The Republican Noise Machine

Right-Wing Media and How It Corrupts Democracy

By: David Brock

Narrated by: Michael Kramer

In The Republican Noise Machine, David Brock skillfully documents perhaps the most important but least understood political development of the last thirty years: how the Republican Right has won political power and hijacked public discourse in the United States.

Brock, a former right-wing insider and the author of the New York Times bestseller Blinded by the Right, uses his keen understanding of the strategies, tactics, financing, and personalities of the American right wing to demonstrate how the once-fringe phenomenon of right-wing media has all but subsumed the regular media conversation, shaped the national consciousness, and turned American politics sharply to the right.

Brock documents how in the last several decades the GOP built a powerful media machine--newspapers and magazines, think tanks, talk radio networks, op-ed columnists, the FOX News Channel, Christian Right broadcasting, book publishers, and high-traffic internet sites--to sell conservatism to the public and discredit its opponents. This unabashedly biased multibillion-dollar communications empire disregards journalistic ethics and universal standards of fairness and accuracy, manufacturing "news" that is often bought and paid for by a tight network of corporate-backed foundations and old family fortunes. By dissecting the appeal, techniques, and reach of the booming right-wing media market, Brock demonstrates that it is largely based on bigotry, ignorance, and emotional manipulation closely tied to America’s longstanding cultural divisions and the buying power of anti-intellectual traditionalists.

From the disputed 2000 presidential election to the war with Iraq to the political battles of 2004, Brock's penetrating analysis of right-wing media theories and methodology reveals that the Republican Right views the media as an extension of a broader struggle for political power. By tracing the political impact of right-wing media, Brock shows how disproportionate conservative influence in the media is integrally linked to the Republican Right’s current domination of all three branches of government, to the propping up of the Bush administration, and to the inability of Democrats to voice their opposition to this political sea change or to compete on an even playing field.

As only an ex-conservative intimately familiar with the imperatives of the American right wing could, David Brock suggests ways in which concerned Americans can begin to redress the conservative ascendancy and cut through the propagandistic fog. Writing with verve and deep insight, he reaches far beyond typical bromides about media bias to produce an invaluable account of the rise of right-wing media and its political consequences. Promising to be the political book of the year, The Republican Noise Machine will transform the raging yet heretofore unsatisfying debate over the politics of the media for years to come.©2004 David Brock; (P)2004 Books on Tape

Critic reviews

“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

Show how the far right has been planning

This is a scary book in some ways. It goes into great detail, on how the republican party, since the time of Nixon has been working on undermining truthful and critical reporting on their party. How they have slowly been infiltrating the media and undermining truthful reporting and discouraging critical thinking, but pushing sensationalist headlines and stories. I highly recommend it.

Brock was an Insider

I love hearing insiders reports. He's got lots of facts because he lived the life. How much more can you ask from a writer than that?The is a great writer with loads of insight for those that truly want to evaluate both sides of the story. Highly recommended.

Better read than heard.

A difficult book to hear rather than read for two reasons. First and formost, there's so much data and so many names, not being able to underline, highlite or skim back over previous pages is a genuine handicap. Secondly, the reader reads everything with a kind of smirking, sarcastic tone that doesn't really appear to be called for by the text. With political nonfiction, I want to be sure I'm being convinced by the quality of the argument, not the tone of the voice -- and I'm someone generally inclined to side on the left.

A 4 star book (If you are a political junkie)

This book is only for political junkies. If you are not a real junkie, then start with Al Franken's Lies and the Lying Liars. The topic is similar and Al's is as serious but is shorter and funny too.

Mr Brock starts the book off with a nice 10 minute summary and then for the next 14 hours, explains how the Republican Noise Machine works. One of his first examples explains how President Nixon wanted to start the rumor that the media had a liberal bias. His slush fund was used to make a badly written book, that stated that the media had a liberal bias, be on the best sellers list. He quotes many studies that say there never was a liberal bias, in fact the opposite. But if the Noise Machine keeps saying anything enough, people believe it.

He continues with names and examples and examples of how this Machine works to dominate every aspect of our lives. Using a billion dollars, they support 1000's of writers, think tanks, talk radio shows, papers, magazines, Web sites and cable networks to get the Republican talking points heard.
They start by supporting conservative college papers and hire the writers and pay them well, to work at their conservative think tanks and publish articles based on the Republican talking points. Truth is NOT required.

Vast Right Wing Conspiracy is an understatement.

When I purchased the book from audible, it had a 1 star rating.
This is exactly what the book is about. The Republican Noise Machine
On Amazon the book has all 4 and 5 star ratings, except for one, 1 star rating. If you look at the user that gave the book a one star rating, you'll see he also gave Blinded by the Right, all Michael Moore's and Al Franken's books a 1 start rating. And funny, ANN COULTER books got a good rating.

Want to bet that the people who rated this book so far, didn't really read it.

An eye opening listen

Rather than refute this author, the facts are easily checked. David was an insider and knows that anything slightly left of extreme right is automatically considered liberal and will be attacked by the republican noise machine. David knows that a large part of America does it's best to tune the media out because of the constant color commentary, feeding it's own ego, and patting itself on the back. This book explains how the machine works and who the interconnected players are, (which may surprise some) by a person who was disconnected from the Right Wing Machine for being too journalistically accurate and irrefutably correct. Become amazed, It will put a smile on your face.