By Jeff Poor Business & Media Institute
Media blame ObamaCare struggles on conservative stations reminiscent of 2007 immigration reform failure.
As Democrats in Washington D.C. struggle to impose their idea of an ideal health care system on the United States opposition to their efforts grows. Rather than accept that the substance of reform proposals is the source of the push-back some on the left and in the media are looking for a boogeyman" nefariously ginning up taxpayer anger. That boogeyman" conservative talk radio.
If you cant beat them ban them. Thats the new model for CNN the most trusted name in news."
Earlier in August
CNN U.S. President Jonathan Klein urged the cable news networks producers to avoid booking talk radio hosts on CNN news programs. Recent CNN guests have included the likes of conservative talkers Neal Boortz Steve Malzberg and Martha Zoeller. By banning talk radio hosts the network made off limits the one area of media where conservatives hold sway.
The cable news blog TVNewser on Aug. 11 quoted Klein as saying Complex issues require world class reporting." He added that talk radio hosts too often add to the noise and that what they say is all too predictable."
And CNN hasnt been alone. Its competitor MSNBC which has been decidedly more in favor of President Barack Obamas policies has also participated in the Hush Rush" movement accusing conservative talkers Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck of propagating hate" to hinder Obama and the Democratic-controlled Congress.
A Misinformation Campaign?
Its not just executives and opinion pundits who have expressed their concerns" over talk radios contributions to the health care debate. Ed Henry CNN senior White House correspondent called some of the criticism coming from talk radio outlandish" on CNN Newsroom" Aug. 14.
It took this White House kind of a long time to respond to some of the outlandish allegations" Henry said. And so what happened is some of the opponents of reform through talk radio other media online have really been pushing some of these lines of attack. They went unanswered for some time. Thats what we are seeing here. The president realizing he has to step it up a little bit as he continues to make this sales pitch. But lets remember its still an uphill battle. This is at a critical juncture in his administration."
The Washington Post columnist Ruth Marcus used CNNs Sunday media program Reliable Sources" on Aug. 16 to make her give her own critique of talk radio. To Marcus associating this brand of health care reform which may or may not include a public option according to the Aug. 19 New York Times with socialism is false information."
Look things are much more understandable and this sort of the to talk about the concerns generally is not as powerful as seeing it expressed in the clearly very heartfelt very deep-felt views of people" Marcus said. But theres a really interesting loop thats going on which is I happen to listen to a lot of talk radio as I drive around and the conservative talk radio is ginning people up with I believe a lot of very false information and a lot of scary words like socialist."
Others have used the CNN platform to make the bold accusations that pushback on the presidents health care is coded racism." For example Tim Wise the author of Between a Barack and a Hard Place" appeared on
CNN anchor Don Lemons Aug. 16 program.
Weve got right-wing radio talk show hosts who for months now have been playing the white racial resentment card to get their forces revved up" Wise said. You have Glenn Beck saying just the other day on two occasions that the health care bill is really not about health care its Obamas way to get reparations for black people. Now thats absurd. What kind of reparations do you have to get sick first in order to get paid?"
The Usual Suspects
But it hasnt just been CNN with these harsh accusations about talkers and talk radio. MSNBC hasnt instituted a ban but the network predictably has featured guests offering some unkind criticisms of conservative radio. MSNBC and CNBC regular and UC-Berkeley economics professor Robert Reich said conservative hosts were preying upon fears" in the health care debate.
I think that youve got you know right-wing talk radio and a lot of purveyors of fear out there preying upon the fears that a lot of people have right now" Reich also a former Clinton administration Labor Dept. secretary said on MSNBCs Aug. 16 The Ed Show."
You know America is very scared job losses potential loss of home potential loss of savings. In fact losses of savings. A lot of people are scared and if somebody tells them theyre going to lose even the health care they have they are going to pay attention and theyre going to be very very upset."
MSNBC host Rachel Maddow accused conservative talkers of peddling kooky conspiracy theories" that ObamaCare would mandate abortions and free sex changes and kill the elderly."
Conspiracists from right-wing talk radio to street corner screamers to Republican members of Congress all maintain that the provision and the health care bill that says Medicare will pay for the consultation if you want to get a living will even though it was that championed by conservative pro-life Senator Johnny Isakson of Georgia thats actually secretly a plot to kill your grandparents" Maddow said on her Aug. 10 program.
The theory has been presented as fact by Republican members of Congress on the floor of the House of Representatives. It has been promoted by conservative talk show hosts on both radio and on television."
And MSNBC Countdown" host Keith Olbermann has been all too eager to play the race card especially when it has come to Glenn Beck but also Rush Limbaugh Michael Savage and the even not-so conservative Lou Dobbs.
If you appear on reactionary media and call a president of the United States a racist advertisers will still abandon you and will abandon you faster than ever before" Olbermann said on his Aug. 14 program. A cheese company a popular clothier SC Johnson Wax Procter and Gamble Lawyers.com and two possibly three insurance firms have now bailed out on Glenn Beck. Beware the snowball lonesome roads."
The research into conservative radio listening habits the more hate they hear the longer they listen the more Limbaugh and Savage and Dobbs and Beck make explaining their hate-for-hire stance on health care reform" Olbermann continued. Except you can still go too far. How much trouble is Glenn Beck in after a seventh possibly eighth major advertiser cancels its commercials on his programs?"
But MSNBC hasnt just been the originator of these liberal attacks. An Aug. 5 post by The Weekly Standards Mary Katharine Ham shows how these stories originate usually on far-left blogs then are used for show material on MSNBC programming and then theres the possibility they wind up in the more mainstream media outlets like the evening broadcast network news or major newspapers.
Given the angry accusations from the left if health care reform is defeated even in victory conservatives may face another dire fight: the one for the life of talk radio.
Renewed Calls for the Fairness Doctrine: A Sign of Things to Come?
Some of the circumstances surrounding this health care debate are eerily familiar. The last big policy issue that was defeated when an upset constituency pushed back was the bipartisan 2007 effort to reform immigration. However it was thwarted when people flooded the switchboards on Capitol Hill. Some pointed at the power of talk radio to command action from voters suggesting it was time to look at the Fairness Doctrine again.
I remember when there was a Fairness Doctrine" Sen. Diane Feinstein D-Calif. said after the immigration debate accusing the format of dramatizing" and taking things out of context on Fox News Sunday on June 24 2007. And I think there was much more serious correct reporting to people."
More recently another voice in Washington D.C. has come out voicing concerns about conservative talk radios position in the current media marketplace. Left-wing Sen. Bernie Sanders I-Vt. went on MSNBCs Aug. 14 Rachel Maddow" show as liberal a forum as could be and complained that the media outlets on the right were drowning the message out.
Ill tell you what else we need to do" Sanders said. We need to understand that it is very very hard for the president or anybody else to take on not just the Republican Party thats the easy part to take on all of right-wing talk radio which covers 90 percent of talk show hosts a whole Fox network which is nothing more than an arm of the Republican Party and the Democrats got to think long term. Why is there not a progressive television network? Why arent we supporting good and effective personalities on radio as well and building up a network there so that we can that kind of political consciousness-raising that the Republicans in fact are doing so well right now."
Some members of Congress including Sen. Debbie Stabenow are still publicly calling for the Fairness Doctrine. And some have done it privately according to Sen. James Inhofe R-Okla. Inhofe said that then-Sen. Hillary Clinton (now Secretary of State) and Sen. Barbara Boxer D-Calif. had made references to it. But even though it may have public and private supporters in the U.S. Senate the Obama administration came out early on opposed to any revival of the Fairness Doctrine as Fox News reported in February.
As the president stated during the campaign he does not believe the Fairness Doctrine should be reinstated" White House spokesman Ben LaBolt told FoxNews.com Feb. 18.
However
Brett Joshpe writing for the June 22 American Spectator explained the Fairness Doctrine could still be applied to talk radio but just under another name as stealth effort. He explained that the FCC has been discussing plans for it calls locally-oriented programming" known as localism to control content on conservative stations.
If one thing is clear several months into the Obama presidency it is that the administration is not afraid to empower bureaucrats at the expense of individuals" Joshpe wrote. Maybe the Fairness Doctrine has in fact been sent to the dustbin of history but we cannot be so sure about stealth regulations that will have a similar effect. Now more than ever it is imperative that we carefully ask administration officials what the meaning of is is."
If history is any indicator a defeat of ObamaCare that winds up being what Sen. Jim DeMint R-S.C. called the presidents Waterloo" it wouldnt take much for a Democratic-controlled Washington D.C. to take another look at the Fairness Doctrine.
