Ugly Over The Airwaves: Rightwing Domination Of Talk Radio, How To Stop It

Think Progress brings us a report that finally ends the myth of anything approaching "fairness" and balance in talk radio:

The Center for American Progress and Free Press today released the first-of-its-kind statistical analysis of the political make-up of talk radio in the United States. It confirms that talk radio, one of the most widely used media formats in America, is dominated almost exclusively by conservatives.

The new report — entitled “The Structural Imbalance of Political Talk Radio” — raises serious questions about whether the companies licensed to broadcast over the public radio airwaves are serving the listening needs of all Americans.

While progressive talk is making inroads on commercial stations, right-wing talk reigns supreme on America’s airwaves. Some key findings:

– In the spring of 2007, of the 257 news/talk stations owned by the top five commercial station owners, 91 percent of the total weekday talk radio programming was conservative, and only 9 percent was progressive.
– Each weekday, 2,570 hours and 15 minutes of conservative talk are broadcast on these stations compared to 254 hours of progressive talk — 10 times as much conservative talk as progressive talk.
– 76 percent of the news/talk programming in the top 10 radio markets is conservative, while 24 percent is progressive.

Putting The F Word Out Of The FCC

The Federal Communications Commission has always had a reputation for rather improbable rules. While there is no doubt that this has always been true, under the Bush Administration, one of the worst FCC commissioners ever happened to be Michael Powell, the son of then Secretary of State Colin Powell.

To have a Powell in charge at the FCC always struck me as a little too incestuous, when the Powell family has often sat on boards of communications companies like AOL/Time Warner. And Michael proved me right many times because never before has an FCC head worked so damned hard to:

a) block efforts for community based programming as with radio and TV
b) fine any company that allowed anyone to say or do anything unfavorable to the more extreme right wing (I wasn't happy to see Janet Jackson's nipple either but hey... bigger fish to fry, no? - and the hard turn on Howard Stern only after he started to go after Bush) and
c) "sell" the airwaves owned by the people to corporations.

So yes, after years of truly stupid, corporate-and-Bush friendly decisions, I was thrilled this week when the FCC decided that if Bush and Cheney can utter the "F words" as the big bold face of the hard right, then huge fines should not be handed out in other cases.

But we need the FCC to make other wise decisions. Now, we need to make sure the FCC doesn't help in handing off the Internet to corporations (aka Net Neutrality).

Heads Up! The FCC And The Internet Revolution

From the good folks at FreePress.Net how the Bushies are about to sell the public airwaves and what people should know:

The FCC is on the verge of turning over a large chunk of the public airwaves to the same giant phone and cable companies that control high-speed Internet access for more than 96 percent of connected American homes.

This public "spectrum" could revolutionize the Internet in America. Its wireless signal passes through concrete buildings and over mountains; it can connect tens of million of Americans who are being passed over by Internet providers like AT&T, Verizon and Comcast.

Don't let the FCC give away our wireless Internet to these price-gouging giants. The FCC deadline is fast approaching. Act now:

Tell the FCC: Use Our Airwaves for the Public Good

Broadcast television channels will soon vacate these airwaves when they go digital by 2009. If used right, these public airways will revolutionize the ways we connect to laptops, cell phones, PDAs, music players and other mobile Internet devices. They can deliver an open Internet into your house without the need for a telephone wire or cable modem.

Phone and cable lobbyists are pressuring the FCC to sell companies like AT&T, Verizon and Comcast our airwaves so they can horde spectrum and stifle competitive and cheaper alternatives to their established networks.

This would be a disaster. After years of phone and cable company control over Internet access, the United States has fallen to 16th in the world in high-speed Internet rankings, with few choices and some of the highest prices for the slowest speeds in the world. We will continue this decline as long as we let AT&T, Verizon and Comcast dictate the terms of Internet access for the majority of Americans.

These phone and cable giants refuse to open their networks to competitive applications and services. They lobby Washington to stifle new innovations like Internet phone service and to destroy Net Neutrality, the one principle that protects equal opportunity and free choice on the Web.

We need to end their stranglehold and demand a better Internet for everyone:

Tell the FCC: Keep the New Internet Open to All