Anatomy Of A Media Manipulation
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| Also listed in: Crafting our Message | Kicking Ass |
The following stories are not new, but when put together they illustrate something we should all be more vigilant about: Conservatives engage in an almost virtuosic manipulation of the media to control the Iraq debate. What follows is a step-by-step analysis of a recent example.
(1)
Conservative leader Grover Norquist recommends inserting the phrase "leaving Iraq" to make anti-war groups "Look More Extreme".
(2)
Brookings analysts & war cheerleaders Michael O'Hanlon and Kenneth Pollack write op-eds and and appear on talk shows claiming they are "vocal critics" of the Bush administration while praising the escalation.
(3)
Copycat journalists don't bother to question the validity of such claims, and simply repeat the same characterizations on their own shows.
(4)
Weekly Standard editor and war hawk Bill Kristol
appears on the Daily Show claiming that even "Skeptics of the war" approve of the escalation.
(5)
Finally, we come full circle with Dick Cheney and John McCain using the O'Hanlon-Pollack op-ed to further justify the escalation.
To review:
1) Come up with a strategy to make war critics look extreme
2) Send a couple of spokesmen out into the media to claim themselves as critics who support the escalation
3) Allow the rest of the media to pick up on the story and give these spokesmen more interviews
4) Coordinate your talking points so officials like Dick Cheney and Conservative editors like Bill Kristol all say the same thing: "even the critics support the surge."
The result: by taking control of the messaging and defining the terms of the debate, conservatives were able to marginalize real war critics and make them look "more extreme."
The ingredients are simple, but the coordination is not. That is where conservatives have the jump on us liberals & progressives: they have been practicing for a few decades in their think tanks and media training academies.
It is very important for us to be aware of how the debate is controlled -- not only so we can keep it from happening in the future -- but so we can control the message every once in awhile ourselves.
(1)
Conservative leader Grover Norquist recommends inserting the phrase "leaving Iraq" to make anti-war groups "Look More Extreme".
(2)
Brookings analysts & war cheerleaders Michael O'Hanlon and Kenneth Pollack write op-eds and and appear on talk shows claiming they are "vocal critics" of the Bush administration while praising the escalation.
(3)
Copycat journalists don't bother to question the validity of such claims, and simply repeat the same characterizations on their own shows.
(4)
Weekly Standard editor and war hawk Bill Kristol
appears on the Daily Show claiming that even "Skeptics of the war" approve of the escalation.
(5)
Finally, we come full circle with Dick Cheney and John McCain using the O'Hanlon-Pollack op-ed to further justify the escalation.
To review:
1) Come up with a strategy to make war critics look extreme
2) Send a couple of spokesmen out into the media to claim themselves as critics who support the escalation
3) Allow the rest of the media to pick up on the story and give these spokesmen more interviews
4) Coordinate your talking points so officials like Dick Cheney and Conservative editors like Bill Kristol all say the same thing: "even the critics support the surge."
The result: by taking control of the messaging and defining the terms of the debate, conservatives were able to marginalize real war critics and make them look "more extreme."
The ingredients are simple, but the coordination is not. That is where conservatives have the jump on us liberals & progressives: they have been practicing for a few decades in their think tanks and media training academies.
It is very important for us to be aware of how the debate is controlled -- not only so we can keep it from happening in the future -- but so we can control the message every once in awhile ourselves.
Thanks for tracking this one down. Nicely done.
It takes work, and it takes cooperation, as well as a little bit of practice. But with these ingredients, *anybody* can control the message!