In the Trump Era, folks have come to believe that the Tea Party was illustrative of the power of effective grassroots organizing. According to democratic grassroots group “Indivisible”, describes the Tea Party as “activists” that they saw “take on a popular president” and “organize locally.” But actually, most people active in the Tea Party agree that it got kicked off by a CNBC reporter. In The Branding of Right-Wing Activism: The News Media and the Tea Party, Prof. Khadijah Costley White looks at the origins and rise of the Tea Party in online, broadcast, print, and cable news. While the Tea Party had grassroots elements, it also developed in response to the leadership of those in the media – largely conservative radio and cable news, but also in op-eds, punditry, reporting, and columns across outlets and networks. In short, the Tea Party was started, promoted, and maintained by the media, particularly through an emphasis on political branding and marketing practices. To learn more, check out The Branding of Right-Wing Activism: The News Media and the Tea Party by Khadijah Costley White (https://amzn.to/2Idq8VC).

Related Publications:

White, K. (2018). Herman in Theory and Practice: Race and Power. Media Theory. (Released online and in print) Available at: http://mediatheoryjournal.org/khadija...

White, K. (2016). Black Lives on Campuses Matter: Reflecting on the Rise of the New Black Student Movement. Soundings: Journal of Politics and Culture. Available at https://www.lwbooks.co.uk/sites/defau...

White, K. (2015). Belongingness and the Harlem drummers. Urban Geography, 36(3), 340–358.

White, K. (2011). Michelle Obama: Redefining the (White) House-wife. Thirdspace: A Journal of Feminist Theory and Culture, 10(1). Available at http://journals.sfu.ca/thirdspace/ind...

White, K. (2017). The Case of “Misguided” “Thugs”: Baltimore Youth, Activism, and News. In Linda Steiner & Silvio Waisbord (Eds), Race, Rage, and the City: Uncovering Baltimore, Routledge.