A new study reveals that 91 percent of talk radio shows are conservative, compared to 9 percent which are liberal or progressive.
That means that radio listeners across the country are being fed a diet of overwhelming right wing propaganda, with much of it being not just conservative thought, but actual hate speech!
This hate propaganda has reached a fever pitch, and is inciting outrageous reactions, including the anti black, anti gay, anti Jewish invective and slurs that have occurred in the controversy over health care reform. Also, death threats via email and telephone toward members of Congress have multiplied, and security has had to be increased around Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and President Barack Obama, on a level never seen before under any administration.
The political atmosphere has been poisoned so that the opposition is seen as enemies, rather than rivals, and militia groups and Tea Party activists have been encouraged by the “Armageddon” type rhetoric which has no limits.
Freedom of speech is paramount, but there has been absolutely no responsibility accepted by Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, Michael Savage and other talk show hosts, that what they say could provoke violence, confrontation, and results that would permanently damage the body politic.
There is a dire need for the Fairness Doctrine to be applied to balance out the availability of ideological views. This one sided promotion on talk radio is far worse than the usual charge that print media is overwhelmingly liberal, which is in reality not true, but often stated. (For example, the Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune, Washington Times).
It is not an issue of conservative versus liberal or progressive; it is an issue that under the veil of talk radio, that hate and lies are being disseminated as freedom of speech. The right wing talk show hosts will bear total blame and responsibility if the peddling of their propaganda leads to a disastrous result! 🙁
I love that they asked for “Public Defendersâ€, I guess they now know about the undercover FBI agent. The simpleton Tea baggers keep missing the point. These are the same whiners that were crying when the McCain/Bailin ticket lost. Now they are crying again because their yelling (because they are haters not debaters) did not stop health care from passing. They think they can scare, intimidate and force others to go along with them by comments like “This time we came unarmedâ€, let me tell you something they are not the only ones that are armed and not all ex-military join the fringe militia crazies who don’t pay taxes and run around in the parks playing commando, the majority understand that the world is more complicated and grey then the black and white that these simpleton make it out to be and that my friend is the point. So it’s only fitting that their leaders are Sarah Bailin, Victoria Jackson, Michele Bachmann and their turn coat Glenn Beck. So if you are bothered that there are some misconceptions of your group, well then I think you need to be more careful who you invite to give you speeches.
Bottom line: Freedom of speech is freedom of speech whether you agree with what is said or not. People who are trying to re-write the constitution are slowly eroding our rights one by one and it needs to stop It should be against the law for Joe Biden to open his mouth, but I would still fight for his right to do so (SIC). Radio, television and newspapers are commercial enterprises. They produce shows that make them money. If the majority of people wanted to discuss liberal issues, Senator Al Franken would not have had to go look for another job. Don’t blame talk radio, blame the political system on both sides for citizens being angry. You are assuming that the listening public are a bunch of dumb lemmings that are being sucked in and brainwashed by these broadcasters. People can make their own decisions about what is crap and what isn’t. There will always be nuts. Who is going to choose what goes on and what is censured? I for one do not trust the government to censor and would rather sort it out for myself. Whats next? freedom of the press? There are many in Washington that would love to control that one.
Let’s be fair, if you are going to limit the free speech of conservatives, you need to limit the free speech of progressives too. It always amazes me how progressives rant against talk radio and conveniently forget the overwhelming presence of liberal content in both print and television media (i.e. 60% of print media reflected positively on both Obama and Obamacare in the 2 weeks leading up to the final vote). When they ignore this obvious fact, the true purpose of the Fairness Doctrine becomes blatantly obvious: limit the free speech of those who do not hold the progressive viewpoint. How less inclusive can you be?
@ Mark P.: He’s not wrong in assuming that most viewers are brainless lemmings. They are. Everyday I see normal Americans blaming Obama for issues that don’t even have anything to do with him, one recent example being the removal of the speeding “cushion” by many states trying to generate revenue where they’ve been severely cut in their budgets. Clearly this new predicament is a local matter rather than a federal one, but which portion of the populace would be the one that points fingers at Obama? Oh, NO! Not the uninformed lemmings! There couldn’t POSSIBLY be an outlet of the media that could make them form that assumption!
@ Rational Conservative: Yeah, except the progressive viewpoint hasn’t made it a priority to issue death threats towards members of Congress.
Bottom line is, hate sells. You can achieve a lot more ratings when you’re bashing and criticizing a public figure rather than praising them. A Fairness Doctrine nor the Freedom of Speech will ever change the fact than when it comes right down to it, this is a purely capitalistic society. You never know, tomorrow there might be a lean to the liberal media again, Tea Party people suddenly irrelevant as an extreme leftist group pops up to make everyone angry. It’s no different from today’s fleeting trends. A year ago was Myspace. Now it’s Facebook and Twitter.