http://www.consortiumnews.com/2006/012506.html"Yet as galling as it may be for some readers to see how the Times and other major mainstream media outlets are framing the Alito confirmation, the broader problem has been the failure of well-to-do liberals and progressive foundations to finance a media infrastructure that can act as a counterweight to the right-wing media machine.
The Right’s media now rises like a giant vertically integrated corporation from newspapers, magazines and books to talk radio, cable news, TV pundits and Internet sites. The machine is lavishly financed at each level and can turn even fringe issues (like the “war on Christmas”) into questions that dominate the national debate.
By contrast, the Left’s chief funders have historically starved independent media outlets, following the dogma that “activism” and “organizing” can solve almost all problems. Therefore, Democrats find themselves dependent on the mainstream media for whatever attention their positions do get."
.......
"Conservatives have been richly rewarded from their investment in an infrastructure to get their message out and help Republicans build a powerful base of support among the people, especially in areas with little media diversity, i.e. the Red States."
(The Left's Media Miscalculation)
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2005/042805.html".....leaders of the Right and the Left made fateful choices that have shaped today’s political world. Though both sides had access to similar amounts of money from wealthy individuals and like-minded foundations, the two sides chose to invest that money in very different ways.
The Right concentrated on gaining control of the information flows in Washington and on building a media infrastructure that would put out a consistent conservative message across the country. As part of this strategy, the Right also funded attack groups to target mainstream journalists who got in the way of the conservative agenda.
The Left largely forsook media in favor of “grassroots organizing.” As many of the Left’s flagship media outlets foundered, the “progressive community” reorganized under the slogan – “think globally, act locally” – and increasingly put its available money into well-intentioned projects, such as buying endangered wetlands or feeding the poor.
So, while the Right waged what it called “the war of ideas” and expanded the reach of conservative media to every corner of the nation, the Left trusted that local political action would reenergize American democracy."
........
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2005/062005.html"Though the Internet may be one area where progressives have established a stronger presence than conservatives, the Right has deployed its Internet resources more effectively by using them as part of a multi-layered media strategy.
Conservative Internet sites introduce attacks that then get amplified by other conservative media – talk radio, newspapers, cable TV – and are forced into the mainstream media.
Most memorably, right-wing activists leaked to Matt Drudge and his Internet site some facts about President Bill Clinton’s affair with White House aide Monica Lewinsky in 1998. Then, other conservative outlets pushed the story, driving it quickly into the mainstream media."
"The vastness of the right-wing echo chamber essentially lets information or propaganda be inserted at any point among the varied media outlets. The entry could be from a book (such as the attacks on John Kerry’s war record) or in newspapers or on talk radio or on cable news – before the material starts reverberating. Soon, mainstream news outlets are joining in the media frenzy – fearing accusations of “liberal bias” if they don’t.
-There is NO question that the left needs to build it's own echo chamber to counter the right wing echo chamber."
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