The Domesticated Primate

This book is an excellent account of who is behind the right wing jihad on objectivity in the media. It's made all the better by the fact that the author, David Brock, is a former member of that effort.

While reading this book, I got to thinking it would be a really great thing to put together a presentation style similar to They Rule, but instead, applied to members of media - pundits, regular talking heads, PR firms, foundations, and the far-right people who start/fund them. For instance, you could have Joe Coors, and his ties to Heritage Foundation and Moral Majority outlined, and what their goals and shady associations are (Google "Paul Weyrich" and "nazi"). Then realize that these people and organizations affect what is in the news and how it is spun every day.

This presentation would really have much more impact (at least visually) than just a barrage of data, and people could make their own charts, much like in They Rule. I really got fired up about doing this, but then realized I have next to no time right now to devote to such a project. A visual representation of the sorts of things you could find on wikipedia, sourcewatch.org, and mediamatters.org about these people and organizations would go so much further to making the average person understand just how much manipulation there is of objective truth, and how much the idea of "liberal media" is a just a lie.

Of course, folks could just read this book, but it's mostly going to preach to the choir. "Intellectually honest" conservatives who choose to pick up this and read it and bother to research a bit for themselves may find that they have to question everything they think they know about the "liberal media", and why the din on, say, talk radio, tends to sound soooo similar to each other.

Even if folks don't actually to bother to read this entire book, and if a presentation like this is never made, people should at least look up the groups that a particular talking head represents. Know who the Cato Institute, Heritage Foundation, Focus on the Family, Moral Majority, Family Research Council, etc. are and what they stand for. Look into who funds them. Even if the organization of the talking head brought in as an "expert" isn't given, google that person, and try to find out who pays for them.