Tweet
Ed Schultz is worried that the Sandra Fluke backlash against Rush Limbaugh will hurt talk radio at both ends of the spectrum:
[A]t the Talkers New Media Seminar on June 7 in New York City, Schultz broke with the progressive community and criticized it for going after Limbaugh. “If we start attacking advertisers because of what somebody said — it’s the wrong thing to do.”…. Schultz was concerned that other talk radio hosts would be collateral damage in what was supposed to be a precision strike on Limbaugh. “Don’t attack advertisers. It’s too hard in the spoken word,” he said…. The concern is not an idle one. Interviews with industry insiders on the left and right reveal that Schultz’ fears were well founded: Corporate advertisers, in the wake of the Limbaugh-Fluke controversy, have broadly pulled back from talk radio across the political spectrum, unwilling to take the risk of being associated with comments that could offend half or more of their customer base.
This may not be a popular stance, but if we could take down right-wing hate radio at the expense of liberal talk radio, I would make that trade in a heartbeat. Talk radio tilts so far to the right that the harm the right-wing talkies inflict far outweighs the good that progressive radio could ever hope to accomplish.
But it’s that “if” that I’m hung up on. Liberal radio has always been much more financially precarious, and doesn’t have the sugar daddy support system that conservative radio (and conservative everything else) has. So if attacks on projectile haters like Limbaugh make advertisers squeamish about advertising on any political shows, it could actually result in a talk radio space that’s even more lopsided than it is now.
And yet despite all that, I still can’t bring myself to advocate giving Rush and his ilk a free pass to say whatever they like without consequences. Even if the loss of advertisers doesn’t drive them off the air (and remember, that would be free enterprise at work, not censorship), it’s still worthwhile to broaden public awareness of the bile the right is spewing. The die-hard fans are a lost cause, but if every non-crazy person’s reaction to the words “Rush Limbaugh says…” is “Oh yeah, he’s that guy that calls women whores. Why should I listen to anything he says?”, this country will be a much better place.
39 Comments
Support this site!
Subscribe to the newsletter
Advertise on Firedoglake
Send
us your tips
Make us your homepage
About Firedoglake
Liberal talk radio?????
Rush Limbaugh performs an important function.
In a world that no longer has Dunce Caps, how else could you so quickly and accurately identify the blithering idiots among us than with the phrase “Rush Limbaugh says…”?
In all fairness; bringing down the right wing haters will take bringing back The Fairness Doctrine. Tom, Ed and Rachel probably don’t go along with that idea, either. It’s call unemployment, for cable talking heads, if the local TV stations have to take on this chore or opportunity. It all depends on whose oxen are gonna get gored and exposed to the sunlight of what’s really fair and defined as such. I remember when it was perfectly normal to hear most all sides of the story. Ya know, the local or community take on matters contemplated in D.C. but which had measurable impact where you actually lived. Ah, listen globally and react locally. Those were the days my friend, we thought they’d never end… but the first name in talk was Ronnie Raygun at WHO and he’s been the kiss of death to so many good ideas.
The only real lefty liberal on commercial talk radio (nationally) is Mike Malloy. I would miss him. Otherwise there is always pacifica radio.
I don’t believe in taking down any of these rightwing talk shows as much as I disagree with them. What we need but is for these rich so-called liberals put money into liberal commercial talk radio. I always hear from these people whenever they need to get their word out on the existing shows.
I always worried that the Fairness Doctrine would be totally gamed if it were brought back today, i.e., the stations would just get centrist Blue Dog DLC shill types to present the “liberal” viewpoint in the halfassedest possible fashion.
Its war. The boycott hasn’t been outlawed by the goose steppers yet…….well not in this country anyways.
and what Eli said @5
Liberal Talk Radio offers a different perspective on Right Wing Point Of View which is right.
For Example, Tax Cuts may create jobs if they are given more time to work.
And: Since everyone knows that the Government cannot create jobs, the private sector will – if given sufficient time and more tax cuts.
And: It could be that bombing Iran is a good idea and tax cuts.
And We all know that we must tighten out belts for tax cuts.
Eli!
Buzz!
My first reaction as well. “Liberal talk radio” is such a small drop in such a large bucket that it may as well not exist. But that means there’s really very little to lose by hitting Limpdick where he lives…in the pocketbook.
Aha. You’ve now ‘splained it. Didn’t unnerstan before.
Wouldn’t it depend on the local political associations picking the responders to the topic of the moment. Certainly academicians and economists would jump at the chance for this type of exposure. Lawyers, too, for that matter. Think where Occupy Everywhere could have had a chance to impact the major urban markets in a more cohesive way if The Fairness Doctrine had been in place. I’m talking about nat’l strikes and nat’l boycotts that are planned and executed from sea to shining sea. Now, that’s real people power!
Exactly. There is such a thing? Who knew…
This is true. But if it’s up to local party machines, there’s a pretty good chance that they’re not going to be much more progressive than the Republican…
My misunderstanding was that I thought that those characters on MSNBC (think GE’s Immelt) were Obots for PTB, who had selected O as POTUS in 08. PTB are, of course, not liberal. And, of course, neither is O.
If you dust off your kremlinology skills, you can catch signs that PTB think O has outlived his usefulness (after all, they gave him an impossible job to do: cater to their every whim while keeping his base voting for him, and he’s done a piss-poor job at it too). Romney is PTB selection for next POTUS, they are Carterizing O.
Just a couple of examples: All Ds are not in the O veal pen any more. Hillary is ousting Assad every time she opens her mouth while O is hiding out in the WH trying to avoid the subject. Feinstein is joining Peter King on investigations of WH leaks. Lots of other bits & pieces, but you get the idea.
HEY, ELI ! The day I hear a real “liberal” on radio or tv will be the day I have champagne for breakfast, lunch and dinner. They are in fairly short supply among the type of people who get asked to be on the media machines.
HEY, TWAIN!
Eli–
How is that different from so-called “liberal” talk, now?
For a year or two, when Air America first launched, there was a “somewhat” liberal lineup, with Malloy, Seder and Marin. Most of the rest of the hosts were conservative or corporatist Democrats. That always included Schultz, who literally WAS an extremely right-wing talk show host in his previous life. And then there’s Hartmann, who self-advertised as a “radical centrist” from the beginning, and who’s turned into such a Democratic Party shill, that I no longer can tolerate listening to him.
Not to mention that mindless Stephanie Miller, Bill Press (ugh!), etc., etc.
With the exception of Malloy (on XM), we’d probably be better off if they all went off the air. As I see it, these “liberal” imposters only serve to push the Democratic Party further to the right, at a time when activists and liberals are fleeing it in record numbers.
Blue
Ditto, Twain.
Blue
ELI!
Personally, I don’t like any talk radio so trading away liberal talk radio for the extinction of conservative is a feature for me, not a bug.
I see your point. I think a big clue is JEBBY. As JEB keeps turning his nose up at Romney, JEB wants and needs for Romney to lose.
Now if JEB takes the Romney VEEP slot, that would be the big tell. (Rubio gets left in the lurch).
The Bush Crime Family is still very powerful and untouchable. JEB must get his turn.
psalongo–
You’re spot on. Malloy is the ONLY liberal talker who’s not an Obamabot.
Blue
MARGARET!
Well then, I guess that makes it a lot easier. But what about Pacifica?
The stuff I slum out in says that veep is Mitch Daniels. Accomplished what Walker (allegedly of George H.W. Walkers) wants to do, Daniels actually accomplished without any fuss & bother.
Jebby’s just sour graping.
Another interesting part of the story is that Ron Paul was shilling for Romney (never said a word against him in the debates & took votes away from Romney challengers, which he needed to happen as he is such a weak candidate). Paul hoped to get veep for Rand, who has now endorsed Romney.
Allegedly Ron is the biggest neopotist in congress, with 61 relatives on his payroll.
The other thing to keep in mind is that there is no honor among thieves. Just bc one is a citizen in good standing in PTB today, is no guaranty you won’t be ousted tomorrow. And there are multiple factions in PTB. As I recall the Jeb interview, he was also whining about how his father & bro couldn’t get nominated by today’s Rs.
1/3 thru Rise & Fall of Third Reich & its a good reminder (of many things, but relevant to this thread) that at PTB level they are always willing to murder their former BFFs.
New Bilderbergers, for example (as old ones are OTH) are Zuckerburg of Facebook, Paypal/google guy, Theil, who donated $2.7 million to Ron Paul), and Wall Streeters. VS. old BBers, the new ones are much more ruthless and have your entire financial & einfo to hand.
And I can’t let this thread go into history without mentioning that Ed Schultz is an idiot. I know bc I listened to him for about 15 minutes once.
Eli–
Don’t have a Pacifica station in my neck of the woods. I regularly stream Amy Goodman’s Democracy Now. I think it is broadcast from a Pacifica studio, so I have nothing negative to say about Pacific stations and/or affiliates.
BTW, I am glad that you’ve brought this topic up.
Blue
eCAHNomics (if you don’t mind, I’ll call you E for short)–
You nailed it. And a “right wing” idiot, at that.
Blue
This horse has long left the barn. Talk radio (pretty much all radio) is dead for all but fascism, and we won’t be getting it back anytime soon. There is simply no competing with the lizard bully money brain.
I have found Ed Schultz odious forever. Leave it to him to defend a situation wherein our own meager survival depends on Rush Limbaugh’s continued ability to make zillions promoting pure dickishness, and never ever suffer his own karma for a moment.
Fuck that. We all have lots more options than this corporate bullshit anymore, in our cars and our houses.
Call me anything you like, but don’t call me late for dinner. :-)
“E”–
You must be related to realitychecker–he said that when I apologized to him for misspelling his screen name.
Anyway, I get a kick out of that expression. Other than twice now on FDL, I haven’t heard it used in YEARS until I watched a 1970 Columbo episode on Netflix.
Blue
I think a better law to repeal would be the Telecommunications Act of 1996
http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/08/feb-8-1996-president-clinton-signs-act-to-overhaul-telecommunications-industry/
Rush Limbaugh and religious radio is broadcast on AM across flyover country and there is no alternative, not even music through a lot of it.
Ed is an ass and a warmonger, Rush is his ideological equivalent and even calls women names too. The fact that he is defending him after the sandra fluke incident, maybe Ed should be gone too. It’s CYA.
Exactly. Consolidation has ruined the news and media.
What’s killing political radio is its servitude to the phony two party system. Coke or Pepsi convos are like watching reruns of Gilligan’s Island. People are past this. While the Republicans are ruthless warmongering worker-haters, the Dems are ruthless warmonger financial terrorist phonies who do very little to protect workers. Mostly, what they do for workers is give lip service for votes, the renege, and that’s about it.
We’re sick of endless wars. We’re sick of being controlled by corporations, and we are sick to death of this dragnet control of people being imposed like we are all terrorists. And we are sick of the financial elite imposing control of every financial move a person makes and questioning it like they are gods, and we’re sick of the Dems selling off our institutions like colleges and the PO to the elite so they can turn everything into a country club for a few. And we’re furious about so called Dems wiping their ass with our Constitution and taking our rights.
The two party system is a sham and if talk radio is going to continue playing their role in that sham, they will become more and more obsolete. I quit listening. Obama may be the lesser of two evils, but he is pretty damn evil. We have complete fascism and listening to people talk about our completely captured government like it’s still controlled by voters choosing representatives that represent them, and not corporations, is D level fantasy, boring, and wasted time we could be talking about getting our country back for real and standing up to those who have stolen our government.
In other words, it’s already gamed.
Just to be sure, folks… Glenn Beck cuts $100 million radio deal…
I will never miss liberal talk radio. That is because liberal talk radio like Schultz and Thom Hartman (and especially that Stephanie Miller show which I believe has the lowest IQ level of any talk show on radio) etc. are not really about promoting progressive ideas, but are forums to justify the Democratic party’s unstoppable and conscious move to the right. I have given up on talk radio and MSNBC etc. just as much as I have given up on the Democratic party.