Cenk Uygur Shares The Young Turks’ ‘Dangerous Strategy’ for Covering Presidential Election

Cenk Uygur is not going to to give news consumers what they want.

With the election-season heading into the homestretch, the controversial political commentator and CEO/founder of The Young Turks is so committed to being brutally honest with his views that he openly admits he’s willing to lose viewers rather than do what he sees his mainstream rivals doing: toeing the party lines on either side of the aisle.

“Because what they want to hear is not necessarily what’s true,” said Uygur on the latest episode of the Variety podcast “Strictly Business.” “So it’s created a news industry that is filled to the rim with people, whether it’s mainstream media or social media, they’re all giving the audience what they want.”

Listen to the podcast here:

But the 22-year-old digital news brand, also known as TYT, refuses to pander to its progressive-minded audience.

“No one’s actually getting the truth, and we’re trying to give them the truth, and then that alienates people, and it’s a dangerous strategy we have of actually doing the news,” said Uygur, who briefly challenged Joe Biden for the 2024 presidential nomination before abandoning his bid. “We are doing something pretty different now than that almost anyone online, and it’s so new school that it’s almost old school, and it is costing us audience.”

That said, TYT has built a sizable audience over its 22-year existence, which dates back to the very first wave of original programming that graced YouTube. The Alphabet-owned site is still its primary home but TYT has racked up approximately 27 million subscribers across platforms ranging from TikTok to FAST channels.

Elsewhere in the podcast, Uygur expounds the future of news media and TYT’s role in it, emphasizing the importance of dynamic ad insertion on YouTube. He also discusses the importance of calling out both right and left-wing media for their inaccuracies and biases and not being influenced by politicians or advertisers.

As for how he sees the coming election, Uygur shares his predictions about Kamala Harris’ campaign and the challenges she faced, including her decision to be more friendly to corporate America.

“Strictly Business” is Variety’s weekly podcast featuring conversations with industry leaders about the business of media and entertainment. A new episode debuts each Wednesday and can be downloaded on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher and SoundCloud.