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SW: add "echo chamber" approach, ref, subhead
*[[Keep It Local New Jersey]]. Funding from [[New Jersey Telecommunications Associates]]; the WSJ indicates this is a coalition of various telecoms including [[Time Warner Cable]] and [[Cablevision Systems Corp.]]
*[[New Millennium Research Council]]. Funding from Verizon Communications Inc.
==Virtual astroturf (the "Echo Chamber" approach to advocacy)==
A 1998 memo, written by [[John Scruggs]] of [[Philip Morris Management Corporation]]'s Federal Government Affairs Office (lobbying office), describes a public relations technique that corporations use to dominate virtually the entire decisionmaking environment in which legislators operate. The "Echo Chamber Approach to Advocacy," as Scruggs describes it, involves making a chosen corporate message, or slight variations this message, emanate from virtually all major sources that influence legislators' decisionmaking: constituents, colleagues, opinion leaders, local and national media (TV, radio, newspapers), fundraisers, advertising, etc. Scruggs says "...[T]his repetition, or 'piling on' approach works" because the message emanates from those who have " 'the greatest degree of credibility' with the legislator."<ref>John Scruggs, Philip Morris Management Corp. [http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/xiz37c00 The "Echo Chamber" Approach to Advocacy] Memorandum. December 18, 1998. Bates No. 2078707451/7452 </ref>
==SourceWatch Case Studies==
*Joel Connelly, [http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/connelly/284607_joel11.html "Attack ads on judges paid for by fake PACs,"] ''Seattle Post-Intelligencer'', September 11, 2006.
==References==
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