Right-Wing Talk Radio Host: We're Killing The GOP

Right-wing talk radio host Michael Medved says right-wing talk radio is killing the Republican party:

The multibillion-dollar talk radio industry faces existential challenges and dramatic opportunities in the upcoming Age of Obama. Depending on responses from leading conservative talkers, this rude, raucous indispensable medium will either rise to new heights of mainstream influence, profit and credibility, or else collapse as a declining vehicle for an increasingly angry and alienated fringe.

For more than a decade, I've hosted a nationally syndicated political talk show. Like all radio veterans, I cherish the notion that the last time a young Democrat took over the White House with gauzy visions of change, it produced a "Golden Age" for right-wing talk.

...

Today's titans of talk naturally dream of repeating this revival, but even if Obamatrons offer targets for ridicule every bit as juicy as Clintonistas, it won't be easy to recapture the potent magic of the 1990s. Most obviously, the rapid development of cable TV and the Internet has given the public innumerable new options for debate and information. During Clinton's era, conservative talk radio offered the inevitable destination for political junkies who cared deeply about the fate of the new administration. Today, many leading TV comics and commentators lean unabashedly to the left, while progressive websites rival popular right-wing sources online.

This fragmentation of the mass audience has led many talk shows to cultivate a niche audience rather than the Republican mainstream. In the aftermath of stinging GOP defeat in November, radio crackles with blame-game arguments intended to divide "real conservatives" from unworthy moderate imposters -- as if the GOP could become the first party in history to expand an already shrunken base by purging its membership.

...

Increasingly, interests of commercial talk radio in a fractured market diverge from the needs of a viable national movement. A radio show (locally or nationally) that draws just 5% of the available audience can achieve notable success in ratings and revenue, but a conservatism that connects with only a disgruntled, paranoid 5% of the public will wither and die.

Read the whole thing.

Comments

[maxfax]

Keep up the good work.

[mamala4]

Michael Medved....­keep it up! The more the merrier...­bye bye!

[fantanfanny]

What the he!!? My comment was your headline..­.why is it waiting for approval??

[fantanfanny]

"We're killing the GOP"

and it couldn't happen to a more deserving bunch of IDIOTS!!!

[Digeeedad]

Let's get real here for a minute.... what's killing the GOP, with enormous help from Hannity, Limbaugh et al, is their mass denial based delusion that if they wish hard enough, and fire the conservative base up enough through hate-filled and fear based propaganda, that our nation will return to how it was in the 50's and earlier.

Just as the old saying about how "children should be seen but not heard" went, the conservative base obviously believes the same about minorities and their place in government. The US Census Bureau projects that by 2042 whites will no longer be the majority in the USA. Obama and thinking people in this nation just boosted the enivitable death of "old white guy rule" in our country ahead by several decades.

By the look of things, including the hate-filled and racist reactions on the Hannity website forums, that broad conservative base is going kicking and screaming into the sunset. Anyone who believes that the depth of that hatred towards Obama and his wife and family is "issues and policy related" is also in denial. The "old white guy rule" folks can barely contain their rage over having a bi-racial man as our President.

There will be NO going back!

[Digeeedad]

All any person of reason needed to do to see the reality of what was REALLY "up" in this election, was to just look at the rally audiences for Obama as compared to those for McCain/Palin.

At Obama's DNC acceptance speech ceremony the whole stadium was filled with Americans seemingly from every ethnic/racial group in our land, all joyously celebrating TOGETHER this great moment in time.

The very next morning, in front of an audience of 15,000 people in Ohio, McCain introduced Palin as his VP choice. Prior to McCain's taking to the podium all TV networks were panning the crowd and it was absolutely shocking to see NOTHING but white faces! Except for 2 black cheerleaders and a black man and his young son sitting directly behind McCain's podium, no other non-whites were readily apparent.

This demographic disparity at campaign rallys continued through the end of the election period AND fortunately the END of the GOP as we have known it!

[Digeeedad]

Early in his radio career, Limbaugh one morning announced to his audience, "Ladies and gentlemen, I KNOW how we can end unemployment in this great country...­. just create more basketball teams"

The day after Michelle Obama's moving and eloquent speech at the DNC, in which she talked of their family values, her relationship with her husband, their daughters and their dreams for their future (all supposedly things the conservative base holds so dear), Hannity told his radio audience, "Don't you believe it ladies and gentlemen! EVERYTHING Michelle Obama said was SCRIPTED..­. PURE HOLLYWOOD! NEVER forget that this is an ANGRY BLACK WOMAN"!

Any wonder why these two men are so popular with that conservative base????

[rockyb26]

how profound. does this now mean that you and your buddies will cease and desist with the foolishness you send through the airwaves everyday? i doubt it.

[microcosm]

Appellate Court Rules Fox News Can Legally Lie.
http://ceasespin.org/ceasespin_blog/ceasespin_blogger_files/d0887a41f76b34285649fb31711be7df-0.html

Dear Representative,
As a constituent, I urge you to support an alternative solution to the Fairness Doctrine that is being proposed by CeaseSPIN.org (CeaseSPIN, Inc.), a non-partisan, non-profit, media reform company. The alternative solution lays out how a News Quality Rating System will improve the quality of news without infringing on free speech and free press rights of broadcasters. The details of the proposal are available on www.ceasespin.org.

Introducing a News Quality Rating System will introduce journalistic standards and on-air content labeling to benefit the viewer, similar to how Motion Picture Assoc. of America (MPAA) rates film content. The news segment labeling is a per news story rating regime that simply makes the editorial process more transparent to consumer/viewers. This results in structural regulation around the editorial process, but not content regulation, which is a very important distinction. It provides a public interest benefit with a consumer/market based solution, that remediates the "unfair media" problem, that many Americans, like myself, want resolved.

Please review the proposal (at http://www.ceasespin.org) and support legislation that incorporates the creation of this new means of advising citizens of the level of ethical journalistic rigor associated with each news story that is broadcast on the public airwaves.

Congress must resolve the problem NOW.

[pollwatcher123]

Microcosm: Thank you for the link!! Everybody needs to click through and read that one.

This case should have been revisited in Federal Court (and therefore found its way up to the US Supreme Court) since the entire ruling is based on an interpration of the First Amendment by a State court. That becomes subject matter jurisdiction for the Federal Courts.

The Obama administration needs to codify some regulations into the CFR that basically requires the FCC to REVOKE the Broadcast license of any network that broadcasts the news under false pretenses, or deliberately or willfully or recklessly allows false information to be broadcast as news. That would solve this problem.

[Repub4Obama]

Perhaps Obama's FCC chair can get rid of the stupid "nipple fine" and its associate witch-hunts as well.

[DavidKnows]

Senator Mel Martinez, no cracker-jack thinker he, said he believed McCain lost and the Repubs took such a beating because right-wing radio forced the party to take such a hard line position on immigration that it lost the Hispanic vote. So I continue to support the constitutional right of Rush and Sean to destroy their party with their hatred!

[Digeeedad]

McCain and Palin PROMISED Sean Hannity that they would attack Obama on the issues that Hannity felt important! They did so and their poll numbers nosedived! The GOP lost when it's candidates for PRESIDENT and VICE PRESIDENT of the United States started taking advice from a hate-filled fool!

[Princeton]

Other than hate present GOP has nothing.

[Rictracee]

GOP radio talk shows are nothing but a bunch of lies, hate filled divisive retoric, they are not trying to improve america they want to destroy it.. that is why they are self destructing themselves­.. and GOOD RIDDENS

[ClevelandTom]

Medved may be correct that right wing talk radio should aim for a broader Republican audience but they won't. Appealing to the extreme right minority with red-meat commentary is easy and profitable. Those profits are as addictive as crack to the Limbaughs, Hannitys, etc. They care very little about the success of the GOP.

[dhfsfc]

Even as a mere movie critic, Medved sucked!

[billthinx]

I remember when Michael Medved first raised his head in public, writing columns that urged push-back against Hollywood's culture of limitless licentiousness that was becoming part of all its movies. His basic motive, at the beginning, seemed to be to protect children and families from early and endless exposure to cultural coarseness. In this he was part of a larger group of concerned parents and citizens that famously included Tipper Gore, among others. But it didn't take Medved long to morph into something (someone) very different from this initial persona. The larger his exposure the more things he thought he should write about. The more radio waves he got, the more he played to the audience. The more partisan and alarmist his views, the more audience (money) he gained. His audience grew among the well-known low-brow, coarse and hostile adherents of right-wing paranoia land. He continued dishing out the expected dog food to feed the rabid hunger of the right. Now he may be seeing a glimmer of a problem with this cave he's gotten himself buried in. With media personalities, you never know if what you see and hear is the "real person" or the character invented to make money, or some combination. Too bad Medved didn't stay closer to the original person and try to build a genuine coalition against media crassness. Instead, he became a big part of it. Good luck trying to dig out now, Michael.

[VSamuels]

Great comment!

I too wonder how much the private persona and public persona are the same. Medved here senses that the 'characterization' of Obama fueled by racism, hate and paranoia by the reality that this guy could turn out to be a thoughtful, steady, intelligent and competent leader; leaving him and his fringe permanently locked out of having any long term influence. He is as you suggest attempting to find a way out of the ugly corner that they painted themselves in, by refusing to be honest and engage the opposition.

These are very serious times, and Obama isn't especially doing anything extraordinary by moving to the center to offer up his plans to address our problems; however, he is gathering the attention of many republicans who understand that the 'petty' antics on the right is why they lost a couple of elections and by staying in this same place---they have little chance to regain the mantle of 'seriousness' that clearly sits in Obama's corner.

[bakunin]

Regarding such personae, how often have we allowed our buttons to be pushed by the likes of such as Ann Coulter. A moment's calm reflection should be sufficient. Self seeking clowns, the lot!

[TrooAmerican]

No they arent.

They are killing everyone. Because 90% of the BS that they spew forth is about hate, division, anger, and violence toward the peace loving persons who want to work together for a better country.

Thats all they do. They dont have any relevant information, they literally take headlines out of the rest of the news media and twist and distort them into completely ridiculous partisan hate-mongering for the only purpose of inciting violence towards innocent people.

[Digeeedad]

I recently had to go to Kansas from California (family emergency). tried to avoid "political discussions" but was unsuccessful, as my brother told me that I "was still holding on to my f'd-up 60s values". You know.... those terrible and radical values like love and peace????

[Rockridger]

He was probably referring to sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll. Actually, saying f*d up is a 60's value, isn't it?

[tyger]

And the GoP is still harboring discontent with issues of the past that have already been decided. Abortion, marriage, gay rights, civil rights. Once their hardcore members die off what's left. Nothing.

[Yarrr]

Yup! Pretty much all their main issues are reactionary and regressive. Sad.

[Budokan]

The GOP devoured themselves from within. I say to them, keep on munching!

[fiberoptimist]

GOP - Greedy Oil Pirates