Get FREE BuzzFlash News Alerts

Email:  
Home

Sue Wilson: Right-Wing Media Ambush

Submitted by BuzzFlash on Tue, 09/15/2009 - 8:42am.

BUZZFLASH GUEST COMMENTARY
by Sue Wilson

I was strolling through my local county fair this summer, a small fair, a friendly fair, where cows, sheep, and pigs outnumber food vendors.

The Republican booth caught my eye, but not because of the red, white, and blue decorations. What caught my eye was the sign they'd posted, the sign that summed up the one key issue of importance to local Republicans.

What would it be in this raucous political summer of 2009? Anger over bailouts, fear over death panels? No. The number one issue for Amador County Republicans: "Save Talk Radio."

I hadn't realized that the industry that just signed a $400 million contract with Rush Limbaugh needed saving, but they thought so; they even had a petition to save it. Sponsored by a group called "First Amendment Now," the petition read:

"We hold dearly our right to freedom of speech and the right for others to express their views. We believe that Government should stand aside rather than stand in the way of the discussion of ideas. We believe that because the First Amendment should be about freedom of choice.

"Therefore, we the undersigned oppose all efforts of any Government to limit, censor, or restrict in any way our unfettered right to free speech on our radios, televisions, the Internet or any other medium."

Wow, I thought, a Republican petition that I can really get behind! Then I read on:

"We reject any effort to institute (1) the "Fairness Doctrine" or (2) "localism", which in its various forms seeks to establish local committees of "community leaders" to determine if talk radio is "reflecting" the views of the community, or (3) a quota system for ownership of radio stations -- or any variance of any of those."

In other words, they advocate free speech for giant corporations, but not for local people. Hmmn.

I wondered how pervasive petitions such as these might be. It turns out there are many such petitions online, promoted by groups much more familiar than "First Amendment Now." So many, in fact, that they have amassed an army of more than a half a million to silence local views.

The Christian Coalition:

"They want to pass what is known as the "Fairness Doctrine", which is nothing more than a way for the federal government to demand that all broadcasters must give "equal time" to all points of view."

Equal time to all points of view? What a radical concept.

The Family Research Council:

"We need to be aware, however, that liberals may achieve their ends without passing legislation, or even without a new FCC "fairness" rule. They could do it by requiring a fixed amount of local content for radio."

Local content on local airwaves? It must be a Communist plot.

It is easy to dismiss these petitions as fringe. But postings from the Free Speech Alliance reveal something greater:

1. Obama's FCC will use "localism," "diversity of media ownership," and serving the "public interest" as a backdoor "Fairness" Doctrine.

2. We must make any attempt by Obama's FCC to silence talk radio a political third rail, one that the Administration or Congress dare not touch.

3. We will defend talk radio from these governmental assaults on their industry, and build further the case for free speech in all things.

"The Left dominates every medium of news delivery, save for talk radio. And they can't stand it, so they want to wipe it off the media map."

The Free Speech Alliance is an arm of Brent Bozell's Media Research Center, which for years has been claiming liberal bias in the media with little evidence to back up the claim. This group has been quietly building an army to support corporate owned media and to squelch local voices.

"MRC's Free Speech Alliance -- with 69 organizations now involved -- seeks to build the largest possible grassroots Alliance army. So far, we have over 550,000 members, but we need the maximum number possible to go to war when free speech is threatened."

Among the 69 groups in support are: Accuracy in Media, American Conservative Union, National Taxpayers Union, National Religious Broadcasters, Family Research Council, Focus on the Family, World Net Daily, Salem Communications, and Clear Channel.

The creator of the Free Speech Alliance is Seton Motley, the same Seton Motley who is appearing on Glenn Beck's show to target FCC Chief Diversity Officer Mark Lloyd with fabrications about his suggestions in the Center for American Progress/ Free Press study the Structural Imbalance of Talk Radio to give local people more control over what they get on their radio stations. (To see an interview with Mark Lloyd on that report, see the film Broadcast Blues, or see a clip of the conversation at www.broadcastblues.tv. )

It is clear that the "right" has been quietly assembling troops and is now mounting their attack, an attack largely unanticipated by media reformers, an attack now staged on "conservative" talk radio and TV (not that there is anything conservative about opposing localism.) Their dominance over radio, where "conservatives" outnumber "liberals" by nine to one, means their army is growing every single day, while the other side didn't even know there was going to be a fight.

An army of 550,000 from county fairs and the Internet. How many more will there be now that recruitment has shifted to the airwaves?

And who will stand ready to fight back?

Shortly after Barack Obama was sworn in as President last January, as Brad Friedman reported at the time, the new White House Web site Technology page signaled a hopeful change, and a call to re-examine the oversight of our public airwaves:

Encourage Diversity in Media Ownership: Encourage diversity in the ownership of broadcast media, promote the development of new media outlets for expression of diverse viewpoints, and clarify the public interest obligations of broadcasters who occupy the nation's spectrum.

A few months later, after the campaign from the right had kicked into full gear, charging that liberals were trying to prevent free speech on the radio, the paragraph was quietly removed from the White House Web site.

So I ask again... who will stand ready to fight back and in favor of real free speech on our public airwaves?

BUZZFLASH GUEST COMMENTARY

Sue Wilson is the Producer/Director of "Broadcast Blues."




»

FCC and the DoJ

Submitted by Dteacher1 on Thu, 09/17/2009 - 4:16pm.

Who will fight for real free speech on our public airwaves?  If the head of the FCC had any manhood between the legs and a backbone then it will happen very fast.  With the DoJ lawyers on his side there are provisions in the licensure that require that stations/networks operate for the public good and to truthfully report the news.  Failing to do this the FCC should file suit and fine the offenders for inciting and advocating violence on "our" airwaves along with the many incidences of false reporting.  If this doesn't work then pull the plug by revoking their license.  All it will take is just get one and the others will change what they are doing to keep on the air.  This would also help the economy as this would spur the creation of several smaller networks to fill the void.

»

Rahm Emanuel and the Obama WH are ROBBING us of the pushback...

Submitted by veritas on Tue, 09/15/2009 - 2:44pm.

Rahm Emanuel and the Obama White House  are ROBBING us of the PUSHBACK  we DEMOCRATIC MAJORITY  voters DESERVE, for working our tails off to put obama in the White House, and surround him with all his damn  "Blue Dog"  DINO ("Democrat in name only")  Republican-lites.

  ALL  the White House would have to do to DOUBLE, TRIPLE their media exposure and PR FIREPOWER, is  TAKE the most atrocious  FOX 'news' SOUNDBITES of the day...  and RAM THEM BACK in Murdoch's  FACE !!

  If Murdoch's blonde bimbo minions say "Obama-care is SOCIALISM and means 'DEATH PANELS'!"  -   TAKE THEIR WORDS to the WH press conference, and TELL AMERICANS that WE HAVE "DEATH PANELS" - called INSURANCE executives REJECTING HEALTH-CARE PROCEDURES,  and tell the American public  "WE ALREADY HAVE SOCIALIZED  Health-Care",  as of RIGHT NOW,   employees, employers, and self-employed American workers must withhold  2.9% - taxes -

 -   NEARLY 3% of EVERY DOLLAR EARNED in America - TO  MEDICARE withholding  !!!!

  But Medicare only picks up those OVER 65 years old.   That means the INSURANCE INDUSTRY PROFITS from HEALTHIER, YOUNGER Americans,  while WE  SUBSIDIZE the Insurance blood-suckers DUMPING  the elderly -  THE MOST COSTLY health-care group out there - onto taxpayers who are funding  Medicare.

  EMANUEL & obama ARE NOT EVEN TRYING to make this argument !!

  WHY??   Why  is Rahm Emanuel BETRAYING  MILLIONS upon MILLIONS upon MILLIONS of Democratic voters?

    answer-  For the same reason the NY Times  WHITEWASH  the 9-12 "Teaparty" protesters!    note how this NYT  Teaparty protest article  frames the tea-party protesters IN THE MOST FAVORABLE LIGHT possible:  http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/13/us/politics/13protestweb.html

   Out of a dozen paragraphs, the Times article spends one lousy sentence on the CRAZIES and their GUNS, swastikas, and DEATH IMAGERY of the protests.   The Times paints DICK ARMEY in favorable light, CONVENIENTLY FORGETING that DICK ARMEY and PHIL GRAMM were THE REPUBLICANS MOST RESPONSIBLE for the "KILL Glass-Steagall"  DEREGULATION atrocities.

  This is the NY Times AND  Washington Post's  STOCK IN TRADE:  PAINT Republicans in THE MOST FAVORABLE, "patriotic,"  "defending against tax-and-spend Democrats" light possible,  while PAINTING  Democrats as the party of uppity minorities and entitled social-welfare queens and "out of touch" bureaucrats. 

    WHY would RAHM EMANUEL,  the NY Times, and the Washington Post ALL SABOTAGE a SANE, forceful,  well-spoken Democratic CONFRONTATION of the LIES  the the Right-Wing hate-baiters, who have FOUR MURDEROUS GUNMEN to their credit  in the past 18 months??

  (On the Ed show on MSNBC last night,  Ed posted a video clip of Rush Limbaugh claiming TWO MILLION protesters on the mall, where the DC fire department puts the number at closer to 60,000... an ABJECT FLOP considering the MILLIONS $$  that corporate Right-Wing astro-turf lobbies pumped in to pump up the protests.)

  Answer: because the NY TIMES, Washington  POST, Rahm Emanuel, and Goldman-Sachs are ALL LIKUDNIKS who SUPPORT US WARS in the Mideast.. and they well KNOW that the RIGHT-WING CRAZIES are the SHOCK TROOPS, and CORE VOTERS, of the PRO-WAR Republican Party....  without whom  SUPPORT FOR THE US WARS in Iraq & Afghanistan would COLLAPSE in a NY minute.

  (Here, Iran-Contra breaking journalist Robert Parry - CENSORED, EXILED by the WashPost & NY Times  from Washington media   for having the temerity to BREAK the  "SECRET REPUBLICAN Iran-Contra WARS in South America" story in the 1980s,  spills the beans on the VERY Neo-Con, Likudnik dominated Washington Post:   http://www.consortiumnews.com/2009/031509.html

  Here, Wikipedia outlines the LIKUDNIK HATE and events of  Israel Prime Minister Rabin trying to pass the Oslo Peace accords... LEADING DIRECTLY to RABIN's ASSASSINATION by a young Likdunik follower -  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Yitzhak_Rabin

     Needless to say, the above comments will be considered "outrageous" here at Buzzflash.

  OK - SO.  WHERE are the NY Times "reporter" questions, 

 #1.  "IF this is a HEALTH-CARE PROTEST,  what will you, Mr. & Mrs. Protester, do IF YOU ARE LAID OFF FROM YOUR JOB, and LOSE your company health-care?" 

  and, 

#2.  "DID YOU KNOW that YOU ALREADY PAY almost THREE PERCENT of your earnings TO support Medicare... you just DON'T GET TO USE IT until you are 65,  SO THE INSURANCE COMPANIES can MILK the HEALTHIEST portion of the population for their insurance profits?"

  THESE are questions that RAHM EMANUEL,  the NY TIMES, the Washington POST, CNN, and other "major media" are NOT  asking, even as they pour COLUMNS of ink covering the Tea-Party crazies !!!

 

»

STOP IGNORING Right-Wing HATE RADIO INCITING MURDERS!

Submitted by veritas on Tue, 09/15/2009 - 3:01pm.

Speaking of "DEATH PANELS,"  just today on the Thom Hartmann radio show,  Thom explained that

Crystal Lee Sutton, 68:  the South Carolina Union Activist who  inspired Sally Field's character in the movie "Norma Rae," died of cancer... after her health-insurance company DENIED CARE for two months that might have prolonged her life http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/695750
 
  Here's the DEATH TOTAL of the RIGHT-WING GUNMEN of the past dozen+ months.. that the NY TIMES, WASHINGTON POST, and other "major media" REFUSE to CONNECT and put in one comment! 
 #1. Arkansas Dem. Party Chairman Bill Gwaltney SHOT AND KILLED by a Right-Wing gunman
 #2.  Another RIGHT-WING GUNMAN went to the Knoxville Unitarian Universalist Church one Sunday morning... INTENDING to SHOOT & KILL  EVERY man, woman and child in the church, before he was stopped by a courageous victim who took the full blast of a shotgun, allowing other church members to wrestle the gunman and get his gun away.  http://www.wbko.com/news/headlines/25972734.html
#3.  THIS year, another Right-Wing gunman attempted to shoot up the Holocaust museum
#4. ANOTHER Right-Wing GUNMAN  shot and killed Doctor George Tiller in his Kansas Church.
 
  Of the above,  two - the Holocaust shooter & the Knoxville Church shooter - TRIED TO DUPLICATE  TIMMMY McVEIGH and ERIC RUDOLPH's MASS-MURDER BODYCOUNTS.
 
    While some might say "but the Holocaust Shooter targeted a museum dedicated to Jewish victims",  that still does not negate that  THE NY TIMES AND  Washington Post REFUSE to CONNECT THE DOTS between THESE RIGHT-WING, HATE-RADIO INCITED GUNMEN, and their INNOCENT AMERICANS KILLED  death tolls!
 
   

Did Right-Wing Shock Jocks Motivate Knoxville Killer?

  Posted by Joshua Holland, AlterNet at 7:00 AM on July 29, 2008.

 
  and - wiki -  BERNARD GOLDBERG and MICHAEL SAVAGE books were among those found in home of Tennessee MASS-MURDER attempting gunman  Jim David Adkisson:
 
 

The following books were found in Adkisson's home during a police search:[8]

In his manifesto, Adkisson also included the Democratic members of the House and Senate,[10] and the 100 People Who Are Screwing Up America [10] of Bernard Goldberg in his list of wished-for targets.

 
»

Hate talk radio

Submitted by Oldwoman on Tue, 09/15/2009 - 11:46am.

Oldwoman would inform one and all that radio hate talk was the genesis of the Rwandan massacre. Further, here in our country I have learned from a mini-survey I conducted that Fox watchers believe theirs is the only factual news, that the others are biased. I have also experienced shouting and screaming for merely saying I prefer no TV in waiting rooms. Fox has so thoroughly indoctrinated its listeners that they believe it is the one and only way. Incredibly, some of Fox's greatest devotees are highly educated professionals. (Of course, Fox's stated goal from the beginning was to spread its own agenda.)

Coupled with the likes of Limbaugh and Beck working to convince listeners that the Democrats are coming to get you and to take all you've got, we have an audience being driven to mindless insanity and incendiary behavior, all so the rich media may make more money and their listeners have less and less, apparently to the delight of both.

Incredible!

»

Fox News viewers

Submitted by SpikeHeels on Tue, 09/15/2009 - 6:44pm.

I tried to have a sane discussion with some Fox News viewers a few months ago.  Each and every one of them firmly believed that only Fox told the truth.  They came to that conclusion because other media outlets had different "facts" and always got the story wrong.  Fox always had the "correct news" and they even claimed that Fox is "fair and balanced" because Fox says it is - Fox would never lie to them! They all believed that the "liberal media" was out to destroy Fox because Fox was the only news organization that would dare to tell the "real truth" (whatever that is).

When I tried to point out the lapses in their logic they all got upset with me and told me that I had been brainwashed by the liberal media.  They were truly a frightening crew but all educated and middle class.

»

The "liberal" label on corporate media

Submitted by nightingale on Tue, 09/15/2009 - 9:54am.

What this piece does not mention, and what is mentioned all too infrequently, is that there is another level to the media game.  Talk radio consistently provides extremely conservative, or one might even say fascist, perspectives on virtually every type of governmental or social policy.  The mainstream corporate media consistently provides conservative, though usually not extremely conservative, perspectives on virtually all issues of foreign or domestic policy.  However, the mainstream corporate media, with a more upscale and more urban target audience, provides moderately liberal perspectives on the social/cultural issues, and this is what the far right uses as a basis to label the mainstream media as "liberal." 

Huge corporations control talk radio and other huge corporations with basically the same interests control mainstream corporate media, and both sets of corporations support similar policies in economic and foreign affairs.  Through this control these corporations shape the opinions, in part by restricting the range of opinions, of the great majority of US citizens on economic and foreign policy.  They also intensify the conflict, whether intentionally or inadvertently, between social liberals and social conservatives and this serves too often to define and limit the political debates and distract as well as divide the public.

So it might not be easy to convince a devoted listener of talk radio that the mainstream corporate media is not "liberal."  It may be easier and more helpful to convince such an individual that huge corporations should not be able to monopolize the airwaves.

 

»

Too much credit

Submitted by rwsandersii on Tue, 09/15/2009 - 1:58pm.

Nightingale,

I appreciate the fact that you are engaging in a reasoned discussion, but I think you give too much credit to the consumers of this garbage.   I believe they want things their way (even if they don't know exactly what that is and wouldn't like it if they had it) and don't want any other view aired. 

I can only speak to this from personal experience, but when I lived in the SF Bay area (I lived on Alameda), I expected "liberal" news.  It wasn't.  Check out the chronicle sometime.  There is commentary and stuff in the entertainment section that would make a conservative scream (and secretly come back for more), but the news and editorial section were maddeningly slanted to the right. 

So why do they see media as "liberal"?  It is because they are so simple-minded they convolute entertainment media with news media.  I was discussing this on a yahoo group and shut down a very pro-war idiot by pointing this out.  He had no counter-point. 

So we have a very intentionally stupid (I believe the correct word is fatuous), racist, greedy group out there who are so dumb they can't discern one form of media from another and can't even vote in their own best interest.  I haven't had any success pointing out that the pundits they worship make huge salaries to promote the corporate agenda. 

Bill Maher said it best, they don't care about facts.  They want what feels right at the time.  They are destroying our country and I have yet to hear of a reasonable way to stop it. 

Richard

»

A free and fair Media is needed for a Democracy

Submitted by Obsidian on Tue, 09/15/2009 - 9:49am.

My own opinion is that giving Equal time to all points of view, and having Local content on local airwaves.....these are ESSENTIAL to the functioning of a Democracy.

Most of the problems with America today can be traced to the lack of all points of view in the Media. 

A good handbook for Media reform is Deborah Tanne's __The Argument Culture: Stopping America's War of Words__ (which used have the subtitle:  "Moving from debate to dialogue").

BTW, the same process is happening with Alternative religious viewpoints...the Fundamentalist Christian Right is trying to shut down other religions' points of view by crying and saying "poor us." 

That is a Control Drama, and they are trying to Control our energy and take it for their own.  It's up to us to stop the Control Drama and start to give our energy VOLUNTARILY to those who deserve it.

http://www.meaningoflife.i12.com/dramas.htm

http://www.planetdeb.net/spirit/cvovercoming.htm

»

Pawns of Big Business

Submitted by Tom S Cedar Mill on Tue, 09/15/2009 - 9:38am.

Is there NO way to convince these dolts that they are pawns of Big Business? 

»

There is NO way

Submitted by Malgoska on Tue, 09/15/2009 - 9:50am.

Big Business' not-so-subtle genetic manipulations resulted on the population of dolts. Their main characteristics are: dimwittedness, shortsightedness, not being able to tell the difference between make-believe world and reality. They are easily programmable drones, ready to do any and all bidding of their corporate masters, all the while believing that they are free to do what they want, and they are doing all this of their own, free will.
I wonder if Monsanto was involved in this breeding program, and whether or not Dolt Syndrome is contagious. Just in case, when you spot a dolt, depart hastily and don't stop until you're out of eye- and ear-shot. Wearing mask probably does not do the trick.

»