The Trials Of Air America, by Steve Rendall.

[buddinganarchist]

Fairness And accuracy In Reporting, the progressive media watchdog recently wrote a piece about why Air America seems to be failing. Rendall makes some interesting points. He pretty much has the right ideas.

Another question, should liberals be listening to the radio all day? lol

http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=3051

[buddinganarchist]

1. By the way...

Send some money to FAir, they need our support.

[madfloridian]

2. This statement bothers me.

Because actually most of our liberal blogosphere was right about so much.

". Seder’s and Majority Report’s preference for bloggers, who were often newcomers to politics, over experienced progressive experts and activists detracted from the show’s seriousness and impact. "

Well, us newcomers knew Iraq was dead wrong, and "experienced" experts often did not.

[live love laugh]

5. That's pure BS. The only two outlets to fight against the RW are liberal

radio and the web. They have watered down liberal radio very quickly. The internet ain't what it used to be either. Hopefully, we will see a resurgence. At some point it may be up to the people to form the kind of media we desire.

[FredStembottom]

6. Excellent point!

Thank you for pointing that out.

The "inexperienced bloggers" were 100% right about the war being based on lies and a bad idea.

Where's the "detracted...impact" in that?

[FredStembottom]

3. In a nutshell........

If AAR was a mirror image of Right Wing Talk - I wouldn't be listening today.

I think liberals ARE different and Rush is right: we like nuance and discussion. We are liberals because we don't like sweeping, simple-minded, doctrinaire pablum.

I don't want to listen to left-wing hillbillies any more than I want to listen to the right wing ones.

I like F.A.I.R. but they get an F on this one.:argh:

[ClassWarrior]

4. On top of which, AAR really ain't failing. They're being sabotaged...

...by Big Radio - Clear Channel and the like.

NGU.

[FredStembottom]

7. ANd where's MY Arbitron book?!?!?

I have never been asked in my LIFE to log my radio listening hours - nor has anyone I know.

I listen in my delivery truk all day to AAR - I wish to hell I could make those hours reflect in the network's totals!

[irish.lambchop]

8. I was so excited when Air America

first came on the air. Now they're getting rid of Sam Seder and XM gives me Ed Schultz at noon! I get re-broadcasts of Thom Hartmann on weekends - better than nothing. I go back and forth between C-Span and Air America radio all day. (I just realized this sounds like I have no life :boring:

[FredStembottom]

9. Wow...... Ed as a replacement for Sam?

That's not Fair Trade!:thumbsdown:

[irish.lambchop]

10. XM broadcasts

Ed Schultz at noon - not Air America's decision, I guess. Heard rumors that Sam will now be doing a Sunday show for Air America and that's it. If Air America takes Rachel Maddow off, I'm done with them.

[valerief]

15. Ed Schultz sucks big time. They should not be getting rid of Sam Seder at all!

I love Randi and Thom and like Rachel. I totally depend on Air America for information during my daily commute.

[alarimer]

11. I think we lost our AAR affiliate

Probably due to mismanagement on the part of the station owner. Now he says he can't get enough advertisers so it's all oldie music right now (Who the hell listens to AM radio for MUSIC- it sounds terrible). But prior to this change (Jalapeno Oldies, anyone?), he put on a lot of locals, most of whom (with the exception of John Kelley, a local Dem activist) were idiots. Plus replacing the 11-2 show with SHOPPING. I kid you not. I used to listen faithfully but I got fed up with all the crap and then I got Sirius so I never listen to local radio anymore.

[buddinganarchist]

13. Even with how weak AA usually is.

They need to do what Rendall said. And you all are being very unfair to him. You know AA relied on Bloggers more then they should. People just don't take bloggers as serious commentators, like the Chomsky's. That's a fact.

[madfloridian]

21. You come to DU and insult bloggers?

:wow:

[alarimer]

22. Yes that's funny

Bloggers were right about the war long before the "experts" were. Al Franken had a lot of people on his show that were not bloggers. So does Randi Rhodes and many of the others. I never listened much to Sam because he was on in the morning and I was at work so I don't know why they may have let him go.

[valerief]

16. I got XM so that I never have to listen to local radio anymore either. nt

[MissMarple]

12. So...reorganize as a non profit and focus the message.

"A former Air America executive told Extra! that the syndication route might have been wiser in hindsight. But he suggested that the network’s big problem was that it was a business in which investors were eager to see profits too quickly, an unlikely possibility in an industry where it takes time to build an audience and win ratings. He explained:


Had Air America been formed as a not-for-profit and relied on listener support and like-minded foundations, it would have been a more successful route. What’s important is to get the word out that the healthcare system is corrupt and the war is wrong. Meanwhile, Air America is mired in a business plan instead of being immersed in progressive activism."

http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=3050

I do agree that focusing the progressive, liberal message is important. Health care, our decaying infrastructure, chronic underfunding of public education, the criminally negligent way this war has been conducted, not to mention the reasons for starting it in the first place, out sourcing of jobs and leaving American workers in the lurch, there is a lot to focus on. And, building a message that provides an umbrella for all of the issues is important.

[buddinganarchist]

14. Al Franken avoided progressive politics like the plague.

Hope he doesn't go even farther right when he runs for Senate.

Air America should get non-profit money, like Democracy Now, plus have the same type of guests. Too much talk about Scooter Libby, not enough about single payer, media reform, anti-Capitalism, etc.

[Peace Patriot]

17. I don't think Rendall puts his finger on it.

He says some interesting things--for instance, that rightwing radio is so extreme that it makes actual Republicon politicians look "moderate." And that AAR didn't go far enough to the left, to perform the same service for Democratic politicians. He blames Al Franken for this (much too "centrist.") I think there is truth to this. There is certainly a place for Al Franken in liberal talk radio (if you like hearing the DLC line)--and, as I understand it, he was helpful in founding AAR. But his political perspective was probably not leftist enough for AAR's biggest potential audience.

I remember being particularly annoyed with Franken for his taking the party line on stolen elections--and especially on the egregiously non-transparent, Bushite-controlled, Diebold/ES&S electronic voting coup that, in my opinion (and the opinion of many), tipped the 2004 election to Bush. The party line was to place an "Iron Curtain" over this subject, probably because billions of dollars for the new e-voting systems were running through both Democratic and Republicon fingers, and/or some among the Democratic Party leaders like Bush's war and like having him as president. In any case, the American people were way ahead of Franken, AAR and the Democratic Party on this one. WE knew. We wanted it exposed. And those of us who had access to AAR listened to Randi, and turned off Franken. This is one way that Franken alienated AAR's natural audience. The other--which Rendall does point out--is the war. Franken was basically for it, and kept putting war apologists on the air, and driving AAR listeners crazy with their muddled, "centrist" views on the slaughter of half a million people to get their oil.

The big thing that Rendall doesn't address--in comparing right- and left-wing radio--is WHO makes the decisions to put people on the air. This is a big topic, to be sure--but it is determinative. WHO is using OUR PUBLIC AIRWAVES to put hate radio and fascist views into the public dialogue in America, to the virtual exclusion of all other views?

It's NOT what will sell. The evidence points to the great American majority being overwhelmingly progressive in its views. It's what certain people--certain rightwing billionaire CEOS--want to shove down our throats.

And it's quite interesting that they have failed. Their propaganda has failed. 75% of the American people oppose the Iraq War and want it ended. And way back just before the war, 56% opposed it (Feb. '03). (56% would be a landslide in a presidential election--and probably was.) And now they are still spewing this fascist crap 24/7...to 25% of the people? That is NOT a reflection of what will sell. That is an IMPOSITION of what they want us to HEAR. If nothing else, it serves the function of demoralizing and disempowering the great progressive majority. They are trying to create an illusion of support for fascist policy and war--and they have been all along. This illusion was to work in conjunction with stolen elections, to make us give up on the great American consensus against unjust war, and for peace, fairness and social justice--and lawfulness.

Cover. It has all been cover for the biggest looting of a country that has ever occurred. Cover for a criminal gang to dismantle our Constitution and lay us wide open to Global Corporate Predator plundering.

I think Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and the lot of these foul-mouthed hate mongers and warmongers were APPOINTED to fulfill this function. These were not responsible business decisions. And Global Corporate Predator ad support for these pricks is NOT a gage of their commercial viability. They are worth their weight in gold--as to silencing and disempowering the great majority, which opposes unjust war and corporate looting. As to their ratings--are people listening?--how do these prove anything in a closed, monopolized market? People drive to work, turn on the radio. If they're interested in politics or yak-yak, they have no choices. None. Hate radio, fascist radio, or no radio. XM and Sirius opened up BBC and other choices, but that came later--and still, virtually no leftist, or even centrist radio talk (--until AAR).

So the market has NOT been tested in any fair way. AAR has struggled from the beginning, because it made some bad decisions, and because it was blacklisted by the big corporate sponsors--not because there is no market--there is a HUGE potential market--but because they wanted to promulgate fascist views and warmongering that served their LOOTING EXPEDITION on our federal government, in particular--including war profiteering--and their ultimate goal of destroying our sovereign power to regulate them and to tax them!

There is no "free market" in radio. There is no "democracy of the marketplace." Good ideas have no chance, in this controlled, monopolized "market," of rising to the top--as Jefferson imagined would happen with a free press. Good ideas would ultimately win out, in the "marketplace of ideas"--with free and open and democratic discussion. But we might as well be living in Stalinist Russia, for all the freedom of ideas we hear on the radio. It is STRICTLY CONTROLLED. And all we get is FASCISM. And if some actually good ideas come along in that medium--such as stopping the war, or investigating election fraud--they are quickly boycotted and undermined by the same people who are profiting from war and from stolen elections.

Ergo, it should be no surprise that AAR is struggling. There is nothing inherently wrong with their programming (other than a few mistakes, which shouldn't have been pivotal--hiring Jerry Springer; too much Al Franken--every new enterprise makes some mistakes). Until we regain our power as a people--starting with TRANSPARENT vote counting--and begin to restore FAIRNESS in the marketplace of ideas--and proper use of our PUBLIC airwaves--leftist radio will not see a fair test.

One more thought: Rendall does not evaluate the very important value of AAR--which is hard to quantify, but is very real--of simply HEARTENING people. I have a number of friends who were truly in despair about this country, until they plugged into AAR. Whatever mistakes AAR has made, many people have finally gotten to hear open discussion and articulation of American values they hold dear--tolerance, social justice, peace, lawful government. Stalinist Russia is not too extreme an example for how people have felt, with views like these shut out of public discussion. It is encouraging and empowering just to hear them. And AAR, of course, does far more than that. It provides information, background, intelligent analysis--and some activist/organizing information.

[loudsue]

20. Wow, Peace Patriot! I wish you'd send all your posts, certified mail,

to all of our elected officials. I just want to print out all of your posts, and start stapling them to telephone poles, so people who really care about our country can know they aren't alone.

:applause: If I could recommend all your posts, I'd do it in a heartbeat! :applause:

:kick::kick::kick:

[Peace Patriot]

23. Thanks for the praise, Loudsue!

I'm putting some of my posts in my DU Journal now. I haven't been very quick to pick up on DU functions like that. And I still can't figure out how to re-title a comment and insert the relevant DU discussion url or link to an original article, so that anyone viewing my Journal will understand the context (what I was responding to). I'm also saving some comments and the few OPs I do on my computer. But I think a bunch of them are "lost." DU provides only the most recent 20, or 40, or 60 (can't figure out their system). Someone once posted a site that was saving DU's posts/comments (where you could go look yourself up and find old posts), but I've lost that url.

Feel free to re-post or whatever you want to do. I'm glad that they speak to someone. I've been through a lot of citizen public advocacy work and peoples' movements--a lot of it having to do with the environment--and one thing I've learned is: Look to the power! Who has the power? What is the power situation? I've learned a lot about how corporations--and our government, in imitation of them--design power situations where the public is fooled into believing they have some, but really they have none. And so you can waste a lot of energy participating in fake forums, where it doesn't matter what you say--or everybody says--and in fact your very participation is used to legitimize an entirely fake forum--or you can waste a lot of time, say, educating the public on an issue, but, really, the public knows--they clearly want the environment protected--but they have no power to influence the situation. I once did a campaign where we got 20,000 signatures on a petition, on one little environmental situation. The regulatory agency dutifully noted the public interest, and went right ahead with the decision the corporation wanted. Slid it right through--slick as a baby's butt, as my mom used to say.

So-o-o-o-o, in the Bush Junta situation, I think a lot of energy is not exactly wasted but expended in the hope of change, on the war. And of course nothing happens. They "surge" anyway. More pointless, horrible death and destruction. More war profiteering. I would never dis war protests. They are essential for moral witness, and for heartening people, and for keeping the pressure on the government. I still remember when Cindy Sheehan came forward and started dogging Bush. It was like she had lighted a candle in the darkness. The country and its essentially peace-loving population had just been flattened--knocked over--by the Bush Junta. Cindy ignited something. She gave people hope. HOWEVER, people need to understand WHY nothing changes. They need to look to the power--their own power--their vote, and understand WHY the corporate predators took it away, and fight to get it back. Without that power, we are NO LONGER a SOVEREIGN PEOPLE. We cannot bring about change. We cannot reform anything. We cannot put the country on a better course. Our democracy has been seriously messed with, by these rigged voting machines. Things are rigged against the public interest in many ways, but these voting machines are the coup de grace. They make change impossible.

And in this AAR situation, I see something similar. It's the POWER that the CORPORATIONS have acquired to put THEIR propaganda on our public airwaves that is the problem--not poor struggling little AAR. It's okay to criticize AAR management decisions, but that ISN'T the problem. Their management decisions are dictated by the CONTEXT of overweaning corporate monopoly of the airwaves. (So they start dumbing down some of the programming.) The problem is that our public airwaves are essentially closed to anything but rightwing propaganda. We need to re-balance the power situation. Then you will see dozens of AAR's spring up, hundreds of them. All the corporate news monopolies need to be busted up, and commercial use of the airwaves put back under the "Fairness Doctrine" (balanced opinion on public issues). Then the magic of a more egalitarian public discussion will happen.

But this, too, is dependent on our ability to elect people who truly represent us, in fair and transparent elections. Transparent vote counting has to be Priority No. 1. It is the fundamental condition for change. It IS our power.

That's where I'm coming from. Focus like a laser beam on the practical reality of power, and find the way to re-empower these wonderful people, the great progressive American majority.

[PSPS]

18. The piece has a few valid points, but is generally way off the mark.

AAR began with excellent programs and a dynamite schedule. However, a year later, it was as if they intentionally sabotaged themselves. Some of their best shows were scuttled, others were rescheduled (at least in this market) so that they were no longer available to many or, in the case of delaying live programs, were no longer timely when they were actually aired.

Another problem is their affiliates' reluctance to air anything of a local nature. There's nothing except national shows. (The affiliate here has a local gardening show!)

Yet another BIG problem is their moribund sales staff. Since AAR's emergence from bankruptcy, the local affiliate has been advertising for sales people. But you'll see at least 50% of their inventory remains unsold, playing the same PSA's for years. Of the inventory they do sell, it's virtually all nefarious snake-oil "joke" products: Predatory sub-prime mortgage lenders, hair-growth "miracles," "nutrition supplements," mileage-increasing spark plugs (I remember these ripoffs from way back in the J.C. Whitney days!), real-estate scams, "pump and dump" gold schemes, etc. I can recall only about two or three national ad buys for legitimate products in the entire life of AAR.

FAIR does refer to a piece they did last year where ABC Radio instructed their sales staff to refuse to write any AAR-related ad buys. They imply that is was the advertisers who asked for the exclusion, but my take is that it was ABC calling the shots here, perhaps inducing their clients to say they didn't want to be carried on any AAR affiliate.

[Peace Patriot]

19. You make a good point. Mike Malloy comes to mind. There has been a decline

in hard-hitting leftist shows--due to bad management (and possible DLC influence?). But this has occurred in a situation of great pressure and outright boycott of the leftist content by major corporate sponsors. I think management has watered down the content as a response. Big mistake. They are thus losing their natural audience--which I think is potentially huge--in a downward spiral of bad decision-making. But there is still worthwhile content--and interesting shows--on AAR. Not as good as it was--but a thousand times better than rightwing shows, in terms of content that would be of interest to the 75% of the American people who want the war ended, and the 63% who oppose torture "under any circumstances" (May '04), and the 92% who want transparent vote counting (Zogby poll last year), and the 90% or so concerned about Social Security and the $10 trillion deficit that the Bush Junta has run up.

Honest opinion. Thoughtful opinion. Real American opinion. Facts. Lively discussion. Info on topics you never hear about in the corporate press. I think there is a very big audience for this--but the "market" is so unfair, so controlled, and so in the clutches of corporate monopolies--that it is being strangled at birth. They don't want this baby to live!