Posted on 08/23/2005 6:39:18 AM PDT by OXENinFLA
The First Amendment and I have been evicted from ABC Radio in Washington, DC.
On July 25th, the Council on American-Islamic Relations demanded that I be “punished” for my on-air statements regarding Islam and its tragic connections to terrorism. Three days later, 630 WMAL and ABC Radio suspended me without pay for comments deemed “hate radio” by CAIR.
CAIR immediately announced that my punishment was insufficient and demanded I be fired. ABC Radio and 630 WMAL have now complied. I have been fired for making the specific comments CAIR deemed “offensive,” and for refusing to retract those statements in a management-mandated, on-air apology. ABC Radio further demanded that I agree to perform what they described as “additional outreach efforts” to those people or groups who felt offended.
I refused. And for that refusal, I have been fired.
It appears that ABC Radio has caved to an organization that condemns talk radio hosts like me, but has never condemned Hamas, Hezbollah, and one that wouldn’t specifically condemn al-Qaeda for three months after 9/11.
As a fan of talk radio, I find it absolutely outrageous that pressure from a special interest group like CAIR can result in the abandonment of free speech and open discourse on a talk radio show. As a conservative talk host whose job is to have an open, honest conversation each day with my listeners, I believe caving to this pressure is a disaster.
I for one cannnot apologize for the truth and I cannot agree to some community service-style “outreach effort” to appease the opponents of free speech.
If I had made a racist or bigoted comment—which my regular listeners know goes against everything I believe in—I would apologize immediately, and without coercion. When I have made inadvertent fact errors in the past, I apologized promptly and without hesitation.
But we have now gone far beyond that, with demands that I apologize for the ideas my listeners and I believe in. It is not a coincidence that, after my suspension on July 28th, WMAL received more than 15,000 phone calls and e-mails protesting my removal from the airwaves.
Why such a huge response? It wasn't about me; the listeners I spoke to said they felt betrayed by my suspension because the vast majority of them agree with me on the subject of Islam. By labeling my statements as unacceptable, these listeners felt that WMAL management was insulting them, too.
I cannot speak for anyone else, but I care about the listeners of 630 WMAL. I respect them and I appreciate the amazing support they have given me.
I could not dishonor their principled support for free speech by giving into these demands. I cannot join ABC Radio in bowing to CAIR’s wishes. And I will not apologize for my opinions or retract the truth.
The whole point of the Michael Graham Show is what my listeners and I call the “natural truth,” those obvious facts about modern life that the P.C. police and mainstream media believe should never be discussed. That includes the tragic, but undeniable relationship between terrorism and Islam as it is constituted today.
The conversations my listeners and I had on this subject were not offensive or bigoted in the least. In fact, Ibrahim Hooper of CAIR (who has appeared on my show several times) credited “criticism from talk radio” in part for the recent fatwa against terrorism issued by a group of US Muslim scholars. Ironically, it was issued the day before I was suspended.
That’s the real tragedy here. The people who most need free speech and open dialogue on the issues facing Islam today are America's moderate Muslims. These are people of good will who have the difficult job ahead of reforming and rescuing their religion. They need all the help they can get.
The decision to give CAIR what it wants—a group with well-publicized ties to terrorists and terror-related organizations—will make it harder for the reformers to successfully face Islam's challenges. Still worse, silencing people like me will make it easier for Islamist extremists to dismiss all sincere calls for reform as mere "bigotry."
When CAIR is able to quell dissent and label every critic a "bigot," the chilling effect is felt far beyond ABC Radio and 630 WMAL. If anyone is owed an apology, it is the moderate, Muslim community who have been failed once again by the mainstream media.
A very special note to everyone who emailed and called on my behalf:
Again and again through this ordeal, as people pressured me to just give in, say what CAIR wanted to hear and get my job back, I thought of you. I cannot express how much your support meant to me. I don't know that I'm doing the right thing by fighting this fight. I only know that I believe it's the right thing, and I believe it with all my heart.
Your support, your words of encouragement, your anger that the forces of P.C. fear have this much power—these all helped me do what I needed to do. Thank you.
In the coming days, I hope I'll have some good news for you about how we can continue our conversation. So please stay tuned, please stop by here each day and check it.
Trust me, this isn't the last you've heard from me.
Michael, are you sure you've been fired?
I've had several people tell me that ABC Radio says I'm not really fired, that I have "chosen" not to go back to work. I don't know what to say to that except that I received a hand-delivered letter very late Friday announcing that I was "terminated immediately." If there is some other definition of that other than "you're fired," I am not familiar with it.
Tell the gutless weasels at WMAL and ABC Radio what you think about their actions here:
http://www.abcradio.com/index.cfm?bay=comm.vpcontact
http://www.630wmal.com/contactus.asp
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TUESDAY, AUGUST 23, 2005
IT'S NICE TO KNOW ABC RADIO MADE SOMEBODY HAPPY: "CAIR applauded WMAL's decision [to fire Graham]. The organization had asked the station for a retraction or an apology, but 'we didn't get specific on what [Graham] should say,' said Rabiah Ahmed, a spokeswoman. 'We were looking for an acknowledgment that his statements were anti-Muslim and hateful, and harmful to our community and our country's image.'
DOES ANYONE REALLY "CAIR?" Some of the CYA spin now coming from the folks who caved into CAIR's demands is that CAIR's pressure had nothing to do with my firing. Instead, I was fired because...and then the story breaks down. Because I wouldn't apologize (would you be asking for an apology if CAIR weren't protesting?), or because the station found my comments offensive (then why did you let me spend FOUR DAYS IN A ROW saying them on the air without objection?).
Well, let's check the record. After four days of happily broadcasting my "controversial comments" on 630 WMAL, CAIR mounts a campaign of complaint. Listeners support my comments on loaded phone lines. Result: I'm suspended without pay.
After I'm suspended, CAIR issues a press release (July 29th) complaining that suspension isn't enough and I should be fire. Listeners swamp the station to support me and oppose my suspension. Result: I'm fired.
Now, it could be that ignoring your own listeners and making decisions to outrage them is a new business model for successful talk radio. It could be a mere coincidence that the station happened to give CAIR what it wanted.
Hey--I report, you decide.
Again when has SH been overseas to see the troops.
As long he toes the cooperate bottom line he can say anything he wants, and get all the free vacations at mouse land he needs.
Does anyone have info on Michael Graham's ratings? In Washington, he's up against some tough competition: Laura Ingraham and Tony Snow. Maybe WMAL just took this as an opportunity to get rid of him. I hope their decision comes back to bite them.
Thanks for the ping
This guy needs to write a book and go on the lecture circuit and bring the light of day to the activities and motives of CAIR!
ABC/Disney is one of the most pathetic, craven anti-American corporations on the planet. One does well to avoid them, whether working for them or making use of their "entertainment" services. Mr. Graham is better off shaking the mouse-droppings from his shoes. Guys like him and Bob Grant know all too well the kind of feckless vermin that run Disney.
This is broadcast radio - not XM or Satellite and thus controlled by the FCC - so in a way there actually is government involvement.
Better think that through again. If this is a First Amendment issue, then the liberals can claim conspiracy to suppress their views.
The Fairness Doctrine has been scrapped. Broadcast radio companies have no obligation to air all political views. Graham's silly hyperbole is the stuff of liberal whingers.
OK but IIRC muslims have sued private companies (I think DELL) that wouldn't allow them to stop working so they could pray.
So when muslims want to tell a private business when they will work it's OK and now it looks like muslims can tell another private company (ABC) what their talk show hosts can talk about.
Looks like they just win all the way around.
And wasn't there a case here down in FL where a non-muslim woman was working for a muslim company and she was fired because she ATE FOOD the muslim owners didn't approve of?
> private employers are not required to air every view.
Right, but free speech is an American thing. His employer is Anti-American.
ABC radio isn't interested in presenting two sides of any story, only the left wing cloying stance of here we are, lovers of Muslim killers and killers of truth tellers.
Trying to wrap one's own situation in the First Amendment is enough silly hyperbole for me. That's a liberal crying tactic.
If he doesn't sue ABC and CAIR for at least a billion dollars then he is just a whiner.
I would love to see ABC make the case that Islam isn't related to terrorism before a citizen jury.
I wonder if he'll be a guest on any talk show?
Has the ACLU offered their 1st Amendment support to
Graham? (sarcasm)
Paging XM Radio....
That would be true, except ABC didn't have a problem
with what Graham said until CAIR complained.
Give them an inch and nothing would satisfy CAIR until he
was fired.
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