Anytime they want. They can get the frenzy started. They have total control of the media. Even when they overreach, they seldom pay a price. And they know they have control but few will admit it in public.
It is indeed a dangerous time for America. The "liberal media" was never so dangerous.
=====================================================================
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2005/040105.html<snip>
The coverage of the Schiavo tragedy is just the latest example of how conservatives have established a permanent media infrastructure that lets them push a button to start a public furor over virtually any issue of their choosing.
Powerful conservative media outlets – from Fox News and the Wall Street Journal’s editorial page to Rush Limbaugh’s talk radio and well-organized Internet bloggers – get the frenzy started.
Then, the increasingly timid mainstream media falls into line, at least during the crucial early days when political judgments are set, as occurred during the run-up to war with Iraq in 2002-03 and with the Swift Boat veterans’ attacks on John Kerry’s war record in the summer of 2004.
For the most part, liberals have chosen to sit out the media wars, with a few exceptions including the emergence over the past year of progressive AM talk radio stations.