"Not only are major news organisations rolling out blogs of their own, but in the past 12 months the influence of bloggers over their print, television and radio counterparts has grown massively," observes Paul Carr. "Consider a decision made by organisers of this year's Democratic National Convention (DNC), next month in Boston.

"In their widely quoted book Weapons of Mass Deception, Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber argued in 2003 that the U.S. government used the shock of the 9/11 attacks to justify an invasion of Iraq. Bush counter-terrorism coordinator Richard Clarke further denounces President George Bush for using the attacks as a pretext for the war in his book Against All Enemies published last March. For propaganda expert Nancy Snow ...

Michael Crowley looks at the Media Fund and Americans Coming Together (ACT), two liberal 527 committees who may spend as much as $150 million before Nov. 2 in an attempt to defeat George W. Bush. Although they are officially nonpartisan, 527s - used by both parties - use a loophole in election laws to get around limits on "soft money" spending by political parties.