Reply #15: WRAL is also one of the gateways for "news", mostly through AP

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WRAL and the Raleigh newspaper "The News & Observer" are two examples of the places that define what becomes MSM news. This is primarily because their stories then go out on the AP wire service and are then automatically part of thousands of other sites and quickly rise to the frontpage at Google News and similar sites.

The worst examples of this were back during the campaign where WRAL or N&O "reporting" on some rumor (e.g. Elizabeth Edwards was rude to her neighbors and is thus not like regular people) would be enough to kick it to the top of the national news cycle.

BTW for the Sibel Edmonds story to receive any national coverage, it somehow needs to appear somewhere that it will then go out on AP.