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! 🙁