UnHerd

UnHerd is a British right-wing current affairs website launched in 2017. Its symbol, at least initially a cow, apparently an animal, which according to its founding editor Tim Montgomerie, "like our target readers, tends to avoid herds and behave in unmissable ways as a result". This led to speculation that its editors had never encountered any cattle. The post was deleted shortly afterward, apparently because Montgomerie wasn't sure which herd he belonged to, which was Thatcherite.The UnHerd and the Whining of the Perfectly-Well-Represented by Simon Childs (July 25, 2017, 6:22am) Vice.
Its mission statement is to stand back from the regular news cycle and political tittle-tattle and give voice to more thought-out alternatives.News websites are seeing record online traffic – the public clearly trust journalists more than they think, Ian Burrell, i, 18 May 2020Is it time for the media to stop taking politics seriously?, Peter Preston, The Guardian, 6 AUg 2017 Its first editor said it was for "people and things not given a fair hearing, or even listened to at all".
But as is so often the case with people shouting about unheard voices being cancelled, it is staffed by tiresomely overpublished media professionals: Vice judged "its contributors are a parade of people who already have big media profiles, or are think-tank directors with books out".The UnHerd and the Whining of the Perfectly-Well-Represented, Vice, 25 July 2017 Mic Wright called UnHerd "part of a right-wing ecosystem of people, think-tanks, and publications that cosplay as outsiders while having access to the people at the heart of power and often having had access to the levers of power themselves at some point".
Much of it is given over to moaning about "wokeness", defending transphobia and other prejudices, and promoting racialist pseudoscience. The Morning Star suggested it was less right-wing than some competitors like The Critic, despite sharing a certain anti-Muslim approach that sought to stir up racist sentiment in what UnHerd calls the "white working class".Standpoint, the Critic and UnHerd: who’s their daddies?, Morning Star, accessed 30 Aug 2022
But despite its mission statement, a lot is devoted to the minutiae forming the mainstream news cycle, just like every other current affairs website. It's unclear how an article about podcast bro Joe Rogan endorsing a Republican candidate can be considered a deep and thoughtful look behind the newsJoe Rogan tells Americans to vote Republican, UnHerd, 29 Aug 2022 (cow tells cows to vote for yet another cow). But if you need clicks for revenue, that's how you get them.
Columnists include Julie Bindel, Giles Fraser, (of Kent University and the Legatum Institute), and the philosopher UnHerd has also breathed new life into that old blowhard neo-monarchist Curtis Yarvin.Curtis Yarvin UnHerd. In 2024, UnHerd called Telegraph columnist"Nina Power". The Telegraph. Nina Power "the vanguard of a complex question: do artists have the responsibility to engage with dangerous ideas?". UnHerd said she was "cancelled", and referenced what they called her "free speech trial",(July 26, 2024). "The free speech trial of our age". UnHerd. in fact partly a failed libel case filed because she was called antisemitic."Luke Turner successfully defends libel action in key freedom of expression case". Mishcon de Reya LLP (Lexology).(November 9, 2023). "Claims dismissed in libel and harassment actions in Miller & Power v Turner". 5RB. In said case, texts from her appearing to display a range of strange beliefs were exhibited as evidence, including a "tongue-in-cheek" one stating: "the social disapproval for 'racism' is a psyop to stop people realising that there *are* alien and fairy races"."Nina Power". Luke Turner's website."Day 1 / Miller & Power v Turner / 3 October 2023". Epiq Europe Ltd, via IM—1776 (site affiliated with Daniel Miller) and the Wayback Machine.
==History==
Its original editor was who is also known for his work on the website ConservativeHome, which as its name suggests is a politics website for fans of the Conservative Party. After leaving ConservativeHome in 2013, he worked for the Times for a year. Before ConservativeHome, he wrote speeches for Conservative politicians William Hague and Iain Duncan Smith.
Sally Chatterton later took over as editor.The weird history of the cow site: Why Unherd shouldn't be seen as 'respectable'., Mic Wright. Conquest of the Useless, 28 July 2020
It was originally funded by who made a fortune in hedge funds and has also provided funding to GB News.Josh Self (November 4, 2023). "Week-in-Review: New right-wing movement, backed by Kemi Badenoch, spells doom for Rishi Sunak". Politics.co.uk. Quote: "Paul Marshall, who is worth £680 million according to the Sunday Times Rich List, and a GB News and UnHerd investor, sits on ARC’s Advisory Board." He was formerly a donor to the Liberal Democrats, pushing them to adopt more right-wing, business-friendly policies; he then switched to the Tories and supported the Brexit campaign. He provided funding for UnHerd to operate without a subscription for its first 3 years. However it now tries to prevent non-subscribers from viewing it, on the basis that nobody would be sufficiently interested to circumvent its protection measures.
It also appears to have friends in high places: at the time of its launch, former Tory chancellor turned newspaper editor George Osborne let Montgomerie write a column for the Evening Standard about the deficiencies of modern journalism (i.e. that modern journalism should be more like UnHerd), and Montgomerie followed up with an article on UnHerd defending Osborne's editorship of the Evening Standard.UnHerd’s rejection of the new isn’t as groundbreaking as it seems to think, New Statesman, July 2017
==Content==
===Science===
Its science editor for 4 years was Tom Chivers, who is sometimes praised (e.g. by Ian Burrell of the i) for his equivocation and refusal to come down on one side or the other of an issue when the evidence is uncertain. This manifested over the COVID-19 lockdown where he didn't really commit to either side. Mic Wright described Chivers as the person on the staff who "does the 'eminently reasonable analysis of a current event from a tediously rationalist perspective' pieces, providing ideological air cover for the real headbangers and bringing in the FBPE crowd." Chivers left the paper for a job at the i in 2022.About, tomchivers.com, accessed 29 Aug 2022
UnHerd's other coverage of the COVID pandemic tended towards the skeptical. An article entitled "How Facebook censored the lab leak theory" functioned as a defence of misinformation; almost every expert reckons the lab leak theory is unproven at best.How Facebook censored the lab leak theory, Freddie Sayers, UnHerd, 31 May 2021The COVID lab-leak hypothesis: what scientists do and don’t know, Nature, 8 June 2021 UnHerd also celebrated the headteacher and founder of "a school based on scientific principles" who wasn't going to make anyone wear masks.Headmaster: I refuse to make pupils wear masks in class, UnHerd, 28 Feb 2021
===Eugenics===
UnHerd appears to have an interest in eugenics, despite publishing a lot of articles about how awful eugenics is.Tag: Eugenics, Unherd Likewise topics around innate IQ differences between races come up a lot.
It has published pieces by Douglas Murray, including a defence of Charles Murray and Richard Herrnstein's The Bell Curve against opponents derided as cancel culture, appearing under the absurd headline "Why is the woke mob so scared?".Why is the woke mob so scared?, Douglas Murray, UnHerd, 26 Feb 2021
In 2019, it published a defence of the "young, brilliant" academic Noah Carl, who had recently been sacked from St Edmund's College, Cambridge after concerns over his research and his links to the far right. UnHerd condemned his sacking, blaming tactics used "by Left-modernism to quash free enquiry".How the woke inquisition broke Cambridge, UnHerd, May 2019 In reality, Carl was sacked following an inquiry in which, according to the Master of St Edmunds, "The panel found that Dr Carl had put a body of work into the public domain that did not comply with established criteria for research ethics and integrity."Statement from the Master regarding the outcome of the investigations into complaints about the appointment of Research Fellow, Matthew Bullock, St Edmund's College website, 30 April 2019
Chivers asked in 2018 "Should we edit genes to boost IQ?" He concluded it was inevitable and we should accept it and try to control it.Should we edit genes to boost IQ?, UnHerd, 16 Oct 2018
===Transphobia===
It has recruited a number of TERFs, including Julie Bindel. Bindel has written several pieces including an interview with fellow TERF Kathleen Stock, a transphobic academic who quit her job after her trade union, the UCU, chose to show solidarity with trans students rather than support Stock; Bindel portrays Stock as "a mild-mannered, liberal academic" whose distrust of trans people is shared by "nearly 99% of the planet".Kathleen Stock: I won’t be silenced, Julie Bindel, UnHerd, 4 November 2021 It's unclear how many other views held by 99% of the planet the lesbian separatist Bindel would endorse. Stock quit her job after a letter from 600 academics criticised her "harmful rhetoric" for the way it "reinforces the patriarchal status quo"; the philosophers condemned the "tendency to mistake transphobic fearmongering for valuable scholarship, and attacks on already marginalised people for courageous exercises of free speech", which could equally be a description of UnHerd.Outraged academics condemn government for handing anti-trans professor Kathleen Stock an OBE, Pink News, 6 Jan 2021
==Invasion of The Washington Post==
There used to be a rare opinion piece by an UnHerd writer in The Washington Post (none in 2017, 3 in 2018, 1 in 2018, and none from 2020-October 20238 results related to ""at UnHerd"" The Washington Post (archived from November 27, 2024).). That has seemingly changed with the appointment of William Lewis, previously worked at three Murdoch-owned publications, as publisher by owner Jeff Bezos on November 5, 2023 and beginning the job on January 2, 2024.William Lewis named publisher and CEO of The Washington Post by Elahe Izadi & Jeremy Barr (November 4, 2023 at 8:20 p.m. EDT) The Washington Post. As an omen, two days after his appointment, Kat Rosenfield, an UnHerd writer, published an opinion in The Post titled "You shouldn’t be fired for being a jerk".You shouldn’t be fired for being a jerk by Kat Rosenfield (November 6, 2023 at 6:30 a.m. EST) The Washington Post. Later in 2024, The Post republished two Unherd articles, "Facing chaos in Britain, Starmer must channel Thatcher’s strength",Facing chaos in Britain, Starmer must channel Thatcher’s strength by Tom McTague (August 9, 2024 at 1:39 p.m. EDT) The Washington Post.Starmer needs the strength of Thatcher by Tom McTague (August 7, 2024) UnHerd. and "Welcome to thought-police Britain".Welcome to thought-police Britain: When a social media post can bring officers to the door, the nation is in trouble. by Mary Harrington (November 22, 2024 at 6:00 a.m. EST) The Washington Post.Welcome to Thought-Police Britain by Mary Harrington (November 19, 2024) UnHerd. The Post also published in 2024, an opinion piece by UnHerd editor-in-chief Freddie Sayers ("How 'fighting disinformation' turns into political censorship") based on one of his articles in UnHerd from several months prior.How ‘fighting disinformation’ turns into political censorship by Freddie Sayers (May 8, 2024 at 5:45 a.m. EDT) The Washington Post.Inside the disinformation industry by Freddie Sayers (April 17, 2024) UnHerd.
==Notes==
==References==
Category:British media
Category:British politics
Category:British right wing
Category:Racism
Category:Racialism
Category:Transphobia