June 25, 2007
A Liberal "Unfairness Principle"
National Review Online: Attempt To Force Balance In Talk Radio Is Wrongheaded
-
Photo
Conservative talk show hosts like Rush Limbaugh (right) have been more successful at garnering large audiences than are their liberal counterparts, such as Al Franken (left), who recently ended his show to run for Senate in Minnesota. (CBS/AP)
Remember Jim Hightower? We didn’t think so. He was the former Texas state official who was, for a few minutes, the Left’s great hope for a liberal talk-radio host to challenge the domination of Rush Limbaugh. It didn’t work out. Neither did former New York governor Mario Cuomo, another failed radio talker. And neither did, most recently, Air America, the attempt to build an entire network of liberal talk.
Nothing has worked too successfully for liberal political talkers. Rush, Sean Hannity, and Laura Ingraham, among others, are as dominant as ever. The only thing that has changed is that liberals now seem less interested in challenging conservative talk radio in the marketplace than in strangling it with government regulation. And that presents a much greater threat than another misguided attempt to find the liberal Limbaugh.
A new blueprint for a government takedown of conservative talk radio comes from the liberal think tank Center for American Progress, founded and run by former Clinton White House chief of staff John Podesta. In a report entitled, “The Structural Imbalance of Political Talk Radio ,” the Center outlines a plan that would, if implemented, do enormous damage not only to conservatives on talk radio, but to freedom of speech as well.
Surveying 257 stations owned by the top-five commercial station groups, the report’s authors found the unsurprising news that 91 percent of total weekday talk programming is conservative, and just nine percent “progressive.” Rather than attribute that imbalance to the generally conceded superiority of conservative programming — most radio professionals would tell you that Rush Limbaugh is simply better at what he does than any of the liberal opponents who have tried to compete with him — the report finds a deeper, more sinister case. “The gap between conservative and progressive talk radio,” it concludes, “is the result of multiple structural problems in the U.S. regulatory system. “ According to Podesta’s Center, those structural problems can only be solved by government action.
The report proposes new national and local limits on the number of radio stations one company can own. For another, it recommends a de facto quota system to ensure that more women and minorities own radio stations. And finally, it says the government should “require commercial owners who fail to abide by enforceable public interest obligations to pay a fee to support public broadcasting.”
The two-for-the-price-of-one attempt to have the government both stifle voices that don’t meet “enforceable public interest obligations” while raising money for government broadcasting is certainly a worthwhile strategy for the Left. Not for free speech and free markets, however.
In addition, the report claims that the Fairness Doctrine — the government rule that, before it was repealed in 1987, required broadcasters to present opposing viewpoints on controversial public issues — might not really be dead, and thus might not have to be reestablished by Congress. Instead, a new administration might simply decide to enforce it again. That point is highly debatable, but it wouldn’t be surprising if President Clinton, President Obama, or President Edwards were to give it a try.
The fact is, liberals simply haven’t attracted talk-radio audiences. It’s not their market. But since they still largely have Hollywood, academia, the New York Times, PBS, NPR, a network news division or two … they’ll survive. And we on the Right will, too, if we keep the Center for American Progress’s dangerously wrongheaded ideas off the table.
By the editors of National Review Online
Reprinted with permission from National Review Online.
| America's Premier Site for Conservative News, Analysis, and Opinion. |
Video and Galleries from Opinion
-
Video
Robert McNamara's Life
-
Video
Ginuwine On Jackson
-
Video
Andy Sheds Some Clothes
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- next
See all 202 CommentsYes, Rush Limbaugh is better than any of his liberal opponents. Better at lying, misdirection, whining and hipocrasy. People are attracted to the outrageous and the ridiculous - sort of like the attention a traffic accident receives as people drive by.
Rush is real. huh? Like saying drug addicts should be sent to prison despite being a druggie himself? He was all for the government looking into people's phone records, but not HIS medical records.
And conservatives whine constantly.
"oh, that liberal media is out to get us"
"oh, those liberal juges are out to get us"
"oh, those liberal professors are ruining our kids"
By the way, most of the liberal talkers make no bones about their liberalism.
You hit the nail on the head. Well said.
If people are stupid enough to listen to the lies of Rush, I don't have a big problem with that. The scariest and saddest is when they listen to Fox. "Fair and Balanced" my a..
They try and come across as a "new outlet". They are just another right-wing noise maker. But people think they speak the truth.
Our country is in terrible trouble. Hopefully, if it gets bad enough, American's will wake up to the garbage they have been fed.
I've heard libs like Al Franken correct errors from previous shows all the time. When was the last time ol' Rush-bo corrected an error of his? Has he EVER corrected an error?
The truth is, righties like Rush and Hannity get far more lattitude in their ourageousness. Don Imus had his nuts ripped off over what he said, but Rush has skits ten times as worst and no one says cr@p.
Besides, I prefer to have some comedy as an alternative to music sometimes, on the way to or from work, so I just tune in to rush.
Radio is popular with republicans, enabling them to broadcast to the hills and middle or nowhere.
He is kind of funny, like how when he makes fun of Ted Kennedy's liver (the whole time Rush was spending 50 grand a month on synthetic morphine!)
Its always good to know what the hypocrites are saying these days. That way you know what dirty little secrets they'll be hiding tomorrow.
The network exposes neo.con and right wing hypocrisy on a daily basis. Using truth and logic they shed a bright light of the conservative movement's failure of leadership. Sticking to the facts they avoid the kind of low blow attacks and hate speech perpetrated by folks like Rush and company.
They particularly like it when the neocons talk about all the entitlement programs with a wink wink nod nod toward the black community. I guess that makes them feel better about collecting government checks because their kids are hyper. Number four on the way!!! Cha ching!
But seriously, if you're going to regulate the right-wingers, need to do something about the unregulated money and BS coming from liberal 527s like MoveOn.org as well....personally, I say let them all spout BS (conservative talk radio and MoveOn.org); knowing whoever believes either of them as legitimate sources of info has bigger mental issues than can be cured with "regulation". But no way the left can claim the right has a monopoly, or even advantage, in the media...
The network exposes neo.con and right wing hypocrisy on a daily basis. Using truth and logic they shed a bright light of the conservative movement's failure of leadership. Sticking to the facts they avoid the kind of low blow attacks and hate speech perpetrated by folks like Rush and company. "
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAH - that is one of the funniest posts I have ever read...left-wing radio and blogging is JUST as guilty (and in many cases worse) as any right-wing radio; "truth", "facts" - the left-wing bloggers and Air America hosts wouldn't know it if it kicked them in the face!!
You have to wonder though, how much Limbaugh believes his own schtick. Or is it all entertainment?
Methinks it's the conservative who are a little unsure of their own political philosophy and need constant reinforcement.
Education is the key. And for a lot of really stupid people, they consider Rush Limbaugh educational.
Have to laugh that the NRO can't even do an article on this topic without distorting the first image you see when reading it.
Of course he was still bombed when the photo was taken, so he looks pretty dang happy!
"Rush Limbaugh surrendered to the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office in April 2006 after being charged with doctor shopping. According to investigators, the 55-year-old Limbaugh bounced from doctors in a bid to secure multiple prescriptions for powerful painkillers like OxyContin. "In a settlement with Florida prosecutors, the felony case against the conservative radio star will be dropped in 18 months if Limbaugh continues to undergo addiction counseling and is not arrested again. He also agreed to pay about $30,000 in fines and court costs."
Folks instead of flinging mud at each other - why don't you decide to get out from behind your retorical barracades and actually listen to the other side.
If you choose to listen to only what agrees with your opinion your not doing your duty as a citizen and making sound judgements on information. In fact your allowing the strategic planners of the left and the right to use you for their own reward.
Like I always say, keep your friends close and your enemies closer!
If you want keep abreast of the administration's daily "talking points" (probably fed directly from Cheney's office -- behind lickers like Limbaugh and Hannity are the place to go.
Like I always say, keep your friends close and your enemies closer!
If you want keep abreast of the administration's daily "talking points" (probably fed directly from Cheney's office -- behind lickers like Limbaugh and Hannity are the place to go.
I like listening to the neocon talking heads sometimes. It reaffirms my faith in their imminent demise.
Posted by connapa at 03:54 PM : Jun 25, 2007
I agree. Get that a$$hole Olberman off of MSNBC now!
There's no reason CBS should report "Franken's radio station went bankrupt and nobody listened to it anyway."
For that kind of reporting, you need to plug your head into Fox News' butt.
I am regular listener to NPR and I am always aware of the even handed coverage they give to social and political issues. I have listened to many call in programs and interviews where the host of the program will challenge BOTH representatives of the opposing view, requiring them to provide hard facts to support their positions.
You don't have that on Rush. I have the distinct impression that everyone is screened to provide a) those who support the ultra right wing view or b) some truly clueless dolt with no real sense of what is being discussed who can be shot down and humiliated for every dittohead's amusement.
What is at stake is a a true dialogue about what needs to be done and where we need to go to get this country on the right track. Unfortunately, I have come to believe that the right wing talk channels are more interested in cheap shots than effective solutions.
Posted by jimmyc1955
I did listen to Rush Limbaugh once. I could not believe educated American's with a brain actually listen to this fat toad daily spewing his guts out with hate. After that one time I quit listening to his slop. I have a higher opinion of myself than talk shows like Limbaugh provide. I am a firm believer that's the biggest thing wrong with this country. To many people listen to that kind of venom daily, it has warped their minds and turned them into bitter, hatefilled, miserable human beings. It becomes like a sickness eating away at a society. But, at the same time, I do not believe in censorship. The way to censor people like him is the way I do it. DON'T LISTEN!
The other half of what he says belongs in the toilet.
Rush ought to be able to say whatever he wants and I ought to be able to call him anything I want.
This is still America, I think...
How many radio stations are there in say any one of the top 50 major markets in the US, tens if not 50+ in many.
So because Rush and Hannity (and though I am conservative I can't listen to them either) have a solid and growing market share your suggesting that ownership should be GIVEN to others so they can broadcast different opinions???
This isn't a fairness issue - and hiding it under a diversity flag won't fly. This is quashing free speech - pure and simple. Besides the Supreme court overturned alot of the 3rd party advertising issues so this will be even harder to justify.
The thing that needs to be remembered above all is that the tv and radio airwaves belong to the whole public, and small investment groups that represent alternate viewpoints should have every right to access as big-money private industry. Our loss of public control of the airwaves began when the industry got Reagan to go along with killing the mandatory public service requirements and it's been all downhill from then.
I'm not sure I agree.
Most liberals (I hate that term) don't need a pack mentality, a rally, or constant reinforcement of their values.
Conservatism is as much a religion as conservative Christianity these days, and sadly they are inseparable. Like preaching in church, ideas need to be reinforced. Ideals kept in line. No deviation allowed.
People who like Rush, in my opinion, use his show as a reinforcement of "group think"- where they don't have to *think* about points they don't agree with. They just have to learn how to refute those points, and only to the satisfaction of other conservatives.
So you never have an honest debate. In fact, conservative talk show hosts, and many conservatives consider liberals "mentally ill".
So if you have to measure just how marginal the group-think is in what passes for conservative values today- just take a look at the "mentally ill" hyperbole.
Most people do not think other people are mentally ill for disagreeing. But some do- and that is truly sick.
* If it's news, there is no opinion attached to it.
* If it's an opinion piece, say the news and then saw how bad or how great it is.
* As for the news, don't hide or alter it due to a personal or someone else's ("paid for") agenda.
* Keep personal attacks constrained. It's about the issue, not the person being misguided. (9 times out of 10, there are certain exceptions.)
I agree 100% with ianlou that Rush (and anybody else) can say what they want. We're not obligated to take it as Gospel. (And Rush isn't always wrong either, nor is he always right.)
What does Limbaugh represent ? This sad excuse for a man that takes *** vacations and has his illegal alien hired help fetch his Viagra meds for him ? He represents the current BEST that we can expect to come from the perverse bowels of the Republicrap Party - the Party of Lincoln - the party where a cross-eyed, inbred mormon zealot son of thirteen incestuous generations of inbreeders is the current front runner for the Presidential candidacy.
Talk radio is as dead as Ronald Reagan's sad, tired, clapped-out ***. And smells just as rotten, too.
Get real, CBS - The Republicunt Party - and Limbaugh - are not relevant in today's society.
Stop trying to make them so by running inane articles like this one.
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- next
See all 202 Comments