Right-Wing Radio Infighting and A**-Saving

Remember when it seemed like there was never a crack in the right-wing talking points?  It seemed like every conservative politician; every Republican columnist and every right-wing radio talker were yakking in lockstep. But now, there's a rift.

There have been two stories in the past few weeks where a couple of high-profile conservative radio hosts have been thrown under the bus.

It started when GOP pollster Frank Luntz called Rush Limbaugh, and right-wing radio,  'problematic.' Luntz was speaking to students and thought his comments were off-the-record and not being recorded.  But one student did make a recording.

And if the Rush put-down wasn't enough, right-wing talker Glenn Beck was also criticized by...Fox News!  After Glenn had claimed he had left Fox TV to 'save his soul,' a Fox spokesperson retaliated, saying Beck "was trying to save his ass."  You can read all the details here.  And Fox News host Geraldo Rivera also took a swipe at Limbaugh and other right wing talkers.

While an orchestrated advertiser boycott is apparently what doomed Glenn Beck's TV career, and low-ratings ended Rush Limbaugh's very brief TV life, both are still going strong - really strong - on radio.

The most curious thing, to me anyway, that GOP pollster Frank Luntz had to say in that 'off-the-record' spiel wasn't about Rush...it was his suggestion that Democrats have got every other source of news on their side. I'm not sure what kind of news source he's talking about, but my radio seems to have no trouble finding right wing talk shows any hour of the day or night.  In fact, many radio listeners in Seattle and Portland are still upset that two commercial AM station formats that carried progressive talk shows were dumped earlier this year and turned into sports-talk stations (KPTK, Seattle; KPOJ, Portland).

The reality is, if you're looking for something other than a conservative viewpoint in talk-radio, you really have very few choices.  And if you want a truly progressive perspective your options are even further limited.  Especially if you want an outlet that is not owned by a major broadcast corporation. (If you want to see who owns the local radio and TV stations, see this earlier post.)

Fortunately, there are still a handful of truly independent radio stations around the country - stations like KSER.  And shows like Left, Right & Center; Counterspin; The Takeaway; and Ed Bremer's Sound Living.  And, of course, there's the closest thing progressive radio has to Limbaugh and Beck: Amy Goodman.  And, yes, it's painful to put her name in the same paragraph with those two.

The big difference, of course, is Limbaugh and Beck are syndicated to hundreds of commercial radio stations which are owned by major corporations who, not only run more than twenty-minutes of commercial content every hour, but also have access to large corporate marketing budgets to spread their message.

Stations like KSER do not have that kind of financial clout. It's not commercials or corporate support, but mostly listener support that keeps shows like Democracy Now, KSER and similar stations afloat.

So before anyone takes pleasure in seeing stories about Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck being criticized by other right-wingers, remember that they still have the lion's share of radios, ratings and resources. It's up to you to make sure progressive voices remain heard. 

First, Fast and....Not So Accurate.

In a world that has been transformed by non-stop cable TV news coverage and instant feedback on Twitter and Facebook, every shred of information and opinion gets spread far and wide, and fast and furious. And, in many cases, that's not a good thing.

Some of us have been around long enough to remember the TV and radio news slogans of "First, Fast and Accurate."  Now, thanks to the twitterverse and the never-ending effort to be first with every single piece of a breaking story, often accuracy moves way into the back seat...and sometimes decency seems to be road-kill.

Just ask CNN after a roller-coaster day of back-tracking on erroneous reporting this week regarding the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombing.

But it's not just the fast and wrong reporting that's troubling, it's the widespread need for some to offer opinions that can be - well - disturbing.

Most of us aren't surprised when it comes from Mount Vernon's own Glenn Beck, who just won't let go of his debunked Obama/Saudi Boston bombing conspiracy theory.

Or maybe you heard about the California radio morning show that got yanked after supposedly making jokes about the Boston bombings.  You can read about it here.

And then there was the Minnesota radio morning show host who is apparently tired of hearing about the families of the children murdered in Newtown. He say's they can "go to hell."  If you find that hard to believe, listen here.

You know what they say about opinions, right?

Hearing and reading about some of this shoot-from-the hip reporting and over-the-top opinions makes me thankful for the more thoughtful and straight-forward information you can always hear on public radio stations, even NPR...and on stations like KSER.  I'm always glad we have voices like Amy Goodman and John Hockenberry.  Reasonable voices like Ed Bremer and Dick Gordon and Sondra Santos.

But that's my opinion.