Talk Radio

[StateNAurora]

Does anybody listen to talk radio, Laura Ingrahm(SPL?) or Rush Limbaugh?I myself listen to them even though I do not align myself with their views. I like to hear both sides of an arguement and find that is the best way to get a firm grip on a subject. Ingrham is so infuriating though. I feel that she is so immature and does more harm to the Right than good. Does anyone else find her to be obnoxious? Before anyone says it , I know I can just not listen, if I don't like her.

[jku]

I've heard all these clowns - from Medved (remember when he was a half-ass movie reviewer?) to Limbaugh to Ingrahm to Dr. Laura to Hannity ---
The thing about radio is that it insanely follows trends that MAKE MONEY. It has very little to do with politics - actually if one forms their views about politics from talk radio - it's like forming your views about race relations from the KKK.

Fox News is #1 not because they are the best journalists, but because they get the best RATINGS because of a slanted newscast. It all comes down to ratings which equals MILLIONS...
Like a bunch of pigeons scrambling for crumbs - pecking aimlessly, damaging their beaks - but still pecking harder and faster. It won't end - its a frenzy. The only safe place I've found is PUBLIC RADIO - particularly NPR, its fair, its balanced. So is the BBC. "JUST THE FACTS MA'AM!"

When Howard Stern came out - people hated him. But when they saw he made money, they all copied him.
In his movie PRIVATE PARTS there is an excellent line about how people who LOVE Stern listen for 30 minutes a day - WHY? "what will he say next?" - STERN HATERS listen to Stern for TWO HOURS! "Why? Because I want to hear what he will say next."

That about sums it up.

[StateNAurora]

I dont get the reference to the KKK. How is basing your political views on what you hear on the radio like race reltions/KKK? Do mean that it would be ignorant to base an opinion on such an extremely biased outlet. Certainly I do not form my views solely on what I hear on the radio or through other media. I do prefer NPR, I feel that it is well balnced and presents stories in a well thought out manner. They allow all view point to be heard, even though they usually hold a view point lightly slanted to the left. I do listen to the "Right Wingers" though in order to gain a better understanding of where they are coming from. I think it was Sun Tzu said know your enemy, that may be a bit extreme. I don't think any intelligent person can be involved in politics without trying to understand an issue from all angles.

Why are these hosts so beligerent though? Politically they are sitting in cat bird seat, the dems are clearly on the run. If I were a betting a man I would say Bush would win in 2004. I think the entertainment factor of their shows detract from their message. For example, Laura Ingrahm best jab at Michael Moore is that he is a large man. Wow, what a rib back in grade school. She offers no proof of the falsehoods in his book, she merely states that the book is full of lies. Offer the proof without the fat jokes and then she would have a good show. Although, Moore diid take sophomoris pop shots at Bush and others that I felt detracted from "Stupid White Men."

[dakotagopher]

Do you really think Fox News leans that far to the right? I split my news time pretty evenly between CNN and Fox and don't see this, but I've heard others make this argument before also. What I like about Fox is that they typically call a Spade a Spade, where on CNN or the major networks, an anchor will sit there and let a political mouthpiece lie and spin without objecting. At least on Fox they tend to interrupt the blatant spin and get the mouth piece to come closer to telling the truth, or at least come off their pre-canned responses.

Even if you accept the theory that Fox is huge only because it tilts so far to the right, doesn't that imply that much of our society hungers for this "slant"? Doesn't that bode ill for the bedrock theories of the Left?

I think many people percieve Fox News as Right-tilting because the point of reference over the years has been the major networks, which tend to tilt left; thus when a true "fair and balanced" news venue opens up, it appears Right tilting in relation to the exisiting options - everything's relative and all the others tilt left (there is little argument on this even among those in the industry, no? Also, haven't there have even been statistical studies that appear to prove that network news and most major newspapers tilt left?)

NPR is OK, but I feel there is not a lot of diversity on it; it's kind of like the LA Times, they throw in a token Right Wing point once in a while, but most arguments, etc, seem to be premised on a mentality that the Right Wing mentality is flawed from the get-go. My opinion.

One of the things that scares me is this supposedly impending mass consolodation of news entities. Don't like that at all.

I tend to vote Republican, but I don't listen to Rush or the other Right wing commentators. They in my opinion oversimplify things too much, and are unwilling to even consider the possibility that they may be wrong or fallible. A key aspect an intelligent person has is the ability to recognize self-faults and, when confronted with superior facts/logic, etc, be willing to admit you were wrong and change your position.

[jku]

I like conservatives like DAKOTAGOPHER. These kind of people make sense to me. He and I may have minor disagreements on certain issues, but in the end we have the same goals for the betterment of America. Psycho Conservatives and Looney Leftys give a bad name to both their parties.

The fact that one can find fault in their argument when shown a divergent POV is the hallmark of an intelligent, fair-minded person in my opinion.

That said - FOX NEWS does have a clear right-wing slant. It was created in the early 90s to compete with CNN after Rupert Murdoch felt depressed about not buying CNN in the mid 80s. The GOP helped Murdoch buy stations and make a ton of money, even though he was a foreigner and FCC laws didn't allow media ownership by foreigners. What has happened now, considering FOX's tremendous CABLE ratings, is that MSNBC and CNN are following the CONSERVATIVE SLANT bandwagon for better ratings.

You may not see it OVERTLY, but its there. EX: Hannity is much more TELEGENIC than COLMES, and they shoot to HANNITY at his radio show every morning, not COLMES from his RADIO show. Hannity is selling a book through MURDOCH'S HARPER-COLLINS - Colmes has no book deal with HC. O'Reilly reads off the Administration's TALKING POINTS for the day, and shouts down people with opposing viewpoints.

I like Chris Matthews and HARDBALL - that is truly FAIR and BALANCED. If you want good political discussion, go there.

FOX NEWS has lost it in terms of objectivity - the goal is ratings. Sure the American people like it, but that's because FOX NEWS is so EASY to understand - they put everything in block letters, and summarize complicated issues in one sentence. A 7 year old could understand Fox News.

The truth is that politics is a VERY complicated issue full of divergent ideas and conflict. It takes a very WELL-READ person to understand each issue completely and fairly. Since most people WANT to understand politics, Fox News presents it in a sanitized, easy-to-consume way.

Americans like a lot of things that are bad for them, like COKE and MCDONALDS, but because they consume it doesn't mean its good.