers to monitor their students' progress.[40]

Reception

According to a 2019 report in the Los Angeles Times, PragerU videos have been watched more than 2 billion times and were becoming a staple on college campuses.[5] In its 2020 annual report, PragerU stated that its videos have received over 4 billion lifetime views.[1] PragerU has ranked highly in influence compared to other free-market advocacy organizations, such as Reason and National Review.[41]

Vanity Fair said PragerU "packages right-wing social concepts into slick videos" and that PragerU was "one of the most effective conversion tools for young conservatives."[42]

Sociologist Francesca Tripodi has studied PragerU's marketing and messaging for the nonprofit Data & Society.[43] She found that PragerU relies on search engine optimization and "suggested content" to market its videos.[12][43] She noted that PragerU was popular among the respondents in her study and that they all either liked or shared PragerU videos on Facebook. Tripodi argued that PragerU allows viewers to dabble in content that "makes connections to" the alt-right's talking points.[4] In this way, viewers identifying as mainline conservatives gain "easy access to white supremacist logic".[12] She also demonstrated an algorithmic connection on YouTube between PragerU, Fox News, and alt-right personalities.[43][12]

A Buzzfeed News article published in 2018 attributed PragerU's success to the quality of its production values compared to similar outlets and to its use of popular presenters with established audiences. The article also noted that it had received comparatively little attention from news and media analysts due to PragerU's lack of coverage of topical issues, such as Donald Trump.[4]

In an August 2019 article written by Drew Anderson of GLAAD, an LGBT media monitoring organization, Anderson noted PragerU's ties to white supremacy and white supremacists, and also noted PragerU's "Horrific Anti-LGBTQ Record".[44]

Reason has criticized PragerU's claims of being censored by big tech companies for being false, as the company's content had not been removed from any social media platforms, and that they indicate a misunderstanding of the First Amendment as protecting a party from any type of censorship, when that law merely protects content from censorship by the government.[45]

Climate Feedback, Reuters and the Weather Channel have found that PragerU's videos promote inaccurate and misleading claims about climate change.[9][46][47]

PragerU's coverage of COVID-19 has been criticized for spreading false and misleading information about the pandemic.[10][48][49][50]

In 2019, Mike Gravel, a former United States Senator from Alaska, launched The Gravel Institute, a progressive left-leaning think tank, to counteract PragerU.[51][52][53]

Mother Jones said PragerU videos assert that there is no gender pay gap,[13][54] and that there is not discrimination in policing of African-Americans.[13]

On race, Pam Nilan, in her 2021 book Young People and the Far Right, says that PragerU "pretends to sidestep" white supremacy, but that "the message is always that white culture is better than other cultures."[55]

Criticisms of videos

Historian Paul Gottfried, who has written extensively on the subject of fascism, harshly criticized a PragerU video hosted by Dinesh D'Souza which stated that fascism was a left-wing ideology. D'Souza maintained that Italian philosopher Giovanni Gentile, who influenced Italian fascism, was a left-winger, to which Gottfried noted that this contradicted the research by almost all scholars of Gentile's work who view him as a distinguished intellectual of the revolutionary right.[56]

According to Joseph McCarthy of The Weather Channel, in the 2016 video "Fossil Fuels: The Greenest Energy", fossil fuel proponent Alex Epstein promotes misinformation about climate change, including false and misleading claims.[9]

Alex Nowrasteh of the Cato Institute criticized a 2018 PragerU video by Michelle Malkin that argued for stricter restrictions on immigration. Nowrasteh wrote that the video was full of errors and half-truths and omitted relevant information.[11][third-party source needed]

In 2018, the PragerU video "The Suicide of Europe" by Douglas Murray argued that Europe is "committing suicide" by allowing mass immigration. The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) described the video as a "dog whistle to the extreme right". Mark Pitcavage of the Anti-Defamation League described it as "filled with anti-immigration and anti-Muslim rhetoric".[12][30] "Why Did the Democratic South Become Republican?" is another video that the SPLC says contains such dog whistles. In this video, Vanderbilt University professor Carol M. Swain argues that the Southern strategy, the political strategy which saw the Republican Party exploit racial tensions to appeal to white Southerners, was false revisionism. History professor Kevin M. Kruse said that the video presented a "distortion" of history, "cherry-picked" its evidence, and was an "exercise in attacking a straw man".[12]

In June 2020, Snopes criticized the video "How To End White Privilege". The video argued that white privilege is a myth because a black police officer's race did not provide a barrier to his success. According to Snopes, the video is inaccurate as recent history and statistics indicate that white privilege still exists.[57]

According to Francesca Tripodi, PragerU's videos advance the conspiracy theory, popular among the alt-right, that whiteness and conservatism are under attack and many videos on PragerU focus on delegitimizing the mainstream media, accusing it of being based on emotion or opinion rather than fact.[35]

In October 2020, Gita Jackson of Vice noted that "There's already a cottage industry of YouTubers trying to debunk PragerU."[53]

References

  1. ^ a b c d 2020 Annual Report (PDF) (Report). PragerU. 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on January 28, 2021. Retrieved March 27, 2021.
  2. ^ "Form 99 Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax" (PDF).
  3. ^ a b "About PragerUniversity". YouTube.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Bernstein, Joseph (March 3, 2018). "How PragerU is winning the Right Wing culture war without Donald Trump". BuzzFeed News. Archived from the original on February 14, 2019. Retrieved March 12, 2018.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Halper, Evan (August 23, 2019). "How a Los Angeles-based conservative became one of the internet's biggest sensations". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on December 1, 2019. Retrieved November 20, 2019.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  6. ^ a b c "Facebook apologises to right-wing site". BBC News. July 20, 2018. Archived from the original on August 23, 2018. Retrieved July 23, 2018.
  7. ^ a b c d Bray, Hiawatha (October 14, 2016). "YouTube restricts access to Dershowitz video". The Boston Globe. Archived from the original on November 13, 2016. Retrieved August 28, 2017.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Bowles, Nellie (January 4, 2020). "Right-Wing Views for Generation Z, Five Minutes at a Time". The New York Times. Archived from the original on February 12, 2020. Retrieved January 6, 2020.
  9. ^ a b c d e McCarthy, Joseph (December 18, 2018). "A Course in Climate Misinformation: How Prager U. Is Propagating Climate Misinformation". The Weather Channel. Archived from the original on December 27, 2018.
  10. ^ a b Flora Teoh (24 December 2020). "PragerU video contains misleading claims about COVID-19 deaths, falsely claims 94% of COVID-19 deaths had pre-existing conditions". Health Feedback. Archived from the original on 27 January 2021. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
  11. ^ a b Nowrasteh, Alex (September 26, 2018). "PragerU's "A nation of immigrants" video has serious problems". Cato at Liberty. Cato Institute. Archived from the original on January 15, 2020.
  12. ^ a b c d e f Kelley, Brendan Joel (June 7, 2018). "PragerU's Influence". Hatewatch. Southern Poverty Law Center. Archived from the original on September 9, 2018. Retrieved September 8, 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  13. ^ a b c d e f Oppenheimer, Mark (March–April 2018). "Inside the right-wing YouTube empire that's quietly turning millennials into conservatives". Mother Jones. Archived from the original on May 25, 2018. Retrieved May 25, 2018.
  14. ^ Klug, Lisa (June 14, 2017). "Super-conservative PragerU aims to arm pro-Israel students for their campus 'wastelands'". The Times of Israel. Archived from the original on June 15, 2017. Retrieved August 28, 2017.
  15. ^ "PragerU Presenters: Marissa Streit". PragerU.
  16. ^ Donnelly, Madaline (November 4, 2015). "How Dennis Prager's conservative online university reaches millions". The Daily Signal. Archived from the original on April 30, 2016. Retrieved August 20, 2018.
  17. ^ Overly, Steven (July 11, 2019). "Social media gadflies gather for airing of grievances with Trump". Politico. Archived from the original on July 19, 2019. Retrieved February 1, 2020.
  18. ^ Gilbert, Ben (July 11, 2019). "The White House social-media summit doesn't have Facebook or Twitter, but it does have conservative conspiracy theorists — here's who was reportedly invited". Business Insider. Archived from the original on February 1, 2020. Retrieved February 1, 2020.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  19. ^ Pollard, Amelia (2021-04-07). "PragerU's Newest Target: Kindergarten". The American Prospect. Archived from the original on 2021-10-19. Retrieved 2021-04-15.
  20. ^ a b Mullin, Joe (October 25, 2017). "PragerU sues YouTube, says it censors conservative videos". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on June 13, 2018. Retrieved November 13, 2017.
  21. ^ Neidig, Harper (March 27, 2018). "Judge dismisses lawsuit alleging Google censorship of conservative YouTube videos". The Hill. Archived from the original on July 20, 2018.
  22. ^ Stempel, Jonathan (March 27, 2018). Choy, Marguerita (ed.). "Google defeats lawsuit claiming YouTube censors conservatives". Reuters. Archived from the original on March 28, 2018. Retrieved March 28, 2018.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  23. ^ Prager University v. Google LLC Archived 2021-03-02 at the Wayback Machine, Order Granting Defendants' Motion to Dismiss (N.D. Cal. March 28, 2018).
  24. ^ Brodkin, Jon (February 26, 2020). "First Amendment doesn't apply on YouTube; judges reject PragerU lawsuit". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on February 28, 2020. Retrieved February 27, 2020.
  25. ^ Dinezo, Maria (February 26, 2020). "Ninth Circuit Tosses PragerU's Free Speech Claims Against YouTube". Courthouse News Service. Archived from the original on April 20, 2020. Retrieved February 27, 2020.
  26. ^ Hirji, Zahra (August 7, 2018). "YouTube Is Fighting Back Against Climate Misinformation". BuzzFeed News. Archived from the original on August 8, 2018. Retrieved August 8, 2018.
  27. ^ a b Asher Hamilton, Isobel (August 21, 2018). "Facebook apologizes to right-wing group PragerU after being accused of censoring its videos". Business Insider. Archived from the original on October 27, 2018. Retrieved August 23, 2018.
  28. ^ Schwartz, Oscar (December 4, 2018). "Are Google and Facebook really suppressing conservative politics?". The Guardian. Archived from the original on May 16, 2019. Retrieved November 24, 2019.
  29. ^ a b "Frequently Asked Questions". PragerU. Archived from the original on March 19, 2021. Retrieved March 15, 2019.
  30. ^ a b c Kotch, Alex (December 27, 2018). "Who Funds PragerU's Anti-Muslim Content?". Sludge. Archived from the original on May 18, 2019. Retrieved December 28, 2018.
  31. ^ a b "How a Los Angeles-based conservative became one of the internet's biggest sensations". Los Angeles Times. August 23, 2019. Archived from the original on 2019-11-04. Retrieved 2019-11-16.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  32. ^ Syed, Moiz; Willis, Derek (7 July 2020). "Coronavirus Bailouts: PragerU". ProPublica. Archived from the original on 3 June 2021. Retrieved 7 March 2021.
  33. ^ "PragerU Legacy Society | PragerU". www.prageru.com. Archived from the original on 2021-11-26. Retrieved 2021-12-02.
  34. ^ "Uploads from PragerU". Archived from the original on February 24, 2021. Retrieved November 14, 2018 – via YouTube.
  35. ^ a b c Tripodi, Francesca (2018). "Searching for Alternate Facts" (PDF). Data & Society. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-10-19. Retrieved 2021-09-22.
  36. ^ Dembicki, Geoff (25 August 2022). "How Fracking Billionaires, Ben Shapiro, and PragerU Built a Climate Crisis–Denial Empire". VICE.
  37. ^ "Maumee High School history class given conservative media PragerU videos for extra credit". WTOL11. October 20, 2020. Archived from the original on November 3, 2020. Retrieved December 28, 2020.
  38. ^ Klug, Lisa (14 June 2017). "Super-conservative PragerU aims to arm pro-Israel students for their campus 'wastelands'". The Times of Israel.
  39. ^ Boyle, Louise (2020-10-08). "Climate denial ads get 8 million views on Facebook despite firm's "commitment to tackle misinformation": study". The Independent. Archived from the original on 2021-04-29. Retrieved 2021-04-29.
  40. ^ Shea, Brie (April 30, 2015). "Fracking Titans Spend Millions Proselytizing School Children". Rewire.News. Archived from the original on August 30, 2017. Retrieved December 28, 2018.
  41. ^ Chafuen, Alejandro (March 27, 2020). "The 2020 Ranking Of Free-Market Think Tanks Measured By Social Media Impact". Forbes. Archived from the original on March 30, 2020. Retrieved March 30, 2020.
  42. ^ Nguyen, Tina (December 9, 2018). "'Let Me Make You Famous': How Hollywood Invented Ben Shapiro". Vanity Fair. Archived from the original on July 15, 2019. Retrieved December 24, 2018.
  43. ^ a b c Tripodi, Francesca (May 2018). Searching for Alternative Facts: Analyzing Scriptural Inference in Conservative News Practices (PDF) (Report). Data & Society Research Institute. Archived (PDF) from the original on June 28, 2018. Retrieved December 31, 2018.
  44. ^ Anderson, Drew (2019-08-06). "BACKGROUNDER: PragerU's Ties to White Supremacy, Horrific Anti-LGBTQ Record". GLAAD. Archived from the original on 2021-03-04. Retrieved 2021-03-05.
  45. ^ Binion, Bill (July 30, 2019). "PragerU Does Not Understand Censorship". Reason. Archived from the original on December 7, 2019. Retrieved February 2, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  46. ^ "PragerU post by Happer uses flawed reasoning to claim that climate models always fail". Climate Feedback. 2021-01-27. Archived from the original on 2021-04-19. Retrieved 2021-04-19.
  47. ^ Reuters Staff (2020-10-16). "Fact check: Video presents climate change statements that lack key context". Reuters. Archived from the original on 2021-05-22. Retrieved 2021-05-22. {{cite news}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  48. ^ Sommer, Will (16 May 2020). "Dennis Prager Licks Dirty Forks To Show COVID Who's Boss". The Daily Beast. Archived from the original on 19 November 2020. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
  49. ^ Moran, Lee (29 April 2020). "Conservative Pundit's Hot Take On Coronavirus Lockdown Gets The Slapdown It Deserves". The Huffington Post. Archived from the original on 24 June 2021. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
  50. ^ Reuters Staff (3 December 2020). "Fact check: Sweden has not achieved herd immunity, is not proof that lockdowns are useless". Reuters. Archived from the original on 10 February 2021. Retrieved 25 February 2021. {{cite web}}: |author1= has generic name (help)
  51. ^ Pollard, Amelia (May 20, 2021). "The Gravel Institute Punches Up". The American Prospect. Archived from the original on May 20, 2021. Retrieved May 20, 2021.
  52. ^ Bonn, Tess (August 2, 2019). "Gravel to form liberal think tank after suspending campaign". The Hill. Archived from the original on November 10, 2020. Retrieved April 8, 2021.
  53. ^ a b Jackson, Gita (October 1, 2020). "The Gravel Institute Is Trying to Make PragerU, But Good". Vice (Motherboard). Archived from the original on March 26, 2021. Retrieved April 8, 2021.
  54. ^ "There Is No Gender Wage Gap". YouTube. PragerU. 6 March 2017. Archived from the original on 19 October 2021. Retrieved 29 March 2020.
  55. ^ Nilan, Pam (2021). Young People and the Far Right. Springer Nature. p. 10. ISBN 978-981-16-1811-6. Archived from the original on 2021-10-19. Retrieved 2021-09-22 – via Google Books.
  56. ^ Gottfried, Paul (December 27, 2017). "Right-wing Celebrities Play Fast and Loose With History". The American Conservative. Archived from the original on June 15, 2018. Retrieved September 27, 2019.
  57. ^ "Ex-Cop Brandon Tatum's Success Doesn't Disprove White Privilege". Snopes.com. Archived from the original on 2021-10-19. Retrieved 2020-06-28.


Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=PragerU&oldid=1124284050"