The Fairness Doctrine seems to strike fear into the hearts of the sicko radio jocks that pollute our airwaves. The right wing talkie-kabobs made that a major talking point during the general election. Here's a piece from Murdoch's rag:
SHOULD Barack Obama win the presidency and Democrats take full control of Congress, next year will see a real legislative attempt to bring back the Fairness Doctrine - and to diminish conservatives' influence on broadcast radio, the one medium they dominate
I often post the disgusting rants of people like Limbaugh and Hannity because it is truly offensive and destructive stuff, but there's a whole cabal of minor league right wing talking heads that spew the same garbage on a much smaller scale that still penetrates into many regional pockets of our nation.
Like their better-known counterparts, these syndicated and regional radio hosts have played active roles this election season in promoting falsehoods and smears in an all-out effort to foment hate and distrust among their listeners for President-elect Barack Obama.
While the hosts vary in the degree of vitriol they spew and in their ratio of rebuttable falsehoods to unbridled smears, Media Matters for America and Colorado Media Matters have identified common themes that many, if not all, have promoted over the past year.
Here are a few examples from Country Fair, but go and check out their list.
Radio hosts echo Drudge's distortion of Obama's 2001 WBEZ interview
Cunningham alleged that "Obama wants to gas the Jews"
In the days before the election, media figures have repeatedly compared Obama to Hitler
Newman: "[T]here will be an invasion of Muslim terrorists" if Obama becomes president
It isn't something Santa would approve of. And I'm sure they will all be good soldiers, fighting the scary "War on Christmas."
You can also look through our tag system under "smears" and find a host of others. When you look at them all together, it really is like a mutating virus...
