Spotlight with Claire Lehmann: Does Traditional Journalism Stifle the Truth?

Australian Claire Lehmann left university and founded the online magazine Quillette to counter what she saw as an orthodoxy in knowledge coming from the progressive left. Claire perceived a lack of rigor in the humanities where, it seemed to her, ideology was trumping evidence.

Since its inception as a start-up in 2015, Quillette has gone on to achieve an international reputation for free speech advocacy, political commentary and journalism, appealing to as many as two million followers a month. It’s become a community for people who feel they’ve been ostracised by a progressive left wing media that doesn’t allow room for differing viewpoints.

In this Spotlight episode, we explore with Claire some of the big issues facing the traditional institutions of academia and of journalism when it comes to the production of knowledge. Claire assesses the advantages of not just Quillette but of the online media landscape which has given voice to a whole range of people and diverse voices. We also probe the limitations of this world of online journalism, and ask Claire whether there’s sufficient rigor to ensure that knowledge is being improved.

Guest Bio

Claire Lehmann

Claire is the founder and editor in chief of Quillette. She was named among “Ten Aussies who Shook the World in Tech and Media” in 2018, and is a weekly contributor to The Australian. She co edited Panics and Persecutions: 20 Tales of Excommunication in the Digital Age which was published in 2020.

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