And contrary to Hannity and many of the up-tight Right mouth pieces NO ONE is pushing for one.
Progressive talk show host ED SCHULTZ recently put out the call offering all presidential candidates open FREE airtime on his syndicated radio show to present their platform and answer questions by John Q. Public listeners.
Denis Kucinich is to be the first to take freedom of speech and information to the people on September 12th for "3" FULL hours.
In a decision process as important as that of choosing a POTUS and his subsequent Administration I applaud both this radio talk show host and any and all candidates who take it to the people in this way.
Technically you are correct. There is not yet an appropriate name for what the left/progressives are actually attempting. That is to have more control over the OWNERSHIP of stations. Obviously in an attempt to gain programning control more sympathetic to their causes.
The BIG media corporatacrocy owns the vast majority of radio/TV outlets. There is only a tiny handful of independently owned stations.
The Righties keep chanting "FREE MARKET...FREE MARKET!!!"; but how can the market be free if it totally owned and controlled by one ideology?
The fact is there are not enough people who listen to liberal talk shows to support liberal format stations. It is all about the free market. A local radio station changed its format from country and western music to Mexican music. They obviously made the change to gain more of an audience so they could charge more for commercials. The last thing we need in this country is the government regulating what we hear on the radio and watch on TV.
The three major networks, CBS, NBC, ABC, are left leaning. Maybe in all fairness Katie Couric should be replaced by Rush Limbaugh and Brian Williams should share the evening news with Ann Coulter. That would be a great idea. Now all we need is a government bureaucracy to administer the program. There is no doubt about it: I have always felt it was a great idea for the government to filter the news. The idea of a free press is passé and beside the truth can be so painful. I would feel so comfortable and secure knowing the government is controlling my life and protecting me from conflicting opinions.
announcing an upcoming three hours of lucid political view point from a presidential candidate (and possible future others) to another barrage of sound byte fear mongering from the bully pulpit Right?
In case your Evelyn Wood speed reading class failed you; neither the Democrats in the House or Senate nor I favor defacto government meddling in the media.
Ten years ago all you could find on BIG commercial TV was 30 minute situation comedies, cop dramas and melodramas. It took a foreign director/producer and a lot of cajoling to get "Survivor" on. Ever since then TV has become vast landscape of "reality shows" with BIG advertisers paying B I G money.
Is it that there is truly "no market" for progressive political programming, or is there a very real fear that there IS a huge potential market?
Exactly?
Oh, I'd say it was because you led off with a misnomer, implying that the left doesn't want to control radio.
After ThinkProgress came out with their "ownership report", several in the Democrat House and Senate voiced support... so quickly that one might have concluded that they had prior knowledge of the report.
If you had stuck to your ad message, there probably would have been no right hand bend in the thread.
-- Modified on 9/2/2007 2:58:03 PM
The Left & the Right BOTH want to control radio, TV and every other goddamn aspect of our purportedly "free" lives. When the report you speak of came out Hillary or some other Dem quipped to another that the ball field should be leveled, and ever since the right winged attack dogs have been crying foul and amping up the fear mongering machine.
Maybe instead of worrying about Democrat legislation that isn't; perhaps a Republican candidate for POTUS should take Ed Schultz up on his offer of 3 solid hours of radio time to answer concerns of John Q Public on why HIS/HER way is better or best.
The main problem with your line of thought is that the right is "controlling" one little pieces of the media called AM talk radio. And they did it legally using their own capitalistic practises. The left wants to control it via government fiat or by appropriating my money to purchase their time. Just because they haven't succeded yet does not mean they aren't trying or that we should not keep countering them.
And besides that, you ask me a question, then I answer it, only to be attacked for telling you the truth you really didn't want to hear. I guess I'l quit answering your questions. It's better to keep you in the dark anyway.
-- Modified on 9/3/2007 5:58:12 PM
There are many more right-wing radio programs because they get good ratings and radio stations sell commercials and make money. It's this thing called "capitalism". If left-wing radio programs were more successful they would be on the air. Right-wing programs aren't on because evil republicans own the stations and are trying to force feed their ideology. That's what the left-wing continues to do...and fails miserably.
PS- I assume the Dennis Kucinich show will be a comedy?