Conservatives may have talk radio...

Tribune papers ^ | January 7, 2003 | Dennis Prager

[Madcelt]

The New York Times just published one of its most revealing articles in memory: "Outflanked Democrats Wonder How to Catch Up in Media Wars." Apparently, the Democratic Party is gravely concerned that its liberal message is not being heard. And the reason Democrats give is that conservatives dominate talk radio, Fox News, and the editorial pages of The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Times. Because of talk radio, two editorial pages and one cable news channel, liberals just cannot get their message across to Americans. Full disclosure demands that I acknowledge a vested interest here. I have been a radio talk show host for 20 years -- 16 in Los Angeles and the last four in national syndication (through the Salem Radio Network). So I read with a big smile how influential my profession is perceived to be. But all this begs two questions: why is talk radio so powerful, and why is it dominated by conservatives? The first question is particularly fascinating. That Democrats chafe at conservative dominance in talk radio is almost incredible -- because liberals dominate everything else. Liberals dominate television: Aside from some Fox News shows (remember the conservative Sean Hannity is paired with the liberal Alan Colmes), the liberals dominate everything on TV (with the exception of John Stossel's specials on ABC). They dominate CBS, NBC, ABC, MSNBC and CNN news broadcasts, and they dominate all television entertainment.

Liberals dominate the education of our young: The ratio of Democrats to Republicans among liberal arts professors at universities is routinely 20 to one. And the deans, the presidents, the curricula, the speech codes and the campus newspapers are all liberal. Liberals also run the schools of education, the law schools, the high schools and the elementary schools. Liberals dominate Hollywood: Are the Democrats unfamiliar with Barbra Streisand, Sean Penn, Jane Fonda, Robert Redford, Julia Roberts, and almost every other star who speaks out on political issues? Do Democrats not attend movies, which with almost no exception are liberal, if not radical, in their messages? Have you seen any movies recently with a businessman hero?

Any with an affirmation of Judaism or Christianity? Liberals dominate the public airwaves: National Public Radio has been dubbed National Palestinian Radio for good reason. And PBS has just produced and aired what even The New York Times called "an Islamic infomercial" in its special on Islam. Juxtapose that with its skeptical inquiries into the beliefs of Christian or Jewish believers. Liberals dominate the biggest foundations: such as the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations.

Liberals dominate almost every major newspaper both in news coverage and editorial page positions: The Wall Street Journal editorial page is conservative as are the editorial and news pages of The Washington Times. But the liberals have the rest, including The Boston Globe, The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, The Miami Herald, and the Chicago Tribune. Liberals dominate virtually every professional organization: the American Bar Association, American Psychiatric Association, American Library Association, American Nurses Association, National Education Association, American Political Science Association, the Trial Lawyers Association, and, of course, every big labor union.

Liberals dominate much of organized religion: the mainstream Protestant churches and Reform and Conservative Judaism; while the liberal social message (with the exception of abortion rights) dominates much of the Roman Catholic Church. Liberals dominate activist groups: the feminist, civil rights and civil liberties organizations as well as black, Hispanic, gay and Jewish organizations. But according to Democrats, this domination of virtually all of American public life is not enough to get their message to the American people. Something must be done about the one TV news network, the two editorial pages and the radio shows they do not control. Which raises the question -- why is it that liberals cannot dominate talk radio as they do virtually everything else? I will answer this at length in a subsequent column, but the answer can be easily summarized -- liberals dominate where they cannot be intellectually challenged.

It is effortless for a college professor to spout leftist rhetoric to naive young people who just graduated from high school. Let them have to defend their radical views in public and they wilt. That is why many leftist professors refuse to come on my radio show -- they are unused to intellectual debate. They live with, work among, and relate to, fellow leftists. They almost never have to engage conservative ideas. We in talk radio, on the other hand, immerse ourselves in liberal newspapers, debate liberal guests and take liberal callers. In short, the reason the liberal message is not being heard, despite liberal control of almost all public organs of communication, is that it is incoherent. The message, not a lack of messengers, is the contemporary liberal problem.

[Simmy]

Hmmmmmmmmm. Nice to know I'm not the only conservative college student. :)

Luckily, I seem to have proffessors that...are not flaming liberals (well, except maybe one...but she isn't spewing it like some religion). Then agian, I am still in the lower division courses...so who knows. Though the simple makeup of the coarse, like text books litterally full of liberal articles (like we should pass out condoms in schools, competition in sports is evil, sports teams with indian names is wrong, articles from Karl Marx, Theroeu, and so forth Fun English class. :/. Though to be fair, my English teacher seems to be moderate so, it isn't that bad of a class] :)).

[Simmy]

Opps, didn't finish my thought.

Though the simple makeup of the coarse, like text books litterally full of liberal articles, obviously a taste of whats to come.

[FreedomPoster]

>>The problem the liberals are having is the fact that their message is being heard.

Bingo! They used to control all the significant media (TV and newspapers), other than the Washington Times and the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal. This has been since at least the late '60's, so for 35+ years.

But over the last decade-and-a-half, we've had three things occur:

1) The rise of conservative talk radio, led by the Godfather, Rush, with Savage, Boortz, Hannity, and many others in his wake.

2) The rise of the Internet as an alternative to the lamestream media. No longer can stories be totally ignored and effectively spun by the lamestream press, without their getting called on it.

3) And now, finally, Fox News Channel, to provide a challenge in the two traditional media.

With these media vehicles telling people what liberals are really about, rather than what liberal media *says* they are about, the liberal message is finally being heard.

And thinking Americans don't like it a bit.

[EternalVigilance]

What a fantastic piece by Dennis Prager!

Grand slam.

[foreverfree]

bump

[RightOnline]

" I will answer this at length in a subsequent column, but the answer can be easily summarized -- liberals dominate where they cannot be intellectually challenged."

Absolutely dead-on.

[TheJollyRoger]

The Demoncraps still don't get it!
We have been listening to their "message" for
more years than any of us have been alive.
LISTEN UP Demoncraps!!! WE REJECT YOUR MESSAGE!

[wayoverontheright]

In short, the reason the liberal message is not being heard, despite liberal control of almost all public organs of communication, is that it is incoherent

The liberal message is actually just an attempt to buy the minds of various groups with empty promises. Feminists supporting Bill Clinton would be one of those incoherent messages. Union members and ANWR would be another juxtaposition this incoherency produces. There is no central idea, except socialism and anti-Americanism.

[DakotaGator]

Here we are going to be using the NYT to discuss how newspapers effect public opinion and if I breathe a word of how I feel I lose the 4.0 GPA I've maintained for years...

Your objective is the grade. So parrot the liberal line and puke back your prof's trash on demand. Just don't believe it!

View yourself as a Conservative agent doing what is necessary to survive in enemy territory. Your day will come.

[bankwalker]

of "do what we tell you, because you are incompetent and we know what is best for you... or else."

They are CONTROL FREAKS.

[bankwalker]

If people would educate themselves by reading books such as Rich Dad, Poor Dad, then they wouldn't need the university goat paper to prosper financially.

[auggy]

"...liberals dominate where they cannot be intellectually challenged. This is quite evident on KPFA, a Leftist radio station from Berkeley. They never take callers, and their dialogue consists of a lefist interviewee and a leftist interviewer. As a result, they do not even register in Arbitron ratings, even in the Left stronghold of the Bay Area."

Communism had the same problem. Once, satellite TV and the Internet came about, it was hard to hide the success of the capitalists and even harder to hide the truth about communism and freedom. The communists(Democrats) in this country have actually done a excellent job in brainwashing the mass and controlling the media. 9

[jackbill]

I find that one of the required materials is a 12 week subscription to the "New York Times" as the world's "newspaper of record" as he calls it....

If you really wanted to be "nasty" you could keep pointing out their "corrections" column, which gets longer by the day. But then you would certainly not keep your 4.0.

Perhaps it is best to just hold your tongue and once you have your degree, confront him. If he'll talk to you.

[Magoo]

How about the one the other night on Will and Grace (My wife's show NOT MINE)

Will; "It will be the gay social event of the season"

The kooky rich gal; "With the exception of the republican national convention."

Subtle leftist brainwashing propaganda rules on network television.

[Jeff Chandler]

Sandbagging is what I like to use in situations such as one would find in school-lecture formats, question and answer, etc.. Asking questions as one who is ignorant and sincere, ala Columbo the cop.

I don't know what to tell you in your situation, other than being tenacious and insisting upon documentation. Maybe you could try to "outpost" him, beat him at his own game?

[William Terrell]

"The medium is the message."

[Steve0113]

What liberal lies tell us is always one of two things; the exact opposite of their statement, or, projection of what they would do in the same situation.

Worth repeating. This is the key to deciphering their drivel.

[Tamzee]

A taste of whats to come, exactly LOL I'm not sure what we are going to do when it comes to our two daughters, they will be old enough for college in almost 10 years. The only thing I can think of is attempt to really help them hone their analytical and research skills so they don't get brainwashed by the establishment. That and find them a conservative or moderate college somewhere :)

Thanks and hang in there, we'll win in the end LOL

Tammy

[Tamzee]

Thanks for the support, jackbill and DakotaGator... I'll try to walk as fine a line as necessary. I don't think I'd be able to actually regurgitate any liberal garbage back to them, but I'll try to restrain any scary urges to point out all the holes in the tripe they pass off as "fact".

I thought the idea of questioning NYT's constant corrections was excellent, though :-) "Professor, can't we use a paper for class that doesn't make big mistakes every day???"

We'll see how it goes LOL

Thanks,
Tammy

[Tamzee]

Jeff,

I LIKE THAT!!! It's a great idea and I bet it will work a lot better than posting research or documentation, he doesn't read it anyways and just posts more severe-left commentary in response. I can see it now... "So, you admire and support Daschle's firm stance on getting international support." When he answers yes, I can post all of Daschle's original quotes during Clinton's days talking about how U.S. doesn't need to go to the U.N. and we already have a mandate to disarm Saddam. I've saved all that stuff for a couple years now LOL

Should be easy enough since the liberal stance is totally discredited by their own words on almost every significant issue :-)

Wish me luck!
Tammy