Thursday, April 26, 2018

At a range rights gathering, the press was in the crosshairs

Last Friday, in front of a small crowd of farmers and ranchers gathered in Modesto, California, U.S. Congressman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., said, “It’s a very dangerous time in our nation’s history ... The media is totally corrupt. They won’t cover the truth.” Referring to several reporters mixed in with the 40 or so attendees, he told the gathering, “The media that’s here, that’s covering this right now, I’m sure they’re here to mock you, make fun of you, call you cowpokes … They’re here to perpetuate their brand of politics, which is a socialist brand of politics.” To be heard, Nunes said, his listeners would need to circumvent the mainstream media...Over two days, several of the 24 speakers echoed Nunes’ derision of a “corrupt” and broken fourth estate. They urged attendees to share information through smart marketing and their own social media channels. As the distrust of mainstream media expands under the Trump administration, the symposium revealed how the four-decade-old Sagebrush Rebellion is making use of social media and alternative online sources to push its message..Some presenters cast distrust in mainstream media as an opportunity. “We are the new media,” Kimberly Fletcher, founder of a conservative advocacy group Home Makers for America, said in her speech on Saturday about how to craft resonant messaging around property rights and other issues...MORE

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