Conservative Movement Hijacks the Media Debate

Given the focused nature of the conservative philanthropies' funding and the broad array of recipient institutions it should come as no surprise that they are able to penetrate the mass media, gaining a conservative voice at nearly every point in society where opinions are shaped or policies are made.

The movement has both its own well-funded and controlled media outlets, as well as deep connections with the traditional media. Most importantly, conservatives have realized that in today's media world the way to get noticed is to write books. This has prompted the movement to subsidize and market the production of books throughout their supply-side production cycle, from underwriting authors at think tanks to paying for them to tour the movement's state & regional institutions.

In a Nation article titled "The 'Right' Books and Big Ideas," Alterman observed that "It is an ironic fact that in a society as culturally debased as ours, books can have a significant political and ideological impact precisely because they are not read."

Take Media Transparency's eye-opening tour of the money behind the conservative movement.

Introduction to the conservative movement

Issues promoted by the conservative movement:

• Faithbased Watch
  Where does the energy and money for the faithbased movement come from?
• Arkansas Project
  See how tax exempt money can be used to bring down an opposition president.
• Law & Economics Movement
  Read about the hyper-rational, people-denying movement to place the value of wealth maximization above all others.
• Privatizing and Commercializing Public Schools
• Court Watch
  Follow the affects of the conservative philanthropies funding through the state and federal courts.
• Social Security Privatization

Searchable databases of people, recipients, and funders of the conservative movement.

Media Transparency's Fundometer evaluate any page on the World Wide Web against our databases.

Previous: The Money Behind The Media.

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