Post by discoberry on Aug 27, 2011 12:11:39 GMT -5
This is an interview with the reports authors Eli Clifton & Wajahat Ali, it contains a link to the full 140 page report. Personally, I am waiting to read an abridged version in the Sunday NY Times.
Here is a snippet:
www.salon.com/news/islam/index.html?story=%2Fpolitics%2Fwar_room%2F2011%2F08%2F27%2Fislamophobia_report
Here is a snippet:
You say in the report that you did not find a "vast right-wing conspiracy" to spread Islamophobia. So what did you find?
Eli Clifton: That's right. It's not a conspiracy; it's not an overwhelming sum of money. And this is not something that runs across the entire conservative spectrum. What we're seeing is a relatively modest amount of money and a relatively small number of people and major donors that make up this echo chamber. It's a good object lesson in how one influences public opinion and media messaging. As one section of the report explores, how do you get a sound bite turned into a truth accepted by the public?
How does that happen?
Ali: There are five major players who we call the central nervous system of the Islamophobia network. They're primarily responsible for creating the talking points and manufacturing the messages and memes that get distributed and mainstreamed via the network. The second aspect of it is the grass-roots organizations and the religious right. Examples include Act for America, Eagle Forum and Stop Islamization of America. They take these talking points -- such as, "Shariah is a legal-political-military doctrine that will supplant the United States Constitution" -- and promote them. Then these ideas -- such as "Obama may be a Muslim," "Shariah is a threat," "mosques are Trojan Horses" -- are mainstreamed through a media megaphone. That's primarily Fox News but also radio shows like Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh and websites like WorldNetDaily, FrontPageMag and JihadWatch. Finally, we see how these talking points are used by mainstream politicians, as we've seen in the Republican presidential primary this year.
Eli Clifton: That's right. It's not a conspiracy; it's not an overwhelming sum of money. And this is not something that runs across the entire conservative spectrum. What we're seeing is a relatively modest amount of money and a relatively small number of people and major donors that make up this echo chamber. It's a good object lesson in how one influences public opinion and media messaging. As one section of the report explores, how do you get a sound bite turned into a truth accepted by the public?
How does that happen?
Ali: There are five major players who we call the central nervous system of the Islamophobia network. They're primarily responsible for creating the talking points and manufacturing the messages and memes that get distributed and mainstreamed via the network. The second aspect of it is the grass-roots organizations and the religious right. Examples include Act for America, Eagle Forum and Stop Islamization of America. They take these talking points -- such as, "Shariah is a legal-political-military doctrine that will supplant the United States Constitution" -- and promote them. Then these ideas -- such as "Obama may be a Muslim," "Shariah is a threat," "mosques are Trojan Horses" -- are mainstreamed through a media megaphone. That's primarily Fox News but also radio shows like Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh and websites like WorldNetDaily, FrontPageMag and JihadWatch. Finally, we see how these talking points are used by mainstream politicians, as we've seen in the Republican presidential primary this year.
www.salon.com/news/islam/index.html?story=%2Fpolitics%2Fwar_room%2F2011%2F08%2F27%2Fislamophobia_report
