The tactic of accusing the opponent of being or doing exactly what the accuser actually is or is doing.
Since the first impression is often the most decisive one in shaping a narrative, it effectively weakens any counter-accusation that opposers might make against the mainstream institutions, and is therefore very effective in promoting a completely inverted narrative where the victims become offenders and the offenders are seen as saviors.
It is one of the most powerful and widely used tactics in the mainstream media rhetoric arsenal.
Typical examples:
Institutional behavior: Spreading unsubstantiated or even demonstrabily false claims through television, radio and newspapers, manipulating public opinion through slogans and propaganda, etc.
Mediatic rhetoric: Accusing dissenters of spreading "misinformation" or "fake-news"
Institutional behavior: Rejecting scientific evidence against official stances, persecuting dissenting scientists, hiding or dismissing inconvenient studies, promoting blind faith in authority, etc.
Mediatic rhetoric: Accusing dissenters of being "anti-science"
Institutional behavior: Corroding democratic participation, withdrawing more and more rights and freedoms, promote top-down control of society by an unaccountable elite, etc.
Mediatic rhetoric: Accusing dissenters of being "a danger to democracy"
Institutional behavior: Discriminating and ridiculing dissenters, describing them as either evil or crazy, treating them as a threat against civilized society, etc.
Mediatic rhetoric: Accusing dissenters of engaging in "hate speech"