Media Furious: Too Many Americans Get News From Talk Radio

NewsMax.com ^ | 1/10/03 | Carl Limbacher and NewsMax.com Staff

[kattracks]

America's leftist-dominated media are horrified at the notion that 22 percent of Americans get news from conservative radio talk-show hosts.

Writing in today's Los Angeles Times - a notorious propagandist for the left - Steve Carney reports on a survey that claims that ... gasp ... one in five Americans get "their daily dose of news" from the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and other conservative talk radio hosts.

Despite the fact that liberals are in firm control of the overwhelming majority of the nation's mainstream newspapers, CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, MSNBC, Time, Newsweek, America's universities, Hollywood and just about every other medium of news and opinion, the left wing is up in arms that the American people now have an alternative in talk radio that allows them to escape from the daily torrent of liberal propaganda they serve up as news.

According to Carney, a new Gallup poll that "examined news media preferences" discovered that 22 percent of those surveyed said they got their news every day from talk radio programs, a figure double what it was only four years ago. "The growing trend of news in this country is interpretation ahead of the facts, of talk rather than information," whined Amy Mitchell, associate director of the liberal think tank "Project for Excellence in Journalism," which Carney describes as an "organization dedicated to raising the standards of American journalism." "There's certainly nothing wrong with listening to Rush Limbaugh for what Rush Limbaugh provides," Mitchell said charitably, while adding that "Limbaugh isn't concerned about an objective portrayal of the facts, and he admits that."

Oh? Are Dan Rather and the New York Times still claiming to be "objective"? If so, they're lying.

Mitchell said the danger lies in listeners "taking it as the facts without deciding for themselves. It's not producing an informed democracy," meaning presumably, that any news not biased to the left fails to serve the U.S., which by the way is a constitutional republic, not a "democracy."

Carney turns to his colleagues in liberal cuckooland to spread the alarm that they no longer have an absolute monopoly on the news, even going so far as to quote the far-left Michael Jackson, who has repeatedly failed to ignite the fires of liberalism on the left coast. "I wouldn't want my most ardent listeners to think of me as their major source of news," said Jackson, who had been on KABC for three decades and was most recently on KLAC-AM (570) until the station dropped its talk format last month, showing that his former listeners did not by any means see him as a major source of news, or anything else. "I think people become groupies, following their favorite talk-show hosts, and see them as the font of all knowledge, and they take what they say as accurate," he told Carney. Robin Bertolucci, director of AM programming for Clear Channel-Los Angeles, which owns KFI-AM (640), the area's highest-rated talk station, disagreed.

'People Are Smart'

"People are smart," she told Carney. "People can make decisions that this is the guy's opinion. The information consumer is intelligent enough to decide."

Bertolucci cited KFI hosts John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou as examples of hard-news conservative shows that highlight stories that the liberal mainstream media refuse to cover (such as Sen. Patty "Osama Mama" Murray, no doubt).

"They feel that they fulfill a mission that's otherwise unfilled," Bertolucci said, "or they take a story that everyone else is doing, and cover it in a way that's unique." "A lot of conservative Americans have felt for a long time that the traditional news media does not tell their side of the story," Bertolucci told the Times. "They chafe on their perception of mainstream news outlets as the gatekeepers of information, and believe the perspective they offer is as skewed as any other." "That's sort of the conservative rallying cry: 'Who are you to tell me what I can know?'" she said. "Rush Limbaugh is arguably a news program as much as Peter Jennings is, though it's filtered through Rush Limbaugh." This liberal hysteria over the rise of conservative talk radio exposes once more the left's conviction that only liberals should be allowed to report the news in their own peculiar and slanted manner.

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:

Media Bias

[Ole Okie]

Well boo hoo!

Poor, poor liberals who aren't able to get their message out. Just imagine; fully 22 percent of people get their news from talk radio, rather than the "fully objective" socialist media.

The sky is falling! The sky is falling!

Come, Henny Penny, Turkey Lurkey and Goosey Loosey: We must go tell Petah, Gunga Dan, and Brokejaw.

[VRWCmember]

"The growing trend of news in this country is interpretation ahead of the facts, of talk rather than information," whined Amy Mitchell, associate director of the liberal think tank "Project for Excellence in Journalism," which Carney describes as an "organization dedicated to raising the standards of American journalism."

This isn't a growing trend; it's been going on for years in the leftleaning newsrooms at ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC, etc. It just irritates them now that viewers have alternatives that are becoming more prevalent.

"There's certainly nothing wrong with listening to Rush Limbaugh for what Rush Limbaugh provides," Mitchell said charitably, while adding that "Limbaugh isn't concerned about an objective portrayal of the facts, and he admits that."

That is EXACTLY THE POINT!!! Limbaugh ADMITS that he isn't concerned about an objective portrayal of the facts, while the Rathers, Brokows, Courics, Kings, Shaws, etc. REFUSE TO ADMIT IT! They present their "interpretation ahead of the facts" and their "talk rather than information" but claim to be objective in their presentation.

[vetvetdoug]

People are smart

Yes, most people can sift throught the bs and see the rat except for one political party and its supporters. That is why most get their information from Fox or Limbaugh. More truth and less covered bs.

[SerpentDove]

The icy grip of the Liberal media is slipping more every day.

Beautiful.

[dasboot]

I'm listening to NPR News right now; shortly I'll be watching Blather; then tomorrow I'll check in with Rush and Gordon. Been doing this for years, and I gotta admit that Rush and Liddy don't think I'm an idiot capable of being manipulated: NPR and the networks newsies do: it's obvious!

[Paulus Invictus]

NPR gets futher and futher left on our nickle. It has to stop!

[MonroeDNA]

Wonderful find!!!!

Woo hoo!!!!

I'm TV "impaired." Haven't had TV of any kind (cable, Dish, whatever) for close to 3 years. Don't need it; don't want it.

I get all my news from Rush and FR. Never been better informed, either. When conversation turns to anything, I cite facts, articles, quotes.

It always hushes whatever the crowd may be at the time, and the inevitable replies are, "I didn't know this."

The best conversations are the open ones with the VW bug-driving, anti-gun liberals.

They have no idea what has happened in England, Australia, and Canada.

[MonroeDNA]

"The icy grip of the Liberal media is slipping more every day."

What you said. Exactly right.

[Happy2BMe]

"America's leftist-dominated media are horrified at the notion that 22 percent of Americans get news from conservative radio talk-show hosts."

And listening to it via DSL and CABLE on the internet - completly bypassing the liberal tube completely.

What bliss.

[Drango]

Some liberals get their news from Salon.com for as little as 5¢ a day.(see below) How much will you pledge to supprt FreeRepublic????

Join the tens of thousands of Salon Premium subscribers who enjoy the Internet's most original writing and $120 worth of exclusive benefits for as little as 5¢ a day.

[VRWCmember]

I'm TV "impaired." Haven't had TV of any kind (cable, Dish, whatever) for close to 3 years. Don't need it; don't want it.

You're not TV impaired; you're enlightened and advantaged.

[WorkingClassFilth]

Stop the funding. That'll do the trick.

[mil-vet]

This is like Janet Reno saying people who home school their kids are a threat to the gov't - the mainstream doesn't have a chance to do their brainwashing if we don't pay attention to either the media or the public education system!

GOTCHA, you liberal failures! BTW, the second amendment and I are very close, in fact I have 9mm of it VERY close, therefore mainstream liberals can't stop me from telling the truth (this said in the vein of, "Piss off a liberal, buy a gun!").

Stay vigilent, stay armed, never trust either a muslim or a liberal (both are terrorists, they just use slightly different weapons)!

[CharacterCounts]

22 percent of those surveyed said they got their news every day from talk radio programs

"people are smart"

Well, at 22% of them are!

[o_zarkman44]

Ohh poor liberals. I guess they should tune to NPR (National Propaganda Radio) for the news and opinion. By the way, liberal talk radio is getting a free ride thanks to taxpayer support. Lets lobby congress to end the free subsidy of NPR ( National Propaganda Radio). Then we will see which news format survives on it's own merit. There is nothing mainstream in the so called "Public" aspect of the network.

[Republicus2001]

They have no idea what has happened in England, Australia, and Canada.Today Great Britain has reluctantly announced gun violence has skyrocketed since the big Gun Ban, recent published reports show...(film at 11? NOT!)

[aristeides]

What were the other percentages in this survey, does anybody know?

[DannyTN]

Why is this news?

[goodnesswins]

"Well, at least 22% of them are."

Well, at least THE 22% who listen to ANY talk radio are....the rest, I'll bet are listening to MUSIC (CD, DVD, FM, etc), and happen to get a newscast once in awhile.