PragerU

PragerU was founded in 2009 by conservative radio talk show host Dennis Prager and radio producer and screenwriter Allen Estrin,[4][13] in order to advocate for conservative views and to offset what Prager regards as the undermining of college education by the left.[7][14] The two originally considered making it a brick-and-mortar university, but the idea was revised into a digital product to save money.[8] PragerU is based in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, California,[4] and it had around 50 employees as of January 2020.[8] Marissa Streit has been the CEO since 2011, and presents some videos.[15][16] PragerU encourages students to join "PragerFORCE", an international student organisation to promote PragerU's videos and ideology, about 6,500 college and high school students promoted its videos as of 2020.[8] Despite the name, PragerU is not an academic institution and does not hold classes, does not grant certifications or diplomas, and is not accredited by any recognized body.[5][8]

Since a lawsuit over the use of a photograph in 2013, PragerU has used animation in its videos.[17] PragerU reached a billion views in 2018.[4]

Dennis Prager, co-founder of PragerU

In July 2019, PragerU representative Allen Estrin attended then-United States President Donald Trump's Social Media Summit, along with other conservative organizations and people such as Charlie Kirk and James O'Keefe.[18][19]

In the fall of 2020, PragerU started fundraising for PragerU Resources for Educators and Parents (PREP), a program targeted towards kindergarten and school-aged children. PREP released its first content in April 2021.[20] PragerU's school-age targeted content was later branded as PragerU Kids.

The organization depends on donations to produce its content.[30] Much of PragerU's early funding came from hydraulic fracturing billionaires Dan and Farris Wilks.[5][4][8] Two members of the Wilks family sit on PragerU's board.[4] The next-largest donor is the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation.[13][31] Other donors include the Morgan Family Foundation, Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund, Donors Trust, the late Republican megadonor Sheldon Adelson,[32] Lee Roy Mitchell,[32] and the Minnesota-based Sid and Carol Verdoorn Foundation, led by former C.H. Robinson CEO Sid Verdoorn.[31]

As of 2018, the organization reportedly had a $10 million annual budget, of which it spent more than 40% on marketing.[4] In 2019, 40% of its budget came from almost 130,000 online donors; the Los Angeles Times noted that PragerU attracted more donors than some Democratic presidential primary contenders had at the time.[5] In 2020, PragerU reported to have received about $28 million in revenues, most of it from donations, and reported approximately $28 million in expenditures, with 39% going into marketing.[1] PragerU consistently spends more on Facebook advertising than major political campaigns and national advocacy groups.[5] In 2019, it ranked among the 10 biggest political spenders on the platform.[5]

In 2020, PragerU received $704,057 in COVID-19 relief loans from the Paycheck Protection Program; this debt was later forgiven in full.[33]

PragerU provides an extensive range of donation methods including donations of cryptocurrency, stocks, the incorporation of PragerU into a will, and direct transfers from an individual retirement account.[34]

PragerU releases one video per week on various topics from a conservative viewpoint that according to its site "advances Judeo-Christian values." As of May 2020, its YouTube channel included 968 videos.[35] Each video costs between $25,000 and $30,000 to create.[4] Dennis Prager "personally approves every item" and "edits every script" before publication, according to Mother Jones.[13] PragerU guests cover a range from the secular right, the far-right, and the theocratic right.[36] Some prominent video presenters have included Ben Shapiro, Tucker Carlson, Nigel Farage, Charles Krauthammer, Michelle Malkin, Bret Stephens and George Will.[8][37]

Among topics covered, PragerU videos have argued against a $15 minimum wage, against increased gun control, and in support of capitalism.[4] Although topical, PragerU videos largely avoided mentioning Donald Trump during his presidency.[8][30][38] PragerU is pro-Israel, and Dennis Prager has said that "Nothing better identifies incipient evil than anti-Semitism."[39]

Dave Rubin stated in a video that "racism, bigotry, xenophobia, homophobia, and Islamophobia" are "meaningless buzzwords". In a video about the alt-right, Michael Knowles argued that it has nothing in common with conservatism and instead is close to leftism, except the left is much larger.[4][36] PragerU videos also promote the Electoral College, arguing that it thwarts voter fraud and that "pure democracies do not work".[13]

Over a dozen videos promote fossil fuels and dispute the scientific consensus on climate change.[9] According to the non-profit think tank InfluenceMap, targeted ads posted on Facebook included misleading material that cast doubt on science, framed climatic concerns as ideological and hysteria and promoted a conspiracy theory that "big government control" is the real motivation behind energy policies to reduce gas emissions.[40]

By 2015, PragerU developed two partnership programs to promote its views, including religious material, in public and private schools. PragerU's Educator Program supplies teachers with lesson plans and study guides that accompany videos. Secondary school teachers and college professors can register their classes through PragerU's Academic Partnership program, which lets students sign up and allows teachers to monitor their students' progress.[41]

According to a 2019 report in the Los Angeles Times, PragerU videos have been watched more than 2 billion times and were becoming a staple on college campuses.[5] In its 2020 annual report, PragerU stated that its videos have received over 4 billion lifetime views.[1] PragerU has ranked highly in influence compared to other free-market advocacy organizations, such as Reason and National Review.[42]

Vanity Fair said PragerU "packages right-wing social concepts into slick videos" and that PragerU was "one of the most effective conversion tools for young conservatives."[43]

Sociologist Francesca Tripodi has studied PragerU's marketing and messaging for the nonprofit Data & Society.[44] She found that PragerU relies on search engine optimization and "suggested content" to market its videos.[12][44] She noted that PragerU was popular among the respondents in her study and that they all either liked or shared PragerU videos on Facebook. Tripodi argued that PragerU allows viewers to dabble in content that "makes connections to" the alt-right's talking points.[4] In this way, viewers identifying as mainline conservatives gain "easy access to white supremacist logic".[12] She also demonstrated an algorithmic connection on YouTube between PragerU, Fox News, and alt-right personalities.[44][12]

A Buzzfeed News article published in 2018 attributed PragerU's success to the quality of its production values compared to similar outlets and to its use of popular presenters with established audiences. The article also noted that it had received comparatively little attention from news and media analysts due to PragerU's lack of coverage of topical issues, such as Donald Trump.[4]

In an August 2019 article written by Drew Anderson of GLAAD, an LGBT media monitoring organization, Anderson noted PragerU's ties to white supremacy and white supremacists, and also noted PragerU's "Horrific Anti-LGBTQ Record".[45]

Reason has criticized PragerU's claims of being censored by big tech companies for being false, as the company's content had not been removed from any social media platforms, and that they indicate a misunderstanding of the First Amendment as protecting a party from any type of censorship, when that law merely protects content from censorship by the government.[46]

Climate Feedback, Reuters and the Weather Channel have found that PragerU's videos promote inaccurate and misleading claims about climate change.[9][47][48]

PragerU's coverage of COVID-19 has been criticized for spreading false and misleading information about the pandemic.[10][49][50][51]

In 2019, Mike Gravel, a former United States Senator from Alaska, launched The Gravel Institute, a progressive left-leaning think tank, to counteract PragerU.[52][53][54]

Mother Jones said PragerU videos assert that there is no gender pay gap,[13][55] and that there is not discrimination in policing of African-Americans.[13]

On race, Pam Nilan, in her 2021 book Young People and the Far Right, says that PragerU "pretends to sidestep" white supremacy, but that "the message is always that white culture is better than other cultures."[56]

• Official website
• PragerU's channel on YouTube