Position Paper | 1

What is a Political Pundit? What’s their job? Are they real political journalists or frauds?

Political pundit is a term used to describe a learned person that offers opinion or commentary in an authoritatively compelling manner on political events. Although not always, a political pundit is considered to be a critic and/or an expert (or a claimed expert). 

The common goal of these commentators is to offer a specific opinion shading one particular party, leading extremely left or right of the Democratic/Republican political parties. 

"Political Quickie: How to be a Political Pundit" 

Political pundits are comprised of experienced and unexperienced political journalists, former politicians, doctors, academics, etc. Generally, they will choose a  'news of the day' in the political world and either research factually correct information to back up their narrative or not and publish a 'hot take'. This can look like news broadcasts, YouTube videos, X (Twitter) posts, Facebook posts, and video stitches among other mass media. 

These commentators use their experience and personality to express their perspective to the public with a pompous and dogmatic approach. The audience will either love or hate what the political FBI has to say about politicians, which will further polarization in the society. 

Candace Owens "The Kamala investigation continues..."

Candace Owens is an American commentator that observes ideologies beyond politics. However, Owens is gaining popularity from her political ideologies of Presidential Candidate, Kamala Harris. Owens has created a series of videos on TikTok, as well as published on YouTube, discussing her disbelief of Harris' real ethnic background. Owens says, "If we find out that that is Kamala's real grandmother, and that she decided to appropriate the domestic help who potentially died younger, as her grandmother, we are watching one of the most diabolical political moves that we have ever seen in the history of this country."   

Not all political pundits offer background research to help their narrative. Some political pundits offer a ‘hot take,’ which is their personal opinion or theory on current political realities. Usually, this particular group of people are not recognized in the Pundit Class, which is any group of high-profile pundits who are featured on television and in the media. 

Tucker Carlson an American conservative pundit and popular television show host, in which he presents his far-right perspective into the mainstream of politics. When the term “political pundit” or “conservative American journalists” comes in hand, this is the face of it all. Carlson is known for his extreme positions on a range of political and social issues, along with his embrace of white supremacy and his support of authoritarian leaders of other countries. 

In this interview, a journalist asks Tucker Carlson if he supports the gun control policy, in which Carlson responds with him being against it. Carlson says that he didn’t think the questions could get any dumber and claims that gun control will provide the government a monopoly on violence. There is no background evidence or explanation as to why he believes that.

Political pundits have genuine interest in political issues, but not all political pundits are reliable for accuracy. Some political pundits will give you an explanation as to why they think certain of a specific candidate or issue but not provide facts to back up their narrative. It is useful to double check what you hear from political commentators.