“Sharp and fearless US commentary” - Nick Cohen, Guardian columnist
“Part of the appeal of The Banter is that it’s so personality driven — it reminds me of the early days of Talking Points Memo” – Simon Owens, PBS Media Shift
“Counterpoint to (and relief from) Matt Taibbi and his merry band of subscribers….also enjoy the fluid writing and quite often the original and nuanced point of view” - Lucrezia
“A vessel for grandstanding” - The New York Times
“Degenerate capitalist mansplaining” - Roseanne Barr
The Daily Banter was founded in 2006 after I got fed up with watching the corporate news in America fail to report properly on the Iraq war, or point out the very obvious fact that “both sides” were not the same.
I was a Brit working as a boxing and MMA journalist in Los Angeles at the time, but getting started in political journalism meant going it alone. Journalists were being fired in droves as the news industry was collapsing due to the proliferation of online content. So that meant trying to figure out “blogging” — learning html, how to edit photos, run ads, build an audience, and keep up a relentless pace of publishing for almost no money.
After several years slogging away as a solo blog, I relaunched in 2012 bringing on several prominent columnists, including Bob Cesca, Chez Pazienza and White House reporter Tommy Christopher. We grew month after month, year after year and became a significant voice in the political media landscape. That was until Facebook wrecked our business model by cutting access to almost all of our followers on their platform.
In February of 2019, we moved permanently to a newsletter format on the Substack platform in order to avoid reliance on social media platforms and their continually changing algorithms. It was renamed as ‘The Banter’ and is completely subscription funded.
Today’s iteration of the blog I founded in 2006 is, I like to think, a more mature version. Less partisan, less shouty, slower paced, more in depth, and more nuanced. While we focus more of our attention on the frightening rise of right wing identity politics, we also take on ideologues on the left. We strive to be truly independent, and that means saying things some of our readers don’t always like. The Banter is a community though, so we engage with our readers regardless of their perspectives. “Banter” after all, is a term for a playful, friendly exchange.
Meet the team
Paying for a subscription
Roughly half of what we publish is free for everyone. The rest is for our paying subscribers. If you cannot afford it we will gladly gift you a membership. If you can afford it and like what we do, please consider purchasing a subscription. Your patronage is our only source of income.
You can get 50% off a Banter Membership here:
Subscribe for free here:
