The Radio Equalizer: Brian Maloney

18 December 2006

Al Franken Departure, Air America Network Purchase

EXIT STAGE LEFT

Newsweek, New York Times Publish AAR 'Exclusives'






*** With Major Update Below ***

Exclusive To The Radio Equalizer


Flash: Al Franken is likely to leave Air America Radio in order to run for the US Senate!

Flash: Air America Radio is likely to be bailed out by new buyers!

If you'll excuse your Radio Equalizer for having a good chuckle, sometimes reading the mainstream media's "exclusives" is a bit too much to take. If the blogosphere beats these guys by weeks or even months to a story, can they still consider it a scoop?

That's why we found no reason not to slap our own "exclusive" tag on this one. After all, new details regarding Air America's buyers are included below, which the New York Times and Newsweek have missed.

And with his weird, almost paranoid aversion to blogs, Matt Drudge is usually the worst in this regard. Hence his Sunday night headline:


AL FRANKEN LIKELY TO DEPART 'AIR AMERICA'; TELLS ASSOCIATES HE'S EYEING RUN FOR SENATE...


Earlier, it even had his trademark "developing..." tag added. Is it really news only when one of the weekly magazines runs with it?

A month ago, based on public statements from his affiliates, we ran with a story that Franken was expected to exit the airwaves on December 8. As Al's been visiting Iraq, he hasn't actually done a show since then, but we do expect him to return to airwaves at least long enough to say goodbye. Whether that on- air adios will last a few days or longer isn't clear.

From Newsweek:


Dead Air?

Less than three years after launch, Air America's last hope lies in finding a white knight.


Web Exclusive
By Matthew Philips
Newsweek
Updated: 2:57 p.m. ET Dec 17, 2006

Dec. 17, 2006 - After filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in October, liberal talk radio network Air America has spent the past two months looking for someone to buy it out of the $40 million hole it has dug itself since launching in March 2004. With reports of potential buyers ranging from a group of investors led by two Showtime executives, to a small obscure media company, this week the network finally confirmed that a letter of intent has been signed by an undisclosed potential buyer, and that negotiations have now turned to drafting a purchase agreement to divvy up the $20 million of debt the broadcaster owes to a roster of more than 100 creditors.

It’s still anyone’s guess as to what shape Air America will take if and when it re-emerges under new ownership, especially amid reports that one of its biggest stars, comedian Al Franken, may leave the network to launch a campaign for the Democratic nomination to challenge Minnesota Republican Sen. Norm Coleman in 2008. (Franken is currently on a USO tour in Iraq and Afghanistan, and couldn't be reached for comment.) The prevailing sense among media watchers, though, is that Air America is a failed enterprise. The only question is why.

A look at Air America’s bankruptcy filings offers insight into an impatient network that seemed bent on catching up to such industry mainstays as Rush Limbaugh practically overnight.

Air America certainly spent like the big boys. Included among its $4 million of assets is a combined $1.2 million in broadcast and recording equipment, computers and office furniture. It still owes $327,000 in back rent on the sprawling 2,200-square-foot studio in New York's Chelsea area it built in 2005, as well as $1.4 million in wage and severance claims to on-air talent and high-priced executives. Franken alone is owed more than $360,000.


While the Newsweek piece actually does contain a number of good points, especially regarding the infighting, we'd like to point out that Air America has outspent the big boys by far.

We're aware of no other instance of an assistant being paid more than $600,000 a year, as has Franken executive producer Billy Kimball. And Franken's own $2 million salary is about ten times higher than that of many other syndicated hosts with a similar audience reach.

As far as Franken's future, the conventional wisdom is that he'd like to run for the US Senate from Minnesota, but we also sense he would jump at the chance to host his own cable talk show, especially since that would allow him to continue the lavish lifestyle to which he's increasingly grown accustomed.


Breathing down Newsweek's neck is this fresh New York Times piece, which is where the Drudge link takes his readers. While the paper rehashes some of what we reported on December 7 regarding Air America's potential buyers, it misses the key development: the name of the network's new "strategic media partner":


After Bankruptcy Filing, Recriminations Fly at Air America

By ELIZABETH JENSEN and LIA MILLER

In its search for a new chief executive this past summer, Air America Radio interviewed seasoned media executives in an effort to revive the faltering network. One interview took a bizarre turn, however, when the executive got into a political argument with Randi Rhodes, one of the network’s on-air hosts.

“I laughed and said, ‘You sound like Republican talking points,’ ” Ms. Rhodes recalled.

At Air America, business and politics always mixed, and that was the problem, critics contend. Begun with an onslaught of publicity in spring 2004 as an alternative to right-wing talk radio, the network is given some of the credit by its supporters for having helped achieve the Democrats’ Congressional election victory in November.

Detractors label the liberal network’s programming as combative, one-note and emotional. At least its business dealings seem to fit that last description. Even before Air America and its corporate parent, Piquant L.L.C., sought bankruptcy protection on Oct. 13, its management was engulfed in a series of financial crises. The search for new investors and managers has been marred by infighting among those who want the network to succeed, according to people in the organization.

In recent weeks, Air America, which has its headquarters in New York and reaches about 2.4 million listeners weekly, has suffered the defection of a handful of its more than 80 affiliated stations and soon faces the likely departure of its most visible host, Al Franken, even as it cobbles together a plan to emerge from Chapter 11.

A possible solution surfaced on Friday. Douglas Kreeger, an initial investor and former chief executive who stabilized the network in its early months, said in a telephone interview that there is “a signed letter of intent” for a new group to take over the network and that he is “likely” to be a part. The lead equity position would be taken by Terence F. Kelly, of Madison, Wis., also an Air America investor from the beginning and a former board chairman.

Mr. Kelly said in a separate interview that the investor group included a new strategic media partner he declined to name, and both men would not predict when a deal might come to fruition.


Other than Bill Press, who in their right mind would be crazy enough to argue that Air America played a role in this year's Democrat Party election victory? We think it happened despite their participation.


And here at the Radio Equalizer, we believe that a purchase deal has already been reached, contrary to what the NYT is reporting. Including participation by Kreeger and the Showtime executives named in our previous report, we've learned that the network's primary "media partner" is the French family, which owns the New York- based Regional News Network.

From Wikipedia, here's more on their current television operation:


WRNN-TV broadcasts a schedule of mainly infomercials and home shopping from Rye Brook, New York with two and a half hours of news programs weekdays, some hourly one minute news updates, and enough children's programs to meet FCC Educational / Informational (E/I) license requirements. The main, full-power signal broadcasts in digital only on UHF channel 48.

It first went on the air in December 15, 1985 as WTZA, an independent station serving the mid-upper Hudson Valley region of New York State (the cities of Kingston, Poughkeepsie and Newburgh and region) and peripherally (by virtue of the outer range of their signal) the Albany area and the northern suburbs of New York City. The area is one of the biggest in the country to lack its own TV stations due to being in the signal range of both the New York and Albany stations.

The RNN talk set, where nightly programming is hosted from, in Rye Brook, NY. July 2006.

The weather portion of the newscast was unique in that it would give full forecasts for both New York City and Albany even though the station was not on-air in either city. WTZA would be relatively successful given the underserved nature of its coverage area. In 1993, station founder Ed Swyer (an Albany-area commercial developer) would encounter financial difficulties and late that year would sell the station to Richard French Sr., a Westchester County businessman.

Though WTZA was still doing well in its market, the station had begun to struggle prior to the sale due to the station being shut out of many syndicated programs by larger stations in New York and Albany. In early 1995, most general entertainment programming was replaced with infomercials with news remaining and that October the call letters were changed to WRNN and its focus shifted to mostly news and infomercials with a lean going southward towards the French's home base of Westchester County.

After a 1999 reduction of news programming to only weekday evening hours, the station began to target New York City even more. For example, weather forecasts are not given for points north of Kingston even though its license is there, and more emphasis on New York City news is given than in the past.

Oddly enough, the station applied for must-carry in the entire Albany market several years after the station stopped covering the area outside of politics.


So the "media partner" is a home shopping channel? That's how it appears, but a look at RNN's fairly crude website shows its news programming takes a leftist political approach, with a great deal of union backing.

But is anyone watching? We wonder how many people can actually pick up the station.

We still believe that the new Air America Radio will primarily focus on developing its website, including the addition of video segments. It doesn't appear that more than a few of the network's current shows will remain, but we do expect AAR's syndicated Thom Hartmann Show to slide into Franken's place.


From here, the left's ongoing mission is to convince the public that liberal radio can still succeed, despite Air America's failure. But beyond a couple of moderate hits, we've seen no evidence to support this claim. If it were the case, the recent libtalk format changes would not have taken place.

After years of trying out every lefty under the sun, isn't it time to admit this just isn't going to work?

ALSO: the AP joins in on the fun. And more from Sister Toldjah and NewsBusters.

UPDATE: Franken is not returning to the airwaves anytime soon, we now think he may not even say goodbye to his listeners.

AAR Bellringer, I'm Rich: David A Lunde

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35 Comments:

  • Brian asks:But is anyone watching? We wonder how many people can actually pick up the station.

    WRNN is on Cablevision in the 5 boros and Long Island, on ch.19 I believe. The station is also on Time Warner Cable and was on Direct TV (5 years since I had direct TV though. Pick up????? Is there a single person oput there that still watches over-the-air television???? Terrestrial television????? come on Brian, its a dinosaur, maybe 1% of the NY area depends on over the air signals for television.

    Franken gone? A good thing for the netowrk, he is an over paid bore, but his books are great!

    By Blogger Minister of Propaganda, at 18 December, 2006 10:06  

  • WHLD in Buffalo area has dropped libtalk and (according to a post on radio-info) is now billing themselves as the New Gospel 1270. Their site said they gave progtalk the old
    college try but it didn't work out,
    and they urged listeners to contact
    Entercom--which owned WWKB 1520--
    to urge them to keep prog. talk on there (as there have been rumors
    they too may change format)

    By Blogger raccoonradio, at 18 December, 2006 12:08  

  • Irarjackoff:

    Too bad nazi, Air America is getting a new owner and will still remain in existance. You filthy little nazi scum bag! America has rejected you! got it? You filthy little ditto head, Anti-American Bush turd.
    Crass post?
    I don't give a rats ass. YOU FILTHY 21%ERS are ENEMIES of this NATION. You are nothing but a bunch of worthless cowards, allowing our troops to be killed in the name of Saudi Arabia.
    God bless Air America, you little nazi freaks will not stop the truth from reaching American's ears.

    speaking of truth to power, evilliberals.com. come listen to truth tonight on the internet 10PM-MID EST.

    less oxycotin, more reality
    smashing the collective skulls of right wingers

    Exposing the right, humiliating the right, mocking the right

    By Blogger Minister of Propaganda, at 18 December, 2006 13:15  

  • Maybe there is a correlation between Radioequalizers' hits and Air America's ratings?

    The Radioequalizer has now fallen to a two year low, to the status of a Marauding Marsupial.

    Time to introduce new content Maloney. Stay the course may be an effective slogan for a disgraced president but it is not for a hack blogger.

    By Blogger none, at 18 December, 2006 14:23  

  • Scott Allen Miller of WRKO talks about Air America's problems in his

    blog


    (scroll down to see that entry).

    He points out that yes, these stations were placed on inferior signals, etc., but the likes of Rush had to
    deal with that problem too. And he questions the idea of lack of promotion by CC:

    "Clear Channel's alleged neglect of its prog talk stations in Boston should be the envy of anyone in talk radio. The outdoor advertising budget for these stations must have been in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Many of its personalities have had long, glowing features written about them in the Boston Globe while the embarrassing incidents -- such as Randi Rhodes' two references to wanting to shoot President Bush -- never made it to print. If my show was neglected as much as Al Franken's show has been, my ratings would double."

    By Blogger raccoonradio, at 18 December, 2006 14:25  

  • elmonica: hysterical compare Maloney to dailykos!!!! around 1/2 million hits a day for kos to Maloney's 2000!!!!!!! Too funny... lots of "moonbats" on kos I see hhaahahaha. Seriously the only only moonbats are the 300 people who read this blog, minus the 200 or so "liberals" who monitor this board for a joke!! I you take away all the repeats on this board, maybe 100 unique visitors. With all that coverage on Oriley, Maloney that is PATHETIC.

    Racoon:
    only problem with that hack you refrenced, Rhodes never said ANYTHING about shooting the president. never. Once a comedy bit was played, a COMEDY BIT, which she did not even write. Racoon, these right wing freaks lie to you on a daily basis, how much longer can you take being bullied. I guess you like being played the fool

    Why do i come here??Jeez, this blog is LAME, maybe i should stsrt posting on Kos or a real blog with readers.

    Evilliberals.com
    link to our live broadcast 10PM-Mid EST
    Monday night and Thursday night

    By Blogger Minister of Propaganda, at 18 December, 2006 16:27  

  • MOP

    WRNN for the most part is on channel 19 on Cablevision, even here in CT-Stan. This link will tell you where RNN--a waste of TV dial space if there was one--can be seen. Frankly a high school TV department can run better than these hack amateurs:

    http://www.rnntv.com/NewsChooser/pages/multi_column/channel_pg.cfm

    I have heard of some people who watch only OTA--Over The Air--signals to either save money from the cable monopolies or just because they think cable, well for lack of a better word, blows.

    WRNN isn't the only station to go to a digital signal. More successful UHF indie WLNY-TV 55 Riverhead shut down the analog channel (55) and turned on the digital channel (57). This even though they still ID as TV55.

    The reason I say more successful is because they air shows like Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy, movies at 8:00 (keeping a tradition used by 5, 9 and 11 from back in the day) and many talk shows including Ho-Prah and "Big Baldy of Texas" Dr. Phil.

    Their news is kind of on the RNN level in terms of production and they have been known to air a special program regarding abortion. I would think the owners of WLNY tend to lean to the right.

    By Blogger The Real Bob Anthony, at 18 December, 2006 18:17  

  • Elmonica, check the site meter, not the TTLB ecosystem, to get a true sense of this site's traffic count.

    As of 7pm Monday, we've had over 5000 visitors today. And we've just seen three of our biggest-ever months for traffic.

    The TTLB was nice when it began but has been so buggy in the last year or so that it has fallen out of favor. And some bloggers are known to manipulate it with bogus links. We don't do that, because it's a waste of time. It doesn't matter.

    By Blogger Brian Maloney, at 18 December, 2006 19:14  

  • "Why do i come here??Jeez, this blog is LAME, maybe i should stsrt posting on Kos or a real blog with readers."

    Nobody's stopping ya, Strawman. If nothing else, your grammar skills and punctuation will fit right in with the other KosTards.

    But if you so hate this place, why do you keep coming on here and link-whoring to your little twice-a-week vaporcast wankfest?

    Buh-bye, little boy.

    By Blogger SierraSpartan, at 18 December, 2006 20:13  

  • ht me

    By Blogger none, at 18 December, 2006 21:28  

  • Sayeth the Newsweak scribe: "The prevailing sense among media watchers, though, is that Air America is a failed enterprise. The only question is why."

    YO! Over here, I know why! Now, all you "media watchers," listen c-a-r-e-f-u-l-l-y.

    There is an undeniable, pervasive, overwhelming bias toward liberal points of view and against conservative opinion and activism in what we have come to call the Mainstream Media.

    Partisans on the left can just open their local paper and see their worldview splashed all over most of the nation's best-read newspapers. This is true even when the facts disagree with the editors' headlines, or the wire reports' ledes slant the reader away from mitigating details craftily delayed until the end of the articles.

    Fans of that kind of reporting can flip on the TV and see the Bush-is-never-right-yet-won't-admit-he's-a-failure news from the likes of Matt "We're going to call it civil war" Lauer, his former colleagues Katie Couric and Brian Williams, Charlie Gibson, Terry "Sweet Lips" Moran, and former Clinton crony George Stephanopoulos. They have PBS, NPR, MSNBC, everyone on CNN save Lou Dobbs (on immigration) and Glenn Beck on the back-bench Headline News channel. And for the casual liberal who gets too worked up by the "real" news, there's always Jon Stewart and David Letterman.

    Nevertheless, the CNN viewership is dwarfed by that of Fox News Channel. Still, CNN bills itself the most "trusted" cable news source. How can it say that when fledgling FNC left CNN in the dust years ago? I guess in their not-so-humble opinions, people who are dumb enough to trust Fox News don't count.

    Which brings us to the heart of the matter: Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Michael Savage, Mark Levin, Laura Ingraham and the rest rule radio because if you are repelled by the bias -- as I am --that's where you need to go. I would venture to guess that the majority of conservative talk listeners would describe themselves as refugees from the MSM. Rush has been saying it for years regarding the so-called Fairness Doctrine, boosted by people who envy his unstoppable dominance of the medium and demand equal time: "I AM equal time." That has been the key to FNC's success as well. But Limbaugh, FNC, and those who came in their wake are consigned with malice by the MSM majority as less deserving of respect than the late, great Rodney Dangerfield.

    Combined with CNN, the network news divisions of ABC, CBS, NBC, N.Y. and L.A. Times, Washington Post, Time, and Newsweek cradling lefties in the red-hot anger of everything Bush, GOP and Wal-Mart that keeps them warm, why would they feel the need to scour the radio dial and adjust their antennas constantly to listen to washed-up hacks like Al Franken, Janeane Garofalo, and Chuck D.?

    That's a rhetorical question. Stop scratching your head, Mr. Newsweek.

    P.S. It's going to be interesting to see Franken running for office. Personally, I don't think he'll make the DFL nomination. Wellstone was a way-out lefty, but he walked his talk -- you could disagree with his views, but I don't remember anyone saying he was an a-hole. OTOH, Franken is a limousine liberal with a less-than-Senatorial mean streak and anger control issues, which are sure to show up more than a few times once he gets seriously challenged.

    By Blogger L.N. Smithee, at 18 December, 2006 21:36  

  • "Wellstone was a way-out lefty, but he walked his talk...."

    Until he was murdered, that is....

    "you could disagree with his views, but I don't remember anyone saying he was an a-hole...."

    To his face, anyway...

    "OTOH, Franken is a limousine liberal with a less-than-Senatorial mean streak and anger control issues, which are sure to show up more than a few times once he gets seriously challenged."

    Yes.

    Regrettably, yes.

    By Blogger hashfanatic, at 19 December, 2006 00:04  

  • Let's see, hollowed out middle-class. Pensions denied to old people.

    Iraq in flames. North Korea dictating terms. All of South America turning against us. Europeans holding their noses at the stench we emit. The entire Islamic world enraged at our arrogance.

    And you're worried that Al Franken, who's actually pretty middle of the road and whose attitudes probably map quite well onto the current American psyche, might be a bit irascible and therefore a bad Senator?

    What planet are you from? In Britain, the opposition would be publicly crying for the blood of a foolish administrator like Bush.

    What part of democracy don't you get?

    By Blogger John, at 19 December, 2006 00:30  

  • The Rethugs couldn't care less about the middle class or elderly people.

    Only money. And blood.

    By Blogger hashfanatic, at 19 December, 2006 00:56  

  • By the way, still looking for those promised new "scoops", or even an old one, like how George Soros funded Air America!

    (I like to check in monthly to remind our readers that we bloggers still don't know how Brian Maloney explains this little tidbit...)

    By Blogger hashfanatic, at 19 December, 2006 01:24  

  • >>overwhelming bias toward liberal points of view and against conservative opinion

    I agree. If you hear someone say
    "there is no liberal bias", he/she
    is probably a liberal who doesn't
    notice it. In addition to the sources
    you mention, many professors (hello
    David Horowitz) pack liberal views
    into their classes ("we're showing you An Inconvenient Truth today, class...")

    >>refugees from the MSM

    You got it.

    "The story is true..."--Dan
    Rather after the Mary Mapes-fed
    fake memos controversy

    By Blogger raccoonradio, at 19 December, 2006 04:34  

  • hash is nuts, period. No on murdered Wellstone.

    I wish hash and that dumb*ss professor at MADison who says 9/11 was a Bush operation would both be in rubber room receiving mental help and detoxification.

    By Blogger PCD, at 19 December, 2006 08:40  

  • Well, no, PCD. You and I have DIFFERING OPINIONS on the Wellstone issue. Conservatives don't deal well with the concept of disagreement, and dissenting opinion, so, to a certain extent, your kneejerk responses are actually expected...

    You and your ilk might believe that I, and others like me should be institutionalized, and I, and others like myself may believe that you and others should ideally be quietly exterminated for the good of our society.

    But what does any of this have to do with the price of tea in China?

    I'm claiming you are, by association, responsible for the assassinations of a growing number of American public figures, and you deny this.

    What else is new?

    By Blogger hashfanatic, at 19 December, 2006 10:01  

  • Racoon:
    You are functionally retarted. The "liberal media" bullshit, is the biggest strawman argument going. A liberal media, that has already destroyed Obama's presidential run, 2 years away from the election?? A "liberal media" that calls McCain, the biggest ass kisser of the Bush administration alive a "maverick". You are functionally retarted. You listen to so much Marc Levin, Limbaugh, Hannity, you no longer can use logic in your thoughts. The media is about as "liberal" as f*cking Ann Coulter. The media is a big business right wing complict propaganda outlet for the Republican party.

    The most insane argument is the following. Every last vacous right wing talking head recites "the media does not show the good going on in Iraq"!!!!!!!!!!! Yet, untill 2005, America did not even understand we were in a war, hence Bush won. The media IGNORED the Iraqi war for almost 3 years, to get Bush re-elected. The sociopathic right expects the media to report on "the schools we built" instead of the REAL news, that the country is in a CIVIL WAR. The mentally ill right expects the media to be more of a propaganda outlet than it already is. How much worse can it get?


    These people are functionally retarted. AM talk radio tells them "liberal media", these functionally retarted people, absorb it like a sponge

    By Blogger Minister of Propaganda, at 19 December, 2006 11:42  

  • Minister of Propaganda wrote: "A liberal media, that has already destroyed Obama's presidential run, 2 years away from the election??"

    OK, MoP, I'm-a-callin' yer bluff. Please explain to us all how Obama's been "destroyed" before even announcing his candidacy when he's got the #1 bestselling non-fiction book in the nation and nobody save figures firmly on the right-of-center saying anything negative about him -- unless you count Maureen Dowd taking note of his big ears.

    Seriously, I wanna know what your thought process is on this. Don't chicken out.

    By Blogger L.N. Smithee, at 19 December, 2006 20:34  

  • Fair enough, Smithee, from Fox to CNN to MSNBC and even CBS, their has been non stop chatter about "Hussain" being the man's middle name, Obama rhyming with Osmama, even a 3 minute clip on CNN comparing his dress to the president of Iran, comple with both of their pictures side by side. We all know how advertising works right? Subliminally is the key to advertising. The Right wing complict media has orchestrated an all out campaign by using Madison Ave tricks to have folks associate Obama with Saddam Hussain, Osama Bin Laden and the Iraian president, similiar to the way the golden arches are associated with cheese burgers! This is not hard my friend. Note not a single negative piece on McCain or Jeb Bush or Gingrich or Guilliani has been run on any NETWORK. I do agree Obama swings a little right, bu not far right enough for the mini-fascists who call themselves "conservative" today

    Smitte quote: partisans on the left can just open their local paper and see their worldview splashed all over most of the nation's best-read newspapers

    mmmmmm. My local paper the NY Post is a paper practically written by the RNC, ditto NY Daily News, I suppose you are spewing the timeless "bu bu bu NY Times liberal media", I say CRAP! Only "liberal slant" is in the op-ed. What is contained in the Times is what the right wing is scared shitless over, ACTUAL NEWS. I suppose the actual NEWS is "liberal bias"?? I betchha... you would rather have white house press releases plastered all over the news, such as the right wing radio's favorite " bu bu bu we built a school in Iraq". Enjoy! I demand NEWS, not government press releases, which is exactly what 90% of today's media is.

    By Blogger Minister of Propaganda, at 19 December, 2006 22:10  

  • MOP,

    You and I both know that NYC is not really representative of most cities, since it is served by at least four fairly well known dailies.

    Cities in which I have lived have, by and large, been served by one daily newspaper whose editorial board leans left, as well as an alternative weekly whose entire staff leans further left. Now, this is just my experience, and I know that there are cities in which the paper leans just as far the other way (Oklahoma City comes to mind), but that's what I've seen.

    By Blogger Snowed In, at 19 December, 2006 22:45  

  • But out-of-town papers are generally available, and, even when they are not, these "establishment" rags that espouse each political point of view are easily available on the internet, so it's not as though there isn't access to SOMETHING....it's simply that a large and growing array of NEWS is simply not being reported on, period.

    We're ranked somewhere in the high twenties now when it comes to freedom of the press, so the phenomena is not unnoticed...it's simply that to correct the situation will require much upheaval and a lot of jettisoning of journalistic traditions and figures that many Americans are uncomfortable with...

    Can you blame them? The American people have been lied to and manipulated on a continuous basis since 1979....sometimes it's easier to swallow a pack of lies that is at least sometimes palatable, than a consistent but repulsive truth.

    By Blogger hashfanatic, at 20 December, 2006 00:45  

  • "it's simply that to correct the situation will require much upheaval and a lot of jettisoning of journalistic traditions and figures that many Americans are uncomfortable with..."

    What, you mean like every frakkin newspaper looking to the NYT as the 'paper of record'?

    Or would the tradition in need of jettisoning be looking for the pithy sound bite instead of actually tracking what a person does and says throughout his or her career?

    There would be no liberal medial bias if the media would actually concentrate on doing their frakkin' jobs rather than looking at the NYT bulldog edition and parroting it.

    One of the reasons for the success of talk radio is that the format is given to be able to explore topics for more than 30 seconds at a time, thus allowing people to get the actual story behind the story.

    If the legacy media were to even make an attempt to follow that approach, then maybe there would be a much better informed public.

    But all the above will be spitting into the wind if there is not some means of getting rid of the liberal groupthink that goes on within the legacy media these days.

    By Blogger SierraSpartan, at 20 December, 2006 01:49  

  • By Blogger L.N. Smithee, at 20 December, 2006 02:17  

  • I don't know happened to the links in the last post. It looked fine in the preview!

    By Blogger L.N. Smithee, at 20 December, 2006 02:21  

  • JD, the New York Times can only PROVIDE you with the news.

    It cannot be forced to make you comprehend it.

    By Blogger hashfanatic, at 20 December, 2006 02:32  

  • LN-they are, quite simply, laying the groundwork for Sen. Obama's assassination.

    By Blogger hashfanatic, at 20 December, 2006 02:33  

  • LN-they are, quite simply, laying the groundwork for Sen. Obama's assassination.

    Wow. Just wow.

    By Blogger Snowed In, at 20 December, 2006 09:06  

  • Nice Try, but I played the audi of the whole thing on my radio show it was Jeff Greenfield
    Greenfield introduced his CNN report on Obama by saying: "[I]n the spirit of retched excess, let's take a look not at what [Obama is] saying, but at another crucially vital matter: what he is wearing." After comparing Obama's "business casual" dress to Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) -- who, Greenfield said, wore "the kind of casual look you see at country clubs and lawn parties in the Hamptons" -- President Bush, former President Ronald Reagan, and former President Richard Nixon, Greenfield asked, "Is there any other major public figure who dresses the way [Obama] does?" Greenfield responded, "Why, yes. It's Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. ... And maybe that's not the comparison a possible presidential contender really wants to evoke." Greenfield added:

    GREENFIELD: Now, it is one thing to have a last name that sounds like Osama and a middle name, Hussein, that is probably less than helpful. But an outfit that reminds people of a charter member of the Axis of Evil? Why, this could leave his presidential hopes hanging by a thread. Or is that threads?
    ********************************
    As this was being said a video clip of Obama and Iranian presidennt was spashed accross the screen. I do not make this crap up
    http://mediamatters.org/items/200612150011

    By Blogger Minister of Propaganda, at 20 December, 2006 10:49  

  • So still think CNN is liberally biased? The Lib media is a straw man fake argument.
    I got even more
    Waashington Post is even shilling for Rudy Guilliani in the op-eds, calling him TOUGH!!!!!!! Absolutly pathetic

    Not a single sylabble of criticism on any potential GOP candidate but a smear campaign on Obama and the Hillary crap is now starting.

    what liberal media, I ask?????

    By Blogger Minister of Propaganda, at 20 December, 2006 10:57  

  • J.D
    One of the reasons for the success of talk radio is that the format is given to be able to explore topics for more than 30 seconds at a time, thus allowing people to get the actual story behind the story.


    Now what talk radio show does that, maybe on Pacifica or maybe Thom Hartman. I hear Marc Levin shrieking 'lib lib lib lib', I hear talking points with ZERO numbers 'clinton cut the military' followed by NO BACKING, NO "depth". Hannity... spewing an endless stream of de-bunked crap and calling everyone an "anti-semite". Ingram, srcastically insulting "lib lib lib lib', no research, no depth. Savage, pure opinion and hatred of "gays and Muslims"

    So I assume you listen to Thom Hartman and a lot of Pacificia, talk radio than actually researches????

    What talk show host on the right does any research?? I listen to all of them.


    you despise the Times because they PRINT the news, whether it caststhe US leadership in a positive light or not. You want news that recites the GOP agenda. It is a gimmick, the "lib media argument" a gimmick that has fooled a lot of people like you

    By Blogger Minister of Propaganda, at 20 December, 2006 11:10  

  • Jerkoff

    Their is no Kill Bush rant, you are a pathological liar, 1000000% fucking liar. You are a mentally sick loser, who has to resort to a LIE to win an argument.

    A. Randi Rhodes never said Kill Bush, ANY TIME, a comedy bit was aired which she did not even write

    B. A.A has new owners, they are not going away

    C. Rhodes is a AIR FORCE VETERAN, and radio person for 14 years, JEALOUS???????

    You aere one sad 21%er. Rhodes, never had a KILL BUSH rant, a FUCKING LIAR, right here before Maloney's 4000 readers, you are called out as a PATHOLOGICAL LAIR. If she had a Kill Bush rant, it would be easily found on a right wing blog. Produce it, jack off.

    I destroyed Smittee, with the facts on the Obama issue, I will destroy you as well. I have a level of credibility, I produce FACTS to back it, Smitte wanted the QUOTE, I produced it, NOW PRODUCE THE RANDI QUOTE, their is NONE, you pathological fucking liar.

    YOU ARE A PATHOLOGICAL LIAR
    PATHOLOGICAL LIAR

    before 4000 viewers, you have been humiliated,
    LIAR
    YOU ARE A LIAR

    prove me wrong
    LIAR
    LIAR

    If you cant debate do not bother

    LIAR

    21%ER

    I await Smitte, to admit he was wrong. Is there a single right winger with any CREDIBLITY??

    By Blogger Minister of Propaganda, at 20 December, 2006 12:59  

  • Jackoff posted

    I heard her KILL BUSH rant.....that woman has large hooters, and drinks. She needs to be laid, and she'd probably end up being a Conserve. No wonder she has no life much less love life.

    ___________________________________
    Rhodes is divorced and has a boyfriend now. As a happy liberal I get "laid" everynight, how old are you 10???????

    I betttchaaa jackofff over here, lives with MOMMY. I guarantee it.


    HE IS A PATHOLOGICAL LIAR

    IM CALLING HIM OUT

    I'm correct 99% of the time on this board. Everyone know it

    evilliberals.com
    less oxycotin.... more reality

    By Blogger Minister of Propaganda, at 20 December, 2006 13:05  

  • I'm correct 99% of the time on this board. Everyone know it

    Ummm...it's "knows". :)

    By Blogger Snowed In, at 20 December, 2006 13:48  

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