Letters to the Editor
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They did have a point
The Fairness Doctrine did, in fact, throttle free expression. If somebody made a statement one way or another, the station owner sighed and said, okay, now somebody's going to get upset and get five ratings-killings minutes rebutting that. So they just told their hosts to shut up to save the hassle. As a result, radio shows were either harmless chatter, or they played records and had call-in. When Joe Pyne hit radio, he often got into trouble with the FCC, but his opinions were all over the block, and most often just a showbiz technique of pumping up ratings. Then the genius of linking that style of angry radio with the daily talking points of the RNC came along, and Limbaugh was born. They even repealed the Fairness Doctrine so they could get away with it. But I remember, in the early 90s, warning people of what was coming, and they dismissed talk radio!
What we need is a restatement, somehow, of the fairness doctrine, not on the level of "opinions", but maybe on the level of shows. Put Limbaugh on and you have to put on a liberal talker with a similar number of hours? No, they won't do that. How about this: if you put on Limbaugh, and you only own one station in a local market, then you won't be forced to put on Rachel Maddow after him. But if you own more than one station in a market, then you have to be sure that viewpoints are spread out on your properties. Limbaugh on KMOO? Stephanie Miller on KWOO. Equal access throughout the market.
This might make the ownership of several stations a little less advantageous, for some, and they might sell off some stations, and that would be a good thing. If there are "other than Limbaugh" people in every market, and there are, they'd find their ratings, overall, increasing.
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I hope so.
As other letter-writers noted, the government had nothing to do with Imus' firing — that was strictly a corporate decision. That said, I certainly won't complain if radio stations across the country decide they no longer want to carry the guy who once told a black caller that he should "take the bone out of your nose and call me back."
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Imus the Liberal?
The myogynist antisemitic homophobic racist right wing trolling born again anti science remade his career Clinton bashing Don Imus a liberal?
Wow I must have been chewing shrooms the day that memo came out.
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This Conservative is Cheering the Panic on the Right
As a thoroughly disgusted and disillusioned conservative (from the Goldwater school, no neocon, me)I am simply thrilled to see the dread setting in and the ridiculous mind games already being set in motion by the neo-right, after having been given the gift of Imus' totally appropriate and well-deserved boot in the ass. The utterly specious notion that "liberals" will somehow use the Imus debacle to attack neocon rant shows only betrays the knowlege among that camp that time is running out. Let the Blame Game begin yet again.
It is at once embarrassing (give us this day our dose of that) and oddly satisfying to hear the occupants of Das Boot as it founders in the waters of sudden-onset lucidity among Americans, and I take particular pleasure in the knowlege that the Fairness Doctrine, vague as it ever was, is also dead as it ever was.
If Limbaugh's employers own the courage of their convictions and if the bottom line remains sound, The Bloviator should be guaranteed at least his contractual obligation. After that all bets are off, as the market is drying up for lunatic ranting from the fringes. No loss when it happens, and it will, via the wonderful Free Market about which neocons know nothing but that it has somehow magically served them well during the recent ignorance boom, which is now going bust. That sound you hear is the air being let out of the neocon bandwagon's tires.
Imus is gone for the crime of costing his employer business. Limbaugh, wrongly enough, will likely only be gone when there is no longer a viable market for his blathering. I hope, and I sincerely believe, that time is now short.
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Imus called Bush a "War Criminal"
And in the modern Neo-Con mind, that's not reality: that's being a raving liberal moonbat.
Nevermind that Imus was an "early adopter" of the Iraq War in the first few years. So I guess, on that one issue, he's as liberal as Hillary...
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The marketplace is irrelevant when it comes to talk radio.
Just for grins, turn on Rush for an hour, and catalog his sponsors. You may find that the people who advertise on the Rush Limbaugh Show aren't exactly the big corporate giants (like Proctor and Gamble, for example) you usually want to court. They probably have more in common with the snake-oil salesmen who buy their spots on late-night cable TV. No way can these ads even cover Rush's gigantic salary. So what gives?
For all the talk about the marketplace running things better than anything else, conservatives conveniently forget that giant corporations like ClearChannel own nearly the entire radio industry. Do you think anyone in the ClearChannel universe would offer Sam Seder (for example) a job now that his weekday show has been cancelled? Not on your life. The people who pay the bills, and who knows who they really are, wouldn't stand for it. Why, if radio stations had to alternate conservative hate with even a middle-of-the-road show - the kind you might find on NPR - people might one day discover just how full of it Rush and Hannity, and O'Reilly really are.
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I had to flip through the channels today
And heard Rush talking about how he is the nation's foremost authority on weight loss and nutrition science. And I thought, wow that is some balls out Conservatism right there. What a pathetic loser to run and hide every time someone not on his show mentions his name. What a pussy. And Boortz, that assclown from losertown, all he had to say today was how sad it is to be Rush as long as the Evil Menopausal Menance his him in their sights.
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Rush has been dying with a whimper for awhile now....
I'm sure conservatives will cry and howl when Rush is eventually taken off the air. However, if he does, it won't have much to do with Imus or civility. It will be because market forces have turned against him. His ratings have plunged in the last few years, since the drug scandal and even before most of the nation turned on the current administration. His contract, however, was given to him when he was riding high and a cash cow. Most of the stations that carry his show are required to do so, lest they lose access to other content. When the current contract expires, you watch stations begin to drop him.
Yes, many people still listen to him. There are still loyal ditto heads. But those numbers are dwindling and Rush still charges a mint for his services. The numbers won't add up for much longer.
In an interview a few years ago, Limbaugh himself claimed that he was not a news personality but an entertainer whose only responsibility was to draw and audience and please his advertisers. Prior to the rise of his show, he had never even been registered to vote.
So, in the end, he will fade away.