Posted on 11/10/2008 1:19:49 PM PST by Ouderkirk
Talk radio lost this federal election in two big ways. Its candidate, Republican John McCain, got creamed. And its most dedicated enemies, who want to trim talk radio’s sails, were massively empowered.
Elements of the team of Presidentelect Barack “Hussein” Obama, as they were fond of calling him, and the expanded Democratic majority will move to remind broadcasters of a fundamental tenet of broadcast law.
That is, that the airwaves do not belong to the station “owners,” as they call themselves, but to the people of the United States of America.
The concept that station “owners” were mere licensees who kept their permits on grounds of good behavior and community service was undermined by President Bill Clinton in 1996 and then totally lost under President Bush.
As station ownership became more consolidated, talk radio became more virulent, if not violent, and one-sided.
Statistics on licensees are hard to come by. But Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., noted that in just seven years the number of owners nationwide was cut by 25 percent; that four owners control 80 percent of the New York City market.
Minority ownership fell by 14 percent between 1996 and 2003. So did women ownership.
“Prior to 1996,” Feingold said, “one company couldn’t own more than 20 AM stations and 20 FM stations. Now two companies [nationally] control 42 percent of the content that reaches listeners and 45 percent of industry revenues.”
In the Buffalo Niagara market, ownership is similarly concentrated. From rough data I cobbled together from the Center for Public Integrity and other Web sites, at least 20 of the 34 stations serving the region are owned by only four companies, including one firm that controls seven outlets. With consolidation came irresponsibility.
The basic service that a broadcast
licensee owes a community is truth. As the election neared, that commodity was in short supply.
Obama was compared to Hitler on the “Mark Levin Show.” Obama would open the United States to an “invasion” of Muslims, according to the “Gunny” Bob Newman show. On the Lee Rodgers show, critics of Obama were going to “be jailed or killed.” Host Neal Boortz wanted to know how many prayer rugs Obama owns.
Bill O’Reilly falsely claimed on the radio that Obama did not vote to condemn a Moveon.org ad that lampooned Gen. David Petraeus.
With concentration of control, there is no effective way to answer the lies and smears on the radio. The Internet, whose ownership is still under question, is a useful way. But that’s a subject for another day.
Some Democrats, such as Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois, want to restore the equal time rule, abolished under President Ronald Reagan. Rep. Louise
M. Slaughter, D-Fairport, chairwoman of the House Rules Committee, has also backed the return of this rule, which would require broadcasters to air opposing views.
There are constitutional issues related to imposing equal time. So the Democratic route seems to be to roll-back media consolidation.
Slaughter is co-founder and cochairwoman of the (congressional) Future of American Media caucus. She sponsored a resolution that could overturn a Bush administration rule relaxing even further restrictions on media consolidation.
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N. Y., is a co-sponsor of the Senate companion. Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N. Y., is not. In the House, 58 Democrats backed Slaughter’s bill. Rep. Brian Higgins, D-Buffalo, is not among them.
The legislation landed in committee. It is sure to be reintroduced in the next Congress. The fetid puddle of falsehoods and coarseness that talk radio has become was 12 years in the making. The work of flushing it out starts in January.
I hear you! And no matter how hard I try, the “contrast” control on my TV does nothing to change the drivel on any of the networks...
But NOT NPR and PBS, those (TAXPAYER FUNDED) founts of objective profundity, don't yah know!!!
As a born again child of the Obamian Era, I can only speculate that if Republicans and Rightwingers had anything worthwhile to say for the common good, it would not be necessary to silence them and send them to the re-education gulags.
Those that criticize conformity of thought as totalitarian are suffering from a lack of enlightenment.
Yes we can!!
Yours in Unity,
Spodefly
Acolyte of Civil Obedience
Or executive order?
No, in this case it would mean the government as it would be a government bureaucracy that would decide what gets on the air to assure "fairness". This is turning the First Amendment on its head. A radio station would be free to air only what the government decides is good. Anything else would cost them control over their programming.
Advertisers are free to spend their advertising dollars on any program they want. They have chosen to support conservative talk radio because people want to listen to it. Government sponsored talk radio (NPR) is already available. We don't need to turn every station into NPR clones because no one will support it.
Looks like Buffalo “Chips” to me...
“The seeds for big trouble.”
If they do this, no democrat elected under the new one-media regime will be legitimate. The US will be governed by people who have power only because they have guns—not because they have the informed consent of the governed.
The US becomes a totalitarian state starting in 2012, should this occur. Barak Hussein Obama, in 2012, will be no more legitimate than Saddam Hussein was in 1990.
Don’t get me wrong. He won fair and square this year. The issue is, will he use that power to create a totalitarian state? So far, it looks like he and his party are leaning to yes.
I would suggest an immediate takeover of the Buffalo News since they obviously need to be more balanced. Upon further consideration however, I’m sure they are on the verge of bancruptcy like every other dinosaur media outlet other than talk radio. What should that tell this twerp about his supposed knowledge of “journalism”?
Bummer. I was hoping that fixed the "fair and balanced" attribute.
Really? How much of the $650 million he used to buy the White House came from foreign donors? Where is his birth certificate? I think he is a criminal and not a U.S. born citizen. Fraudulently elected.
I think everyone needs to sigh up for RUSH 24/7.
“And its most dedicated enemies, who want to trim talk radio’s sails, were massively empowered.”
They may yet curse the day such luck was theirs.
Dude....sarcasm tags?
Do not confuse sarcasm with facetiousness, seriously.
This is where this imbecile's logic falls apart.
OK, knobshine, why can't I just select an open frequency, buy a transmitter and begin broadcasting in the format of my choice? Why do I need to apply for a broadcast license and pay those exorbitant fees? I'm a citizen and not just a tax filer but and actual tax PAYER. Why should I be denied the use of "my" airwaves should my application be turned down?
Ah, the “off” switch on the TV-the moral equivalent of draining a swamp.
Filthy kulak radio congolomerates! Comrade Obama, we beseech you: Please take action against the kulaks!
You need to use the collectivist definition of the term ‘people’. In that context it means someone all powerful that represents their economic interests and well being and has to make most of their decisions like what they should hear.
You need to take the course Obama did, “Marxism for Dummies”
This a battle I would like to see and be part of.
Not happening, but I think a fight on this would be good for us, increasing moral. Free Republic
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