Our Right-Leaning Public Media by Ralph Nader

[Better Believe It]

Our Right-Leaning Public Media
by Ralph Nader
March 15, 2011

The truth is that the frightened executives at public TV and radio have long been more hospitable to interviews with right of center or extreme right-wing and corporatist talking heads than liberal or progressive guests.

PBS’s Charlie Rose has had war-loving William Kristol on thirty one times, Henry Kissinger fifty five times, Richard Perle ten times, the global corporatist cheerleader, Tom Friedman seventy times. Compare that guest list with Rose’s interviews of widely published left of center guests—Noam Chomsky two times, William Grieder two times, Jim Hightower two times, Charlie Peters two times, Lewis Lapham three times, Bob Herbert six times, Paul Krugman twenty one times, Victor Navasky one time, Mark Green five times and Sy Hersh, once a frequent guest, has not been on since January 2005.

Far more corporate executives, not known for their leftist inclinations, appear on Rose’s show than do leaders of environmental, consumer, labor and poverty organizations.

The unabashed progressive Bill Moyer’s Show is off the air and has not been replaced. No one can charge PBS’s News Hour with Jim Lehrer with anything other than very straightforward news delivery, bland opinion exchanges and a troubling inclination to avoid much reporting that upsets the power structures in Congress, the White House, the Pentagon or Wall Street.

Read the full article at:

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/03/15-3

[Blecht]

1. Stating the obvious

But I guess it needs to be said. Again. And again.

[LoZoccolo]

2. Our tool of right-leaning political organizations by LoZoccolo

Ralph Nader presents no clear plan for enacting his agenda and his attempts are used by the right-wing to advance their own. This is apparent to probably 97% of everybody and yet he still does it.

[Better Believe It]

3. Let the swift-boating and character assassination campaign against Nader begin!

Do you have an opinion on the article or do you just see this as yet another opportunity to bash a progressive?

[LoZoccolo]

5. If the article is true enough, someone else can state the same facts.

And I have seen these sorts of things written about by other people.

Meanwhile, people who act as a net loss for progressives, who do damage far beyond the venue where they fail to do good, and who refuse to address this damage and make any attempt to reverse it, will likely find that the attacks on them come in areas far beyond the venue where they fail to do good.

[Better Believe It]

6. You didn't read Nader's clear plan presented in the article.

"Here is a solution that will avoid any need for Congressional contributions to CPB. The people own the public airwaves. They are the landlords. The commercial radio and TV stations are the tenants that pay nothing for their 24 hour use of this public property. You pay more for your auto license than the largest television station in New York pays the Federal Communications Commission for its broadcasting license—which is nothing. It has been that way since the 1927 and 1934 communication laws.

Why not charge these profitable businesses rent for use of the public airwaves and direct some of the ample proceeds to nonprofit public radio and public TV as well as an assortment of audience controlled TV and radio channels that could broadcast what is going on in our country locally, regionally, nationally and internationally? (See: Ralph Nader & Claire Riley, Oh, Say Can You See: A Broadcast Network for the Audience, 5 J.L. & POL. 1, <1988>)

Now that would be a worthy program for public broadcasting. Get Limbaugh’s and Hannity’s companies off welfare. Want to guess what their listeners think about corporate welfare?"

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/03/15-3

Now, do you have an opinion on his plan or do you prefer to engage in yet another personal attack against Ralph Nader?

[Uncle Joe]

4. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, Better Believe It.

[Scuba]

7. "Right-leaning"? How about "wholly-owned subsidiary of the RNC? n/t

[malaise]

8. Tell them Ralph although they don't want to hear

They want to control 100% of the media

[marginlized]

9. make them pay rent

I like his idea of adding some sort of rent or obligation to the FCC's letting of bandwidth via auction. He's right of course, who can "own" a radio frequency? They're as tragic a part of our commons as any other. If only we could require some sort of set aside of broadcast time for, say political campaigns, how much money would that knock out of the elections process?

Or maybe community based guerrilla radio broadcasts are the answer? Isn't a "free market" of ideas and delivery the goal here? No?

[MineralMan]

10. For some reason, I have an urge to buy a 1960 Corvair.

It's a classic, now. I had one in the mid '60s, and it was a nice little red car. Every time someone mentions Nader, I get nostalgic about that cute little car...