Eric Alterman & Danny Goldberg: Think Again: Listen Up, Progressives: Talk Radio Matters

[babylonsister]

Think Again: Listen Up, Progressives: Talk Radio Matters

By Eric Alterman, Danny Goldberg | March 11, 2010


Did you know that when the White House and members of the media mention "code words like 'diversity' and 'equality'" what they are really proposing is "communist revolution?"

Did you know that Osama bin Laden's remarks about global warming are almost identical to "those of the average, run-of-the-mill leftist, like Obama or Harry Reid or Nancy Pelosi or the entire Democrat Party?" Or that the "global warming scam" is "an effort by the left to destroy capitalist economies?"

Here's one I'll bet you didn't know: President Barack Obama was "advised by {the} Ft. Hood Shooter."

If you didn't know the "facts" above, it means you probably haven't been spending your time listening to talk radio hosts such as Michael Savage, Rush Limbaugh, Neil Boortz, and G. Gordon Liddy. It's hard work listening to these shows, but progressives should be paying attention to the impact they're having: 48 million people get their news from these guys, according to the Pew Project For Excellence In Journalism, and the numbers of radio stations that carry at least some talk shows grew to 2,056 from 1,370 the year before, according to Inside Radio magazine.

That's more than twice the collective audience for the three TV network evening news shows combined, more than five times the audience of the three network Sunday news shows, nearly seven times the combined audience for cable news shows, nearly 10 times the audience for NPR's "Morning Edition" and "All Things Considered," and 16 times the audience for Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert.

Progressives—and I (Eric) plead particularly guilty here—tend to focus their outrage on Fox News, The Wall Street Journal editorial page, and pro-torture and antiscience op-ed writers on The Washington Post op-ed page, among others. But as these numbers indicate, we're not looking at the one place where most Americans get their news. And 9 of the top 10 talk radio shows are hosted by implacable conservatives.

On top of that, the rhetoric on these shows is even worse than Fox News—much worse.

more...

http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2010/03/ta031110.html

[Sebastian Doyle]

1. Considering Danny Goldberg did as much damage to Air America as anyone else in the head office

He really shouldn't be speaking on the subject of talk radio.

[Doctor_J]

2. This is news?

gawd, I am continually amazed at our cluelessness.

The dialog, and thus the trajectory of the country, will change precisely when we do something significant about hate radio.

[Vinnie From Indy]

3. It boggles the mind that Democrats have not devised a SERIES strategies

to deal with the MASSIVE right-wing hate radio network in America today. I have always believed that the battle should be waged LOCALLY by local Democrats. ALL of these radio shows generate income for the LOCAL radio station with LOCAL advertisers. This is the key weak point that should be attacked. Local Dems/Progressives should be mounting public boycotts of these LOCAL advertisers. It makes zero sense that these advertisers can advertise on these shows without having to pay a price with liberals.

There is no doubt in my mind that Rush Limbaugh DOES drive the discourse on the right-wing which then becomes part of the national conversation on a host of issues. He truly is that powerful in America today. And, he has never been held to account by Democrats beyond lamenting his popularity and constantly defending themselves from outrageous lies. The DNC should seriously consider making Limbaugh a priority by making his local advertisers less comfortable about their advertising on his program.

[Doctor_J]

7. I thought you said SERIES strategy?

Boycotts do nothing. Beck's advertisers have been boycotted for months, pretty successfully, with no change at all to the rhetoric.

We are going to need to think more aggressively than that.

[democracy1st]

4. K & R

[Touchdown]

5. Rwanda had a genocide largely because of hate talk radio.

It's important to remember that.

[Jane Austin]

6. If Danny Goldberg cared about liberal talk radio

He wouldn't have fired Marc Maron and canceled Morning Sedition.

I still miss that show - after all these years. It was the best thing on Air America.