https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2016/04/28
Miller Turned to Breitbart to Promote Political Agenda
November 19, 2019 Michael Edison Hayden
Before the 2016 election, White House senior policy adviser Stephen Miller frequently gave editorial instructions to Breitbart News, a Hatewatch review of his emails determined.
Miller Turned to Breitbart to Promote Political Agenda
November 19, 2019
Michael Edison Hayden
In this article
Finding the right words on immigration
Negative coverage of Rubio
‘Let’s go buck wild on this’
Before the 2016 election, White House senior policy adviser Stephen Miller frequently gave editorial instructions to Breitbart News, a Hatewatch review of his emails determined.
Miller emailed then-Breitbart News editor Katie McHugh a post from conservative pundit Mickey Kaus criticizing Marco Rubio’s GOP presidential run on Feb. 6, 2016, a little less than two weeks after joining Donald Trump’s campaign, saying someone needed to aggregate the piece for the site.
Aggregation in journalism happens when writers turn other outlets’ stories, opinion pieces or social media posts into new stories for their publications. Hours later, Breitbart published an article headlined “Mickey Kaus: Marco Rubio Hides Pro-Donor Amnesty Behind Anti-ISIS Bluster.”
Miller viewed the highly trafficked Breitbart as a way to promote his nativist, anti-immigration policies and to attack political enemies before millions of readers. And, while politicians and their staff commonly seek to influence news coverage, the dynamic on display in Miller’s emails to Breitbart suggests the conservative outlet was “not playing by the same rules that legitimate news organizations play by,” said Kyle Pope, editor-in-chief of the Columbia Journalism Review.
White House senior adviser Stephen Miller (center) is seen during a June congressional picnic on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
“This is not remotely how a professional news organization functions,” Pope told Hatewatch, regarding Miller’s often-direct editorial instructions. “What is scary here is Trump, and his team, and also Trump supporters – hold up this kind of cheerleading news organization as an example of how journalism should be done, and it’s clearly not.”
The emails examined by Hatewatch demonstrate a pattern of influence by Miller. On April 10, 2016, he sent an email with the subject line “aggregate?” to Breitbart with a tweet by conservative commentator Matt Drudge. In his tweet, Drudge questioned the integrity of Colorado’s Republican caucus system in which Ted Cruz won a majority of delegates and which Trump had criticized as being “rigged.” Breitbart soon turned Drudge’s tweet into the story Miller apparently envisioned, “Matt Drudge: ‘Hello Colorado Republicans, even Iraqis get a vote.’”
Breitbart editors introduced Miller to McHugh in early 2015 to help shape her journalistic output, she told Hatewatch. At the time, Miller was an aide to then-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama. McHugh leaked to Hatewatch more than 900 of her previously private email conversations with the current White House senior adviser. In them, Miller appears to behave like an uncredited editor – periodically suggesting where stories should be placed on Breitbart’s homepage.
Miller suggested such a placement on the Hillary Clinton-focused story, “Donald Trump Slams ‘Heartless Hillary’ Clinton’s Soft-On-Crime Plans” in May 2016:
Miller, May 21, 2016, 12:11 a.m. ET: “Make sure this is put in lede.”
McHugh, May 21, 2016, 12:12 a.m. ET: “It’s top right.”
McHugh told Hatewatch that by “the lede,” Miller meant the story on Breitbart’s website most prominently showcased to readers. McHugh told Hatewatch that Breitbart management knowingly allowed her to defer to Miller.
