Posted on 11/24/2002 6:50:29 AM PST by Tumbleweed_Connection
In an updated critique of what Hillary Clinton once called the vast, right-wing conspiracy, Democrats are complaining bitterly about the power of a loose-knit network of conservative media voices.
Outgoing Senate Majority leader Tom Daschle blasts radio host Rush Limbaugh and "Limbaugh wannabees" for what he considers a shrill and dangerous tone. Sen. Richard Durbin of Illinois, one of a new group of senators trying to reposition the Democrats in the wake of the Nov. 5 elections, tells National Public Radio that his party is struggling to overcome "station after station" of "right-wing screamers."
The complaints, which conservatives attribute to bitterness over losing, are a reaction to a gradual shift of political and media realities.
The days when the Associated Press, three major television networks and East Coast newspapers led by The Washington Post and The New York Times dominated the flow of political news are gone. Technological advances have spawned "narrowcasting" in which political communication can be tailored to niche audiences through cable channels, local radio stations and Web sites - all seemingly dominated by conservatives.
"Conservatives understand that so many Americans want their news when they want it and the way they want it. Conservatives are better marketers. They use all the tools of mass marketing better than liberals," said Michael Parks, director of the School of Journalism at the University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication.
"In a sense, it may be that Democrats are still rooted in a kind of populist culture, and they haven't realized everyone is going over to niches," added Parks, a Pulitzer Prize-winning correspondent and former editor with The Los Angeles Times.
"Why do people go to niches? It's because there's so much news and information out there and the news consumer wants somebody who will give him or her a unique take on the world so they don't have to drink from the fire hose."
In a news conference Wednesday, Daschle, a South Dakota Democrat, lashed out at Limbaugh and other talk-show conservatives for fueling "an emotional movement in this country among some people who don't know the difference between entertainment and politics, and who are then so energized as to go out and hurt somebody."
Daschle did not provide specific examples of violence, except to say that when Limbaugh called him an "obstructionist" he and his family had worried.
Daschle lamented what he called a blurring of "entertainment and politics" by Limbaugh and other conservatives who use humor to make their points and said Democrats have concluded "we have to have the same edge that Republicans do."
Limbaugh, on his nationally syndicated, top-rated show, said Wednesday that the Democrats' real problem is that people no longer have to rely on the "leftist" big three TV networks and Eastern newspapers, led by The New York Times.
"Their allies aren't good enough anymore," Limbaugh said.
On the country's second-ranked radio talk show, Sen. Orrin Hatch, a Utah Republican, told conservative host Sean Hannity that talk radio gave Republicans the winning edge in the election.
"I thank my father in heaven every day for people like you, Rush Limbaugh and others," Hatch told Hannity, who also has a show on the Fox News Channel.
Ralph Neas, president of the liberal People for the American Way, a Washington-based advocacy group, has witnessed the power of conservative media as his organization works against congressional confirmation of conservative judges.
"What we see now is an incredible echo chamber," Neas said. "You get a Wall Street Journal editorial in the morning. You then hear about it that day on talk radio and talk TV. It goes up on Web sites and it's debated in Internet chat rooms across the country.
"You add up all those niches and it reaches a lot of people. I think the progressive community has to face the reality, especially about talk radio and talk TV, and perhaps put together our own TV shows."
The emerging conservative media aren't new. In 1998, in the midst of the Monica Lewinsky scandal, Hillary Clinton blamed her husband's problems on a "vast right-wing conspiracy."
One of the few journalists ever named by the Clinton White House as part of such a conspir acy is Joseph Farah, then editor of The Sacramento Union and founder of the California- based Western Journalism Center, founded to fight what it saw as liberal media bias.
Farah launched WorldNetDaily (www.worldnetdaily.com) in 1997. It now has more than 3 million visitors a month and employs a dozen full-time editorial employees at headquarters in Cave Junction, Ore., and an office in Washington. The site is a frequently used bookmark for conservative talk radio hosts, and Farah and his reporters often are radio guests.
What Farah saw as a liberal media monopoly has been broken, but in his view, not beaten.
"Look at the numbers of people watching Peter Jennings, Tom Brokaw and Dan Rather on the major network newscasts," he said. "There's still no comparison to Fox News and Web sites like ours. The battle is far from over. To start celebrating is very, very premature because this is still a David and Goliath struggle."
The Libs think that propaganda will win out over substance every time.
When their message fell flat, they can only assume the right had better propaganda (media).
The rant was repeated by every Democrat that "we didn't get our message out" honestly translates to "Right wing radio exposed our agenda of obstruction, racism, hate and anti Americanism".
The days when the Associated Press, three major television networks and East Coast newspapers led by The Washington Post and The New York Times dominated the flow of political news are gone.
As I said, "I just wanted to get THAT out", as a reminder that Orrin has run afoul of a number of conservative causes over the years. I was a little astonished by the self-congratualtory mode that nearly all the responces from Freepers gave to Orrin's kiss-up to Talk Radio.
As I also alluded to.....................things can seemingly also go the opposite way, Mr. Hatch.
We are watching YOU, Mr. Hatch; Conservative Talk Radio is a two-edged sword.
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