MEDIA
Clearly Conservative
Here is a debatable subject. Westera will have good arguements against this piece but I tend to believe this.
Radio news just got a big push to the right. According to reports, the country's
largest radio station operator, Clear Channel Communications Inc., chose
right-wing Fox News Radio to provide national news for most of its news and talk
stations. Clear Channel, which has been criticized in recent months for
promoting a conservative agenda, owns and operates 1,200 radio stations
(http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=foISLROkGiF&b=173238) across the
United States, reaching more than 100 million people. The station currently
provides a home to such right-wing radio hosts as Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity
and Dr. Laura. This new deal is expected to double Fox's presence
(http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/ae/tv/2934482) on the airwaves,
providing more than 100 Clear Channel stations with "a nightly news broadcast,
as well as five-minute newscasts at the top of each hour" and coverage "around
the clock."
FOX NEWS, FAIRLY UNBALANCED: Fox News has a history of biased, right-wing news
coverage. As LA Times columnist Tim Rutten wrote, Fox has become "the most
blatantly biased
(http://www.latimes.com/news/custom/showcase/la-et-rutten7jul07.story) major
American news organization since the era of yellow journalism." This bias
doesn't do listeners any favors; according to a study conducted last year by the
Program on International Policy Attitudes (http://www.pipa.org/) (PIPA) at the
University of Maryland, people who rely on Fox News for information "are
significantly more likely to have misperceptions" about the war in Iraq. In
fact, eighty percent of Fox viewers were found to hold at least one
misperception, compared to 23 percent of NPR/PBS consumers. The more people
watched Fox News, the more likely they were to hold these misperceptions.
FOLLOW THE MONEY: Clear Channel has strong ties to President Bush. The company's
founder, R. Steven Hicks, is a Bush Pioneer
(http://www.tpj.org/pioneers/r_hicks.html) , having raised more than $100,000
for the president's campaign. His brother, Tom Hicks, also "made Bush a
millionaire 15 times over" when he bought the Texas Rangers from him in 1999.
CLEAR CHANNEL PUSHED THE MYTH: One of the biggest criticisms of the media in the
days leading up to the Iraq war was they didn't ask enough tough questions.
Clear Channel took that a step farther, blurring the lines between news
organization and White House cheerleader by organizing pro-war rallies
(http://www.agitprop.org.au/nowar/20030319_jones_conservative_radio.php) in
places like Atlanta, Cincinnati and Richmond.
CONTENT CONTROL: Clear Channel has a past of suppressing speech it doesn't agree
with. Some Clear Channel stations banned the Dixie Chicks after the group's lead
singer criticized the president. Shock jock Howard Stern
(http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/03/04/stern/index_np.html) charges he
was dropped in "retaliation for anti-Bush rhetoric." Other radio hosts were also
dropped for their political views, including Roxanne Walker
(http://greenvilleonline.com/news/2003/07/07/200307079700.htm) , the South
Carolina d.j. fired in April 2003 after being reprimanded for anti-war
statements and Phoenix, AZ, talk show host Charles Goyette
(http://209.157.64.200/focus/f-news/1055519/posts) who was kicked off the air
for repeatedly discussing weaknesses in the intelligence in the push to war.
PROJECT BILLBOARD: Clear Channel also owns 770,000 billboards across the
country. The company breached a contract by refusing to allow the nonprofit
group Project Billboard to buy ad space on one of its public billboards in Times
Square during the Republican National Convention last August. The problem with
the billboard? It advocated peace
(http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/07/14/1410247) . |
