The New and Alternative Media Bring the Conservative Movement to Power - Part 2

America’s Right Turn
by Richard Viguerie and David Franke (2004)

Part 3b: The New and Alternative Media Bring the Conservative Movement to Power

Chapter 12. Conservatives in Print: Newspapers, Magazines, and Books

Trends:

* decline in newspaper readership (i.e., reading for news)
* increase in cable TV news viewers

Public's News Habits: see Pew Research Center for People and the Press

"While [the liberal flagship newspapers] are bleeding from circulation losses and even bigger population-adjusted losses, these losses in themselves have not diminished the newspaper's impact on the political and ideological fronts. This is particularly true of the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Associated Press, because they still determine, to a great extent, what is news in America by the articles they publish (and therefore the topics discussed). Television networks and stations simply have not made a similar investment in thousands of reporters around the nation and the globe, so they rely on the New York Times and the Washington Post, plus their syndication services, and the wire services (primarily AP), to dig up most of the news stories that get reported. Talk radio, cable TV, and the Internet have helped by providing a wider range of interpretation of those news stories, but this has only dented the liberal domination of the news media, not eliminated it."

Trends:

* More conservative columnists and cartoonists
* Conservatives are training new journalists (beginning with M. Stanton Evans' Human Events journalism school, The National Journalism Center. "Don't just complain about the media; join and make it right." [e.g., Leadership Institute, and others]
* Small subscription, ideological magazines [are still important as incubators of ideas]
* Liberals dominate the market in print-based opinion journals
* About 1/3 of Americans are regular book readers (nonfiction out polls fiction slightly)

John Stormer 1959 (None Dare Call it Treason), Phyllis Schlafly 1964 (A Choice Not an Echo) and J. Evetts Haley 1964 (A Texan Looks at Lyndon): These books were successful in overcoming limited distribution possibilities:

* Self-published
* Author's self-promotion of the book: For example, Stormer wrote to 125 friends and heads of organizations telling what he wanted to do with the manuscript and asked for advance orders.
* As those books sold, word of mouth then multiplied the demand for the book

Conservative book publishers:

* Sell largely through "alternative" channels
* Regnery authors are given extensive training on how to be effective on radio and TV, then placed on national and local talk shows
* Author interviews on radio and TV are a way to get the book treated as news
* Amazon.com is a gift to anyone shut out of establishment review and sales outlets
* Big book-selling chains have no noticeable ideological bias [they are more interested in selling what sells]
* Use direct mail and space ads in ideological magazines
* As a result of Regnery's success, there now is more competition [and more opportunities] for conservative authors.

"Nielsen BookScan . . . produces the most comprehensive data of what books Americans really are buying." "There is no measurable difference between the two lists [New York Times Bestseller list and Bookscan list. --2009: Bookscan list is closed. See Kirkus Reviews Online]." [religious/spiritual bestsellers generally are not included on the lists, as sales figures from religious bookstores are not included]

Caveat: "conservatives thrive in 'attack mode' particularly when the 'other side' is in power." With Clinton in power, there was a rise in conservative "attack" books published. With Bush in power, there is a decline in conservative books published and a rise in liberal "attack" books.

Chapter 13. The Internet Empowers the Individual

Matt Drudge:

* Had access to overnight Nielson ratings (found in a trash can in a department where he worked)
* Began posting gossipy scoops on Usenet and AOL
* Wrote some articles for Wired magazine
* Began collecting email addresses and set up a list called "The Drudge Report"
* The ensuing website practically launched itself
* He was not the first to learn of the Lewinsky scandal; he was the first to report it. "His scoop was that Newsweek had spiked the story."
* "the alternative media" says Drudge, "empower the individual citizen by bypassing the gatekeepers of the media establishment, those editors and news anchors who want to decide exactly what news you should be allowed to read or hear or see. Direct mail, the fax machine, talk radio, cable television each has given you stories and viewpoints you never would have gotten from Dan Rather or the New York Times."
* "…have given you new ways to communicate your wishes directly to other citizens and the politicians who are supposed to represent you, again by bypassing the gatekeepers." [Drudge]

The Internet:

* satisfies the public hunger for unedited information
* gives voice to the individual (by bypassing holders of the communication technology; the Internet is a two-way communication)
* gives the individual access to the news wires outside of the newsroom you can read news from sources all over the globe
* eliminates the middle-man; eliminates Big Brother/Winston Smith

Matt Drudge: "If technology has finally caught up to individual liberty, why would anyone who loves freedom want to rethink that?"
Viguerie: "the establishment press of an earlier era had been intimidated into not reporting Jack Kennedy's sexual escapades. Bill and Hillary Clinton had no such power, however, over that wild weed called the Internet."
See: Richard Poe, Hillary's Secret War: The Clinton Conspiracy to Muzzle Internet Journalists

Joseph Farah: "I became convinced that the Internet was the vehicle for keeping government under control, because if these guys [the Clintons] were so scared of it, I felt we could do much more as journalists to utilize it." See: The Communications Stream of Conspiracy Commerce, the Hillary-commissioned report on the right-wing conspiracy.

2004 trends:

* The Right [conservatives and libertarians] has been better at utilizing the Internet as a news and opinion medium
* The left [liberals] has been better at utilizing it as a medium for political organization (the independent groups, rather than the Party. See the Dean Internet Campaign and MoveOn.org)

Blogging:

* mostly an American phenomenon. English is the most common blog language; Portuguese is second; Farsi third.
* Most popular ones have personality, with lively exchanges between the blogger and the audience and among the active visitors themselves
* Many bloggers serve as information sources for others, who bookmark the sites and trust the surfing of the blogger to report and uncover sources of information for them.
* Academics are blogging in greater numbers
* Newspaper editors discourage reporters from blogging (the freedom jeopardizes their "monopoly of the means of publishing")

Internet is becoming the first source for campaign and election news a trend that will continue. (More convenient to use; more complete information)

The Internet as a haven for dissent from both the Left's and the Right's establishment:
There are differences between the "world of organizational politics and the world of Internet politics."

The Internet impacts, Newt Gingrich says, "the underlying ability for people to sort of segment themselves into their own niches" through chat rooms and other interactive devices

* Organizational Politics: pressure to tow the party line
* Internet Politics: empowers the individual directly

People go to the Internet for alternative news and points of view. Gary North: "it was surely not people's access to guns that brought down the USSR. It was access to forbidden ideas."

Gary North says, "an international digital revolution no other word suffices is today verifying Hayek's theory of the spontaneous order."

Governments [and media gatekeepers] can't get away with lying anymore

Blogs: religious outreach:

* Catholic
* Protestant

Chapter 14. Liberals in Cyberspace

Internet politicos come from both the Left and the Right, and some express themselves as wordsmiths, others as online activists.

"using the Internet as just another platform for preaching to our audience is underutilizing it, and possibly counter productive. The Dean campaign used the Internet to involve its supporters, just as MoveOn.org had done with its members."

MoveOn.org

* September 1998 - Joan Blades and Wes Boyd post an online petition at www.moveon.org
* They issue a press release [where?] about the Internet and email campaign
* They then mobilized these people for the next crusade: revenge at the polls against Republicans
* Raised millions to help elect Democrats to congress (Billionaire George Soros and Peter Lewis match funds)
* Mobilized anti-Iraq war support
* Mobilized support for Howard Dean presidential campaign
* Involves members in "electronic advocacy groups" based on topics
* Has a Political Action Committee (contributed more than $3.5 million in 2002 election)

Keys to MoveOn's success:

* Hot issues and willingness to take an unequivocal stand
* Going for the mainstream message and not picking fights with the crazier elements
* No bureaucracy stifling creativity.
* Instant response ("you make a contribution, you sign something, and you get immediate action")
* Emphasis on grassroots support by small contributors, rather than financial dependence on big donors
* Easy-to-navigate website; almost no graphics; it's all about the messages. Low Tech use of High-Technology
* Involving the member. (e.g., in an Internet presidential primary so members could decide who should get the group's support; inviting members to submit chapters to a book, MoveOn's 50 Ways to Love Your Country)

Meetup.com

* "a free service that organizes local gatherings about anything, anywhere"
* the Dean campaign realized that Meetup.com could help them spread their candidate's message and "enables these online activists to meet each other and organize" (Dean is a "Democratic politician who passionately voices the discontent of these liberals")

Characteristics of candidates who revolted against the political establishment by utilizing alternative media as its principle modus operandi (Goldwater 1964, McGovern 1968, Dean 2004):

* a natural rebel
* determined to say what he thought, refusing to keep his mouth shut for the good of the party
* lambasted me-too politics, promising, in Schafly's words, "a choice not an echo"
* captured a large, idealistic, and motivated following that would change American politics even if it didn't capture the White House
* found himself shut out by traditional routes to power in his party

Howard Dean:

* made the Internet the central structure of his campaign (gave him a way to break through to his two key constituent groups: gay community and anti-war community
* learned how to raise money over the Internet (mostly small donations)
* learned how to communicate with his supporters over the Internet (e.g., Joe Trippi started the first official campaign blog, giving supporters a chance to vent their opinions and concerns, communicate with each other, and to offer suggestions to the campaign)
* used the Internet as a tool for involving supporters
* understood growth principles: in its deal with Meetup.com, the Dean campaign was allowed to sponsor its own meetups and to keep the e-mail addresses of its members who signed up through that site-provisions that were essential elements of its growth
* Shared information: Progress toward fundraising goals was made public, not kept secret-generating on the blog even more fundraising energy
* Offered "how to" advice on the mechanics of campaigning, but for the most part, activists were free to act on their own without supervision from headquarters [in spite of the risks, there was no organizational micro-managing]
* Dean and his executives "actually listened to their supporters, learning from them, when the usual campaign process is for the candidate and his handlers to speak, while the workers listen."

What went wrong?

* No business plan-campaign money was spent rapidly and often wastefully
* Dean's campaign was always more of a movement than a presidential campaign

Lessons learned:

1. Merge the "traditional campaign structure with a businesslike CEO" with the growth engine potential of the Internet. But do not make the Internet component the campaign.
2. Spend the money raised on the Internet to build field organization and corps of local volunteers in key primary states
3. Local people can tell you which issues to emphasize, which to sublimate, and how to frame them to win local support. National workers cannot provide this insight. You must be able to campaign simultaneously on the local and national levels.
4. Ideally, most of your TV ads should ask for a response--such as a contribution and/or promise to join the campaign as a volunteer. That brings in money, names, and addresses. General "name recognition" ads are a colossal waste of money.

[see "The Myth of the Democratic Establishment: Howard Dean's grassroots rebellion against the power that isn't," by Nicholas Confessore]

Examples of Conservative use of Internet:

* Townhall.com also struck a deal with Meetup.com.
* RightMarch.com was founded to "counter the actions of liberal groups"
* Recall petition campaign to remove Governor Gray Davis (in combination with talk radio) - again, this was popular support going around the establishment