The Republican Noise Machine: Right-Wing Media and How It Corrupts Democracy (Hardcover)

by David Brock (Author) "WHEN JOURNALIST EDITH EFRON died at age seventy-nine in April 2001, Virginia Postrel, the editor of the libertarian magazine Reason, for which Efron had been..." (more)
Key Phrases: think tank network, message machinery, professional news organizations, New York Times, Washington Post, White House (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
The author, once notorious as a conservative attack-journalist trashing the likes of Anita Hill and the Clintons, repudiated his past in the confessional Blinded by the Right. In this blistering j'accuse, Brock mounts a less gossipy and more systematic assault on the right-wing media juggernaut of think tanks, publishers, talk radio shows, Web sites and cable networks. He treats it as a disciplined political movement, inspired by Communist subversion techniques, bankrolled by a handful of right-wing zillionaires through corporate and foundation spigots, tightly yoked to the Republican policy agenda and masterminded by arch-conservative Grover Norquist at weekly strategy meetings. By Brock's account, it constitutes a seamless propaganda machine conveying dubious scholarship, Republican talking points and antiliberal smear campaigns from think tanks and Internet rumor mills to the FOX News and talk radio echo chambers and thence through a network of conservative pundits into the quality press. Meanwhile, Brock charges, the mainstream media, cowed by spurious charges of "liberal bias," have abandoned their role as objective arbiters of truth in favor of an uncritical airing of partisan ideology in the name of "balance." The result, he says, is a public discourse in which the line between fact and opinion is blurred, poorly funded liberal voices get shouted down, "no issue can be honestly debated and no election can be fairly decided." Brock's critique echoes that of other liberal media critics like Eric Alterman and Al Franken, and cannot be accused of nonpartisanship. He is dismissive of the conservative nostrums whose purveyors he pillories, and his biting takedowns of Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly and their ilk show he hasn't lost his taste for blood. But Brock's incisive, well-supported analysis and his street cred as an apostate from the conservative press make this a spirited challenge to the contemporary mediascape
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Review
“This is the most important book of the past ten years and mandatory reading for all who want to understand American politics and history.” —Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., author of Crimes Against Nature: How George W. Bush and His Corporate Pals Are Plundering the Country and Hijacking Our Democracy

“A spirited challenge to the contemporary mediascape.” —Publishers Weekly

“In clear prose, Brock shows convincingly how . . . the accusation of a liberal bias has been based on shabby research and nonexistent evidence.” —Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel


From the Trade Paperback edition. --This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 432 pages
• Publisher: Crown; First Edition edition (May 18, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1400048753
• ISBN-13: 978-1400048755
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (86 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #348,901 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Solid, but sometimes dull, July 9, 2004

By	Alex Frantz (San Leandro, ca USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Brock explores the history and structure of the right wing propaganda machine, and its impressive success in influencing mainstream media.

The book has two principal virtues: it goes into history, tracing the right from the Goldwater era, thereby including much valuable material not found in some similar volumes which focus more exclusively on events of the Clinton/Bush years. This gives the book a distinct and more thoughtful perspective. And it shows the endless interconnections of the various people and organizations discussed in substantial, occasionally numbing detail. By the time you finish this book, you will realize that Hillary's famous 'vast right wing conspiracy' is very real.

The main fault is that it is often overly partisan and indulges in some gratuitous attacks. For instance, Kevin Phillips is spoken of as being influenced by two obscure Italian writers I've never heard of, who Brock says were also major influences in Fascism. Offered without further elaboration, this amounts to nothing more than a cheap exercise in guilt by association.

Compared to the similar books by Franken and Conason, this one has, as I noted, more detail and more historical perspective. It isn't written as well, and certainly lacks the humor of Franken. It also focusses more on media and propaganda and has little exploration of issues and policies, except those, such as the repeal of the Fairness Doctrine, that relate specifically to the media. (Perhaps the most comparable to this book would be the recent book by Alterman, which I haven't read.) Conason is far more interested in broad policy questions, while Franken's book, the most entertaining but a disorganized grab-bag, bounces unpredictably between media criticism, satire, and serious policy argument.

91 of 108 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars DAVID RHODES, PHONY., May 19, 2004

By A Customer

Let's nip this in the bud. David Rhodes has never read Brock's book but is simply attempting 'dirty tricks' for which the radical right wing is famous. See his host of other reviews, raves for Ann Coulter, etc. Phony balonies like Mr Rhodes are of course very much the subject of Brock's book -- and his outing of them, although part of a much larger and more comprehensive story, makes interesting reading. Buy this book and you will understand why right wing thugs like Mr Rhodes lurk on these message boards trying to subvert an open forum. It is all part of The Republican Noise Machine -- and their days are coming to an end.

30 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The liberals are losing the battle to get their story out, June 3, 2004

By	Uncle Elmer "tod3" (USA) - See all my reviews

David Brock details the successful efforts of conservatives to literally control the political dialogue in our country and how hapless the liberals have been to put forth a conherent message in the battle for ideas in modern day government.

Mr. Brock's arguments are done both honestly and with total attention to details. It is a fair lambasting of how pathetic the progressive/liberals have been to communicate through the media and how successful the right wingers have been in not only getting their word out but in taking over the Republican Party pushing out the gentlemen of the stripes of Bob Michel, Hugh Scott and so on who worked with Democrats and replaced these fine men with uncompromising ideologues like the Senate Majority Leader, Bill Frist.

What is scary about Mr. Brock's book is that he is right. What is worse is that the entire mess in Iraq is in part what is the fruit of one voice-the conservatives-dominating the airwaves and dialogue. This horrible fiasco can find it's root in a society where one voice acts unstopped and where a media has not done their job by questioning the party in power.

In fact, Sean Hannity often uses "the war" to call into question anyone who challanges the Bush Administration saying they are unpatriotic. This is called having your cake and eating it too for if the conservative voice is in power and makes mistakes they can silence their critics by invoking patriotism and continue to make mistakes unchecked.

Mr. Brock concludes his book by saying their is room for hope as the internet is a freeing voice in the total domination by the conservatives of the media. I hope he's right. This crazy war has taken so many lives and permanently damaged others that their must be a role for all political voices or else this democracy we all love is doomed. Really doomed.