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RedState
File:Newredstate.png
Type of site
Blog
Created byErick Erickson
URLRedState.com

RedState is a conservative American political weblog.

The site is currently a subsidiary of Eagle Publishing, Inc., a conservative publishing house which also owns Regnery Publishing and the weekly magazine Human Events. Erick Erickson is the Chairman of the Board and Managing Editor of Redstate, and Dan McLaughlin, Victoria Gardner Coates, and Mike Krempasky are on the Board of Directors.[2] At the time of the purchase, Eagle Publishing agreed to let RedState maintain its editorial constructs as a collaborative blog.

According to Erick Erickson, RedState is conservative in the primaries and Republican in general elections. It was the first major blog to endorse Republican candidates Marco Rubio and Doug Hoffman. Its front page is written largely by volunteer contributors.[3]

The site's founder, Erick Erickson, is a regular contributor on CNN.

History

RedState was originally founded in 2004 as a 527 group by conservative bloggers Joshua Treviño, Ben Domenech, and Mike Krempasky.

In March 2006, co-founder Domenech was hired as a blogger by the Washington Post Online, but came under criticism for alleged plagiarism in some of his prior writings during college. At the end of his first week, Domenech resigned, eventually admitting to plagiarism.[4] He took a leave of absence from RedState at the time, from which he returned in July 2006 under a new handle (his own name), and is still listed as a Senior Editor for RedState.

On November 16, 2006, former congressman Tom DeLay posted a diary, and he has followed up multiple times.[5] Several other members of the House of Representatives and the US Senate are regular diarists at RedState.

On December 20, 2006, RedState announced its sale to Eagle Publishing, Inc.,[6] effective January 2, 2007. Erick Erickson remained Editor-in-Chief.

On July 12, 2008, RedState launched a new version of its site, called RS3, introducing new features such as the ability to organize contributor and user diaries by state; action centers allowing users to take action related to emerging political issues; links to share posts via other networking sites such as Facebook, Digg, and MySpace; and easier searching between related content on the Internet.

On August 13, 2011, Texas Governor Rick Perry announced his candidacy for President of the United States at Redstate's 2011 Redstate Gathering.[7] The Austin American-Statesman reported that this was due to the growing influence of the site and Erickson.[8]

RedState has also created numerous offshoot blogs on specific political topics, including a site opposed to Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Arlen Specter and a site supporting the judicial nominees of President George W. Bush.

The site is currently run and operated by Erick Erickson, but due to extensive demands on his time from his political aspirations and his media job, the site is maintained by Moe Lane and Neil Stevens.

Content

Redstate.com is a vocal advocate for conservative activism, at times using controversial tactics. It has recommended that its users 'infiltrate' liberal blogs by pretending to be progressives to 'hurt the democratic party.'[9]

The site's founder's editorial independence has been called into question, with critics claiming that his employers, Eagle Publishing, have pressured Erickson to endorse their preferred candidate.[10] Editorial independence was further called into question when an email was leaked to Politico claiming that Erickson's endorsement was for sale as part of an advertising package.[11] Erickson denied any affiliation with proposed package.

Anyone with Internet access can register on the site and publish content. Contributors to the site may post directly to the front page, or to a blog with shorter entries known as "RedHot," modelled after "The Corner" blog at National Review. Users may also post comments related to entries, and post their own "user blogs" that can be recommended by fellow readers and promoted to the front page by contributors.

The site moderators' behavior is a topic of discussion among moderate conservatives and internet discussion sites, and users posting comments that disagree with the site's point of view are regularly banned.[12][13][14][15][16] Responses to any viewpoints deemed unwanted by site moderators have included replacing all of a person's diaries with messages designed to be offensive.[17] Banned users may be accused of being "progressive trolls"[18] or "moby," the latter being a person with over-the-top political positions making conservatives look bad.[19] Banned users may be greeted with an error message reading "601 Database redigestation error." The site moderators' behavior is a topic of discussion among moderate conservatives and internet discussion sites.[12][20][21][22]

References

  1. ^ "Redstate.com Site Info". Alexa Internet. Retrieved 2012-04-02.
  2. ^ Erick Erickson (posted April 20, 2010). "About Redstate". Retrieved April 23, 2010. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ^ "About". RedState. Retrieved April 7, 2012.
  4. ^ Jim Brady (March 24, 2006). "Red America". Blog.washingtonpost.com. Retrieved May 23, 2010.
  5. ^ Tom DeLay (November 16, 2006). "What's That Thumping? It's Time We Get Back To First Principles". RedState. Retrieved May 23, 2010.
  6. ^ The Directors. "RedState & Eagle Publishing: Growing The Conservative Movement Online". Redstate. Retrieved May 23, 2010.
  7. ^ "Perry Makes It Official: He's Running for President". Fox News. August 13, 2011.
  8. ^ Embry, Jason (August 11, 2011). "Perry's announcement highlights RedState's growing influence". Austin American-Statesman.
  9. ^ "GOP Site Plans To Infiltrate Liberal Sites With "Trolls"". NewsOne. July 28, 2011. Retrieved April 7, 2012.
  10. ^ Hudson, John (August 24, 2011). "Inside Redstate's 'Junior High' Scandal". Yahoo! News. Retrieved April 7, 2012.
  11. ^ Smith, Ben (June 7, 2011). "RedState sells 'endorsement'". Politico. Retrieved April 7, 2012.
  12. ^ a b Phillip Dampier (October 6, 2009). "Banned by RedState for Exposing Astroturf". Save the Internet. Retrieved May 23, 2010.
  13. ^ Pejman Yousefzadeh (September 24, 2006). "The Method Behind His Madness". Redstate. Retrieved May 23, 2010.
  14. ^ AJ Strata (October 9, 2005). "Banned From Redstate". strata-sphere. Retrieved May 23, 2010.
  15. ^ Erick Erickson (August 14, 2006). "The Vileness Of The Left". Redstate. Retrieved May 23, 2010.
  16. ^ Grim, Ryan (October 23, 2007). "Redstate.com bans new Ron Paul supporters - Ryan Grim". Politico. Retrieved April 7, 2012.
  17. ^ "Replaced with something deeply offensive..." RedState. March 28, 2010. Retrieved May 23, 2010.
  18. ^ Cite error: The named reference in rtl was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  19. ^ Lori Ziganto (April 14, 2010). "Feminists Rejoice At Idea of Abortion For Convenience". RedState. Retrieved May 23, 2010.
  20. ^ Pejman Yousefzadeh (September 24, 2006). "The Method Behind His Madness". Redstate. Retrieved May 23, 2010.
  21. ^ AJ Strata (October 9, 2005). "Banned From Redstate". strata-sphere. Retrieved May 23, 2010.
  22. ^ Erick Erickson (August 14, 2006). "The Vileness Of The Left". Redstate. Retrieved May 23, 2010.
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