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Nation's Gun Lobby Creating News Company
Customwire.AP.org ^ | 04/15/2004 | Sharon Theimer

Posted on 04/15/2004 3:26:37 PM PDT by GeneD

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The nation's gun lobby is creating an "NRA news" company that will produce a daily talk show for the Internet, buy a radio station and seek a television deal to spread its gun-rights message nationwide.

Looking for the same legal recognition as mainstream news organizations, the National Rifle Association says it has already hired its first reporter, a conservative talk radio host from Oklahoma. NRANews.com plans to start online broadcasts Friday.

The NRA is taking the step to operate free of political spending limits, hoping to use unlimited donations known as soft money to focus on gun issues and candidates' positions despite the law's restrictions on soft money-financed political ads within days of the election.

"If that's the only way to bring back the First Amendment, we're going to bring it back," Wayne LaPierre, NRA executive vice president, told The Associated Press. Under the nation's campaign finance law, he said, "if you own the news operation, you can say whatever you want. If you don't, you're gagged."

LaPierre said the NRA is taking several steps to become a "legitimate packager of news" like newspapers and TV networks, including hiring Cam Edwards, a conservative talk-show host from Oklahoma City.

Started with a $1 million investment, the Internet programming features news briefs in the morning and at noon, followed by a three-hour afternoon "news show/talk show" with Edwards as host.

The group is setting up an NRA news corporation, possibly for profit, to run its new media operations. It is close to acquiring a radio station that will stream video of its NRA broadcasts to the Internet, LaPierre said.

The NRA plans to own a news operation "just as Disney owns ABC, just as GE owns NBC, just as Time Warner AOL owns CNN, and be the broadcast journalist equivalent of those outlets," LaPierre said.

"Who's to say they're any more legitimate on packaging news to the American public on firearms and hunting than the National Rifle Association, when in fact we've been in the news business longer than they have in terms of packaging news on those subjects?" he asked.

Larry Noble, head of the Center for Responsive Politics and former lead attorney for the Federal Election Commission, said that if the NRA operation has the trappings of a press entity - such as a radio outlet - it has a strong argument that it is one.

"The law does allow news media to editorialize and do commentary. It's the reason The New York Times can endorse candidates in its editorials," Noble said. "So in one sense they are not blazing new ground, but they are going into an area that's still forming and about which regulations are still being developed."

Whether Webcasts alone would make the NRA a press entity is a harder question, Noble said. Congress and the FEC haven't dealt with the intersection of the Internet and the media, he said, "and the lines are blurring."

The NRA and several other interest groups had sued unsuccessfully to strike down campaign spending limits. The law, upheld in December by the Supreme Court, bans the use of corporate and labor union money for ads targeting congressional and presidential candidates close to elections and bars national party committees and federal candidates from raising so-called "soft money."

The law left political activity on the Internet largely unregulated and maintained a long-standing media exemption from political advertising rules for news and entertainment programming.

News operations have been run with one person, but to become a truly national news organization, the NRA will have to get beyond one reporter and a few hours of airtime, said Gordon "Mac" McKerral, national president of the Society of Professional Journalists.

"Putting together a comprehensive news delivery package isn't an easy endeavor. It's people-intensive, which means it's expensive," McKerral said. "And there's so much out there now that any kind of startup operation like that is a challenge. If the NRA is successful at it, my guess is they'll limit their scope."

On the other hand, "if they think they can get into the game with one guy, maybe they know something the rest of those multibillion-dollar corporations don't," he said.

Mixing an agenda with the news is nothing new, McKerral said. When the nation's press was in its infancy, newspapers were vehicles to promote political agendas.

Now, again, "it's getting awful tough, I think, for people to sort out what's supposed to be objectively reported fact and opinion, someone's opinion," McKerral said.

The NRA has a huge potential audience, with 4 million members, 16 million licensed hunters and 80 million gun owners in the United States, LaPierre said.

---

On the Net:

NRA News: http://www.nranews.com goes online Friday.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Front Page News; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: Virginia
KEYWORDS: bang; banglist; news; nra; nrachannel; nranews
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1 posted on 04/15/2004 3:26:38 PM PDT by GeneD
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To: GeneD
I'll give 'em a chance.

Wouldn't it be great if this succeeded while ErrAmerica went down in flames?

2 posted on 04/15/2004 3:27:41 PM PDT by Teacher317
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To: GeneD
bump
3 posted on 04/15/2004 3:30:32 PM PDT by facedown (Armed in the Heartland)
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To: GeneD
It probably won't work, but I hope it does. Americans need to know their rights, they often forget them and cast them aside.
4 posted on 04/15/2004 3:36:45 PM PDT by danteinferno
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To: GeneD
It's pure horsecrap that campaign finance "reform" actually passed in the form it did. It only muzzles us, not mega corporations. It is now AGAINST THE LAW to exercise free speech near any election.

The precise reason the right was enshrined in the bill of rights in the first place was to freely speak out against BAD GOVERNMENT. Just because tyrants attempt to legislate a right out of existence by DEFINITION does not nullify a right.

Hold on to your guns at all costs. The Second amendment 'reset button' is the only recourse when would-be tyrants try to p1$$ on the other rights we already have.

Our founders didn't include the phrase "ALTER OR ABOLISH" for nothing!

5 posted on 04/15/2004 3:36:48 PM PDT by JOAT
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To: GeneD
I WANT MY NRATV!
6 posted on 04/15/2004 3:50:02 PM PDT by Redcloak (Over 13,000 served.)
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To: GeneD
Started with a $1 million investment, the Internet programming features news briefs in the morning and at noon...

Contact your local talk radio station and ask them to carry NRA News Briefs.

The purpose of this effort and "Air America" are very different. AA is trying to buy their way onto the airwaves for... reasons that don't really make good sense.

The NRA was forced to do this in order to circumvent McCain/Feingold restrictions on our the first amendment freedoms in order to balance biased liberal reporting about the second amendment.
7 posted on 04/15/2004 3:54:01 PM PDT by InABunkerUnderSF (Where there is no vision the people perish.)
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To: Redcloak
Tonight on NRATV.

8:00pm. I love Mosin.
9:00pm. Mausers in the city.
10:00pm. Self defense and home fortification.
11:00pm. Perpetrator death count and nightly news.
8 posted on 04/15/2004 3:57:09 PM PDT by tet68 ( " We would not die in that man's company, that fears his fellowship to die with us...." Henry V.)
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To: tet68
Don't forget the ever popular "Small Unit Tactics in the Urban Environment".
9 posted on 04/15/2004 4:00:05 PM PDT by dljordan
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To: Teacher317; archy; Eaker; Squantos; river rat
Oh boy, lemme get my resume ready! Gun talk radio, I am SO there!

The didn't call me Yakkin' Bracken for nothing!

10 posted on 04/15/2004 4:13:19 PM PDT by Travis McGee (----- www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com -----)
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To: GeneD
The law does allow news media to editorialize and do commentary

At least, for now. Who knows what will happen if we start adopting Canadian-style anti-speech laws.

11 posted on 04/15/2004 4:15:49 PM PDT by xm177e2 (Stalinists, Maoists, Ba'athists, Pacifists: Why are they always on the same side?)
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To: *bang_list; Tijeras_Slim

Bang!

I'm going to be on an Albuquerque radio station tomorrow morning at 8:10 local time, BTW.

12 posted on 04/15/2004 4:16:38 PM PDT by Travis McGee (----- www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com -----)
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To: InABunkerUnderSF
The NRA was forced to do this in order to circumvent McCain/Feingold restrictions on our the first amendment freedoms in order to balance biased liberal reporting about the second amendment.

I bet it is working too!

13 posted on 04/15/2004 4:16:57 PM PDT by TLI (...........ITINERIS IMPENDEO VALHALLA..........)
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To: GeneD
It has better odds of success than liberal radio. They'll talk about a lot of things besides guns and the Second Amendment. Besides it helps they're not liberals.
14 posted on 04/15/2004 4:19:08 PM PDT by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives On In My Heart Forever)
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To: GeneD
Bang!

As an NRA member, I say MoveON.org and other 527's take them apples!

I look forward to the NRA whitehouse correspondent being recognized on a live Presidential news conference feed and asking President Bush a question or two, while the other media (like CNN & NBC, etc) all take brief commercial breaks. Ah the yes, to an unbiased media!

15 posted on 04/15/2004 4:20:51 PM PDT by Robert357
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To: tet68
Tonight on NRATV.

8:00pm. I love Mosin.
9:00pm. Mausers in the city..
10:00pm. Self defense and home fortification..
11:00pm. Perpetrator death count and nightly news..

What's the frequency, Kenneth?

16 posted on 04/15/2004 4:22:09 PM PDT by TLI (...........ITINERIS IMPENDEO VALHALLA..........)
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To: Travis McGee
If you want I will send you a picture of me holding yer book.




You would get alot more wimmen readers that way!!!!

17 posted on 04/15/2004 4:26:20 PM PDT by Eaker (That the bright star of Texas shall never be dim while her soil boasts a son to raise rifle or limb.)
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To: Travis McGee
I was a Country music air personality for years, talked about shooting sports in between songs: "In sports, it was the Hunters over the Doves 958 to 2."

If the NRA calls, I'm ready.

18 posted on 04/15/2004 4:28:09 PM PDT by Inyo-Mono (Proud member of P.O.O.P., People Offended by Offended People.)
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To: Inyo-Mono
I think Gun Radio can surpass Al Franken's nitwit network in the first five minutes!
19 posted on 04/15/2004 4:31:37 PM PDT by Travis McGee (----- www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com -----)
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To: Eaker
What ever it takes!
20 posted on 04/15/2004 4:32:36 PM PDT by Travis McGee (----- www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com -----)
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