Reply #1: aka The echo effect or Republican Noise Machine

[Emit]

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wrote about it based on a book by David Brock. Kennedy's article, called 'The Disinformation Society', I think, was then put into a new edition of his book, 'Crimes Against Nature.'

Here's the article I'm referring to. I have an old copy of 'Crimes Against Nature' that does not include this intro, nor have I read David Brock's book, 'The Republican Noise Machine: Right-Wing Media and How It Corrupts Democracy.' But this article might help and at least point you in the right direction:

http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:4JWownHMcCAJ:www.spinwatch.org/modules.php%3Fname%3DNews%26file%3Darticle%26sid%3D1517+Robert+Kennedy+Jr.+Grover+Norquist+echo+machine&hl=en

~snip~

Conservative noise on cable and talk radio also has an echo effect on the rest of the media. One of the conservative talking points in the last election was that terrorists supported the candidacy of John Kerry. According to Media Matters, this pearl originated on Limbaugh’s radio show in March 2004 and repeatedly surfaced in mainstream news. In May, CNN’s Kelli Arena reported “speculation that al-Qaeda believes it has a better chance of winning in Iraq if John Kerry is in the White House”; in June it migrated to Dick Morris’s New York Post column. Chris Matthews mentioned it in a July edition of Hardball. In September, Bill Schneider, CNN’s senior political analyst, declared that al-Qaeda “would very much like to defeat President Bush,” signaling that Limbaugh’s contri-vance was now embedded firmly in the national consciousness.

That “echo effect” is not random. Brockshows in his book how the cues by which mainstream news directors decide what is important to cover are no longer being suggested by The New York Times and other responsible media outlets, but rather by the “shadowy” participants of a Washington, DC meeting convened by Grover Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform, an anti-government organization that seeks to prevent federal regulation of business.

Every Wednesday morning the leaders of 80 conservative organizations meet in Washington in Norquist’s boardroom. This radical cabal formulates policy with the Republican National Committee and the White House, developing talking points that go out to the conservative media via a sophisticated fax tree. Soon, millions of Americans are hearing the same message from cable news commentators and thousands of talk jocks across America. Their precisely crafted message and language then percolate through the mainstream media to form the underlying assumptions of our national debate.

This meeting has now grown to include more than 120 participants, including industry lobbyists and representatives of conservative media outlets such as The Washington Times and the National Review. According to Brock, columnist Bob Novak sends a researcher. The Wall Street Journal’s Peggy Noonan may attend in person. The lockstep coordination among right-wing political operatives and the press is new in American politics.

~snip~