Let no one doubt that the blogosphere--even just a lone blogger--has the power to frame and shape the national debate. This story still has legs in the traditional media because the blogosphere has continued to push back after ABC/Disney's strong-arm tactics. Go Spocko.
In a dispute between the "new media" of the Internet and the "old media" of broadcasting, liberal bloggers and conservative talk-radio hosts are accusing each other of trampling the First Amendment's guarantees of free speech.
[..]Some advertisers, including Bank of America and MasterCard, have deserted KSFO since an anonymous media critic identifying himself online as Spocko began posting recordings of the station's "Hot Talk" hosts. Spocko and some of his readers have been e-mailing the audio to KSFO advertisers since 2005, asking the companies whether they want to be associated with the controversial rhetoric.
The First Amendment flap was debated Sunday on CNN's Reliable Sources. Dan Riehl, a blogger critical of Spocko, said some of the radio hosts' comments "were blown out of proportion or misrepresented" in the complaints to sponsors. Mike Stark, another blogger and a Spocko ally, said: "The way to fight free speech that you disagree with is to engage in more free speech. And that's exactly what Spocko did."[..]"Yes, this is a freedom of speech issue, and this individual is entitled to say what he wants to," Morgan told the San Francisco Chronicle. "But he's trying to take away my livelihood, and I'm not trying to take away his."
(EFF attorney Matt) Zimmerman says Spocko's rights are in more peril than the station's. "ABC/Disney tried to use the legal process to silence a critic who was actually amplifying their speech," he says. "Spocko was doing exactly what the First Amendment is designed to do - promote this marketplace of ideas."
