[PEN-L:36238] Rightwing media and the war

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

If you go to the website of WABC radio (http://www.wabcradio.com/), the 
station of Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage and a host of other rightwing 
scumbags, you will find an invitation to display pro-war posters paid for 
and distributed by the station. This station has millions of listeners.

Clear Channel is another huge media company that has openly enlisted in the 
pro-war movement, as Paul Krugman pointed out in a recent NY Times column:

Channels of Influence
By PAUL KRUGMAN

By and large, recent pro-war rallies haven't drawn nearly as many people as 
antiwar rallies, but they have certainly been vehement. One of the most 
striking took place after Natalie Maines, lead singer for the Dixie Chicks, 
criticized President Bush: a crowd gathered in Louisiana to watch a 
33,000-pound tractor smash a collection of Dixie Chicks CD's, tapes and 
other paraphernalia. To those familiar with 20th-century European history 
it seemed eerily reminiscent of. . . . But as Sinclair Lewis said, it can't 
happen here.

Who has been organizing those pro-war rallies? The answer, it turns out, is 
that they are being promoted by key players in the radio industry ? with 
close links to the Bush administration.

The CD-smashing rally was organized by KRMD, part of Cumulus Media, a radio 
chain that has banned the Dixie Chicks from its playlists. Most of the 
pro-war demonstrations around the country have, however, been organized by 
stations owned by Clear Channel Communications, a behemoth based in San 
Antonio that controls more than 1,200 stations and increasingly dominates 
the airwaves.

full: http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/25/opinion/25KRUG.html

Meanwhile, one of the regulars on the alt.fan.don-imus newsgroup (yes, it's 
true. I hang out there) has been posting bloodcurdling pro-war items 
written by Arnaud de Borchgrave, the Reaganite hack who when editing the 
Moonie Washington Times suppressed a reporters' revolt who resented 
interference from the Unification Church, and who now writes for UPI. After 
a couple of these items, I decided to look a little deeper. Wasn't UPI a 
reputable news wire service? As it turns out, the Moonie connection is 
still there:

Unification Press International?
Rev. Moon Adds United Press International To His Media Empire

 By Bill Berkowitz

A little more than eight years ago, Rev. Pat Robertson was closing in on 
acquiring what would have been the jewel in his media empire. Unfortunately 
for him, at just about the last minute a bankruptcy
judge rejected the bid by the fabulously wealthy religious broadcaster and 
Christian Coalition founder, and instead ruled that United Press 
International (UPI), one of the preeminent news wire services, would be 
sold to a group of Middle Eastern investors.

Fast forward to 2000: the venerable and troubled UPI has been sold yet 
again. News World Communications, the new owner, is the thriving media arm 
of another right-wing charismatic figure, the Rev. Sun Myung Moon and his 
Unification Church. Although News World Communications has
said that it intends to maintain UPI as an independent news organization, 
it all hinges on who's interpreting what "independent news organization" 
means. Media watchers of all political stripes are
wondering what to expect from this new Moon circling the globe.

full: http://www.mediachannel.org/originals/upi-moon.shtml

With this kind of open politicization of the mass media and with the 
assaults on Pacifica, it is very obvious that we are dealing with a crude 
attempt to dictate the terms of the debate. As alarming as this is, it 
indicates the weakness of their position. If there was a powerful base of 
support for the Bush administration, I doubt that it would be necessary to 
turn radio stations and news wires into wings of the Pentagon.


Louis Proyect, Marxism mailing list: http://www.marxmail.org