Those troubling murmurs coming from the Federal Communications Commission we told you about last week continue to reverberate.
If FCC commissioner Michael Copps (a registered Democrat) “gets his way,” warns the National Review’s Matthew Shaffer, “[radio] stations across the country could be put on probation, and subsequently denied FCC licensing, for failure to meet a broad set of criteria involving local coverage, percentage of resources devoted to news and several kinds of disclosure.”
Copps insists he has no desire to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine, but Shaffer sounds unconvinced.
“It’s not just talk-radio-loving conservatives who should be worried, either,” Shaffer writes. “Richard Nixon used the Fairness Doctrine against his enemies list during his presidency, for example – every political faction can be tempted to abuse regulatory power. It’s not difficult to imagine ways in which requirements that radio have more news time, more local coverage and less opinion could be used to muffle critics of any administration.”
Rush Limbaugh
Rush Limbaugh apologized for “slowing down the Internet” on Monday, after he posted a cute photo of his dog on Facebook that got over 10,000 comments.
Of all the regular features on Rush Limbaugh’s show, the “Media Montage” gets the least attention, but it’s one of my favorites. Rush simply strings together clips of “mainstream media” reporters and pundits, parroting each other’s trendy talking points (remember “gravitas”?). Listening actually makes my ears numb.
Here’s a new “Media Montage” displaying the establishment’s obsession with … Rush himself (FREE audio).
Limbaugh had fun with David Frum’s new political cause, No Labels. The allegedly “centrist” group calling for more “civility” didn’t inspire any from Rush, who declared, “You guys are the ones on the outs. You guys are the ones looking for clients. You guys are the ones looking for work. This No Labels crowd, they have been rejected. Everything they said the last two years about what wins elections has been proven to be wrong” (FREE audio).
Sean Hannity
A listener offers “A Lesson for Sean Hannity on the 17th Amendment,” after he says Hannity “seemed confused about the amendment’s implications” during a recent broadcast.
Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., made the news when he announced his opposition to the latest tax deal on Hannity’s radio show, but his protests went unheeded: the package sailed through Congress the next day.
The in-house “talk radio” specialist at the American Spectator, Jeffrey Lord, penned an entertaining piece about the positive impact Hannity’s radio show has on the economy.
As we’ve noted before, Britain’s legendarily left-leaning newspaper the Guardian has “borrowed” WND’s “talk radio watch” column idea; this week, Sadhbh Walshe expresses bafflement with Hannity’s most matter-of-fact statements. It seems Shaw was right: American and Great Britain are indeed two nations separated by a common language.
Mark Levin
Barbara Walters was obliged to include Sarah Palin in her “Most Fascinating People” show this year, but that didn’t stop her from inexplicably editing out Palin’s endorsement of Mark Levin’s bestseller “Liberty & Tyranny.” Needless to say, Levin’s reaction was caustic (FREE audio).
Mark Levin’s Landmark Legal Foundation praised Federal District Judge Henry Hudson’s ruling against Obamacare:
“It is a great day for the rule of law and the citizenry. Judge Hudson’s ruling is ironclad,” declared Levin.
“Congress is lawless!” Blunt as always, Levin denounced the disgraceful situation in Washington, in which unconstitutional schemes have become the business as usual (FREE audio).
Michael Savage
Occasionally, Michael Savage offers listeners a glimpse into his personal life; this week he started off by discussing his reluctance to attend an upcoming formal affair (FREE audio).
Savage later expressed his disappointment with Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., for going along with the START Treaty (FREE audio).
Monica Crowley of WABC New York interviewed Savage this week about his new book, the bestselling “Trickle Up Poverty” (FREE audio).
Laura Ingraham
A real treat: two great conservative women, Laura Ingraham and Michelle Malkin, get together to discuss the issues of the day (FREE audio).
She calls him “the man stopping Obamacare”: Ingraham spoke to Ken Cuccinelli, attorney general of Virginia. Also this week, Senators John Thune, R-S.D., and Jim DeMint, R-S.C., joined Laura on the air to discuss the latest developments in Washington (FREE audio).
Glenn Beck
George Soro’s “media watchdog” MediaMatters loves to blame (imaginary) tea-party “violence” on Glenn Beck’s alleged “incitement” of his listeners. So Beck got to gloat when MediaMatters itself was cited approvingly by the twisted man who shot up a Florida school board meeting this week (FREE webcam).
It’s become an annual favorite: Glenn Beck narrates a beautifully produced “Christmas Story” that tells the story of Jesus’ birth (FREE audio).
This week, Beck and his crew visited Wilmington, Ohio, a town that Beck says personifies the American spirit. He’d promised listeners that “miracles would happen” and sure enough, Beck is working to make a dream come true for a deaf boy and his family.
And now, from the left side of the dial …
Radio Equalizer Brian Maloney reports: “After Florida school-board shooter Clay Duke was revealed to be a far-left radical activist (which should have been clear from the first moments given the ‘V For Vendetta’ symbol he painted on the wall), lefties refused to acknowledge Duke as one of their own. He even linked to liberal smear site Media Matters from his Facebook page.”
But naturally, that didn’t stop radio host Mike Malloy from trying to pin responsibility for the shooting on … Glenn Beck, calling the criminal “another Glenn Beck killer on the loose” (FREE audio).
“Progressives” have a bad habit of making up facts to fit their theories, but with this rant, Malloy hit a new low.
