What Beck, Dobbs and Limbaugh Are Really Afraid Of

Can you smell the fear? Switch on cable news or tune in to talk radio and it comes wafting in.

Fox News Channel's Glenn Beck has bottled his own scent. Lou Dobbs' fear gives off a distinct undertone of racial intolerance. And Rush Limbaugh takes to the air to spread an odor that's designed to make Americans angry at, well, other Americans.

It's a fear that's laced with paranoia, stoked by misinformation and prejudice and fed to millions of people via powerful media. But most of all, it's a fear of the changes that an overwhelming majority of Americans called for when they stepped into voting booths last November.

Since then, the old guard has fallen into alignment with old media to hijack the public debate over reform, and vilify reformers as anti-American. And to them the most anti-American notion of the lot is the idea that we need to reform the media itself.

"Part of the strategy of this fundamental 'transformation' of America is to silence dissent," Glenn Beck said on Fox last month. The "most diabolical, hidden parts of this plan," according to Beck, are efforts to reform media through "localism and diversity" -- two principles that have grounded modern communications policy for decades.

Beck was later joined on the program by Rush Limbaugh, who called localism and diversity part of the growing tyranny of the left. This issue is "simply un-American," Limbaugh crowed. "They're trying to do this back-door route with diversity... to shut you up by shutting us down."

Not to be outdone, Lou Dobbs stated falsely: "When you talk about diversity, [you aren't] talking about ethnic, racial or religious diversity, [you 're] talking about more liberals on the air."

The cloud of media hysteria could have been waved off by more sensible voices on cable's evening news roster. But few have stepped forward to challenge Beck, Limbaugh and Dobbs, to replace their fomenting with facts. More worrisome, voices of reason seem to be absent from the media "pundocracy" altogether.

While Beck and his ilk want to portray diversity and localism as a dangerous conspiracy to censor, the fact remains that these ideas have been staples of communications policy since the beginning. The central mandate of the Federal Communications Commission -- as enshrined in the Communications Act of 1934 -- is to promote localism, diversity and competition in the media. This same principle of localism has been a rallying cry for several generations of true conservatives.

Broadcasters get hundreds of billions of dollars' worth of subsidies and the right to use our airwaves in exchange for a basic commitment to be responsive to the interests of local communities.

Moreover, the Supreme Court recognized that "safeguarding the public's right to receive a diversity of views and information over the airwaves is ... an integral component of the FCC's mission."

Sadly, the FCC has failed to live up to this standard. And what mainstream media's fear-merchants are most afraid of is not censorship, but an FCC that actually does its job -- creating more opportunities for people like you and me to participate in media.

We don't have that now. Washington bureaucrats have allowed powerful media corporations to control the public airwaves and dominate local cable networks. We have reached a nadir where the free press that Thomas Jefferson hoped would open "all the avenues to truth" has devolved into a media system that's a megaphone for the few.

Beck and Limbaugh, in particular, are two corporate welfare babies who owe much of their existence to this regulatory failure, which handed control of our airwaves to massive conglomerates like Clear Channel and ABC Radio to broadcast their fear agenda via a syndicated network of centrally owned radio stations.

The cable sector that carries Beck and Dobbs' nightly paranoia is itself a gigantic bundle of government handouts, having built invaluable local monopolies via granted rights-of-way that beam these two into nearly every den in America.

Try calculating what it would cost to get your content across America without a local or federal government clearing your path, and you quickly realize that blowhards like Beck, Dobbs and Limbaugh are three of the nation's biggest beneficiaries of public largesse.

And while they're raking in millions in salaries via their government-granted fiefdoms, you, the owner of the airwaves and roads and telephone poles over which they transmit, are getting nothing in exchange.

The ultimate irony of Beck, Dobbs and Limbaugh is that they couch in populist rhetoric a message that, in its very essence, is anti-populist -- designed to protect the swindle at the core of our media system's failure.

And that is why the media's old guard is targeting the idea that this system needs to change.

In his media and technology agenda, President Obama took up the cause of reform by committing to "diversity in the ownership of broadcast media," and pledging to "promote the development of new media outlets for expression of diverse viewpoints."

Obama is right, but he needs to get started on fulfilling that commitment.

Winning real change and giving more people a media voice is ultimately the best response we have to fear campaigns.

Follow Timothy Karr on Twitter: www.twitter.com/TimKarr

Comments

[MrBadger]

Maybe it's time progressives started saving our pennies to buy up media outlets?

[stillonline]

Glenn Beck speaking tomorrow at Safeco Field. What if people showed up with Nazi/Beck and Joker/Beck signs?

[Ken Maddox]

These people can (have) sat in front of a video showing tea bag protesters carrying signs comparing President Obama to Hitler, placards emblazoned with swastikas, Red flags with USSA, and signs calling President Obama a fascist, a nazi, or a socialist, and in their report claim that neither the protesters or any one a Fox News have ever called anyone any of those things. They lie with straight faces while the images proving their lies dance about their heads. They claim that Liberals are evil and out to destroy them, the protesters, and the nation (some even the world) all the while calling for revolution to drive out the enemy among us (presumably everyone not involved in the protest or their production).
They hate Obama for being president, and I am pretty sure why. They hate the nation for electing him, and that seems to them reason enough to destroy our country.
Even when a leader of the democratic party, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, asks for calmer rhetoric, and cooler heads, they go on the next show and mock her.

[MarkBrio]

Would like to know when. The anti trust laws are going to be enforced again. You have 3 or 4 corporations controlling 80% of the am stations. Talk radio is on all the time. Usually running multiple Conservative shows.The amount of vitriol and intolerance is shocking. The fact millions of people listen to this crap and believe all of it is frightening. If it doesn't stop fairly soon I believe we will be fighting another Civil War.

[doggiemaggee]

A civil war between the anonymous bloggers and the media pundits?

[ebanks84]

Every hater, wall street criminal, and CIA operator has a radio show daming America and splitting its people apart.

You would have to be deaf, dumb, and blind NOT to hear them. What's up with that? Where are all the LIBERAL stations? Are there any? Why is it that only THE BAD guys are allowed to speak to the masses.

It's p r o p a g a n d a with a capital P, that's all, and the Murdocks of the media are ALL behind it hook, line, and sinker.

[wethepeople3884]

I wouldn't mind FOX news AS much if they didn't wrap their particular brand of crazy in a bow and call it real news. It became abundantly clear at the town hall meetings and even more clear at the 9/12 circus from listening to interviews with the nuts listening to the nuts on a daily basis that despite what we may think, actually believe what beck, hannity and o'reilly preach is not a script at all but rather REAL NEWS. I find it almost impossible to believe that someone can watch fox news for a week and STILL be able to convince yourself that they are being unbiased but according to these interviews, FOX is either the most unbiased news they know or the only channel they even get. So while we can sit back and laugh at beck's antics, unfortunately, we have to realize at the same time that he is actually inciting rage and hate in those fans that take him seriously enough to get to washington DC in the midst of a recession. And still further, I wouldn;t even mind beck if he said like jon stewart and bill maher consistently do that he is not being entirely serious in the extreme rhetoric he spews and the way he spouts this venom but glen goes the opposite way on this one.

[LightningJoe]

This is why, in the fullness of time, these guys lose to the blogs.

Everyone knows a blog that's more reliable and "truthy" than most of the cable "news" channels. Those of us who don't have to be on the cutting edge of notification, but want our facts in the raw, now go to Huffpo, Democracy Now, or AlterNet.

As a benefit, the sites also double as poll reports, because you always get a flavor of the public response, at the same time. You can't follow the links, in broadcast TV, so you only get the little piece of the story that they want you to hear. I don't know why some would choose to watch propaganda, but the old guard is still with us...

First the newspapers die, then cable tv...

[ResearchtheFacts]

I am a veteran and mom of an active duty Marine. I am also close to active duty personnel in the Army Ranger program, Navy and the Air Force.

1. Fox wasn’t shown at all military installations until Bush took office and outsourced all food services to KBR, at which point Fox began to be shown 24/7 at all chow halls. So, all over the world, our military has had 8 years of propaganda shoved down their throats with their meals.

Anyone who complained was labeled unpatriotic.

I’m thrilled this has been stopped.

2. Service members already speak disrespectfully of President Obama – some so disrespectfully that they should face charges. Unfortunately, the atmosphere in the military today, especially the Marines, is virulently anti-Democratic among the middle ranks of the leadership. No surprise considering #1.

3. There is also a concurrent issue with the evangelization of the military. Our young troops in several of the branches are being force-fed a violent form of religious propaganda, even to the point of being told by high ranking officers that we are in a holy war, and that Islam must be destroyed for Christianity to survive.

4. Our military kids are regularly subjected to bizarre conspiracy theories. My neighbor’s son, an Army Ranger, bought several guns before he deployed to Afghanistan because his leadership told him unofficialy but repeatedly that Obama was going to repeal the 2nd amendment while he was overseas.

at http://hiteminthewallet.wordpress.com/

[Unsui]

Thanks for this post.

[Weirdo]

Is the new show with Courteney Cox really called Cougar Town?

[stanjz]

It's not just Fox News. Our entire media is made up of corporations and funded by corporations. Their agenda is entirely undemocratic as their system of ownership is undemocratic. They're there to undermine people's ability to have a meaningful say in how their country is run. We're better than this folks. Corporations also fund supposed progressive websites like Huffington Post and Daily Kos. It shows in how they attack the Obama Administration before they have time to do anything.

[Eggsackley]

Amen. Back when I was a Young Republican working on a mayoral campaign in a major city, we felt like we had a good candidate and a real chance to put our candidate into office. But, just before the election, the Newspaper published a big story about an attempt by a relative of the opposing candidate to extort campaign funds. This looked good at first. The problem was, that the owners of the newspaper and other major media had suppressed the story for about a month so they could use it at the last moment to influence the outcome of the election.
That backfired, because of media diversity. The media supporting the opposing candidate were able to expose the way the story had been suppressed until just before the election, and our candidate lost big time. At our "victory party", almost all of us rank and file workers, knew we had lost before the first votes were counted. This was just one of many reasons why I an now a registered independent. The rich and powerful elite hate media diversity. I love it. We need a new wave of anti-trust legislation and a Department of Justice willing to enforce it. Finance and the media need to be the first targets.

[lrtalb]

You are on the money. For instance MSNBC is owned by GE who is a huge supporter of Obama. GE is set to make billions off the Obama administration if Cap and Trade passes. ALL news outlets have an agenda.

[ResearchtheFacts]

Open Call for American Citizens to Take Action Against Fox News Network, Mark Williams and Rush Limbaugh

On September 17, 2009, Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, warned of possible violence if the rhetoric wasn’t toned down across the nation.

We all seem to know where the rhetoric is coming from. Fox News Network www.foxnews.com, Glenn Beck, Mark Williams www.marktalk.com/blog, Hannity, Limbaugh www.rushlimbaugh.com and O’Reilly have motivated thousands of conservatives to turn out for tea bag, birther and deather events.

We are asking you, if you believe, Fox News is a major component in inciting our citizens, utilizing, their media outlet as a weapon, to derail peace.

Our goal is not to infringe on anybody’s freedom of speech rights.

However, the question is, whether the words used by this network, are used in such circumstances, and are of such a nature, as to put, us, all, in clear or present danger. That their words, will incite, substantive, evils against our citizens or president.

Military familes have already taken a stand.

http://hiteminthewallet.wordpress.com/2009/09/18/open-call-for-american-citizens-to-take-action-against-fox-news-network-mark-williams-and-rush-limbaugh/

[NavyVet2008]

Done and Done.

[lrtalb]

I have never heard Beck, Limbaugh or Hannity promote violence. The only demostrations of violence so far has been by the left. The SEIU thugs who attacked a black man at the Florida Town Hall meeting. A farleft wingnut who bit off a mans finger during a protest.

[Weirdo]

Why do the airwaves belong to the people?

[3dtrix]

Because We The People - in our wisdom, reserved them for ourselves in perpetuity....

[mcnary]

Don't watch or listen to these fools....... after you've heard their garbage.... they simply become a waste of time.

[ramblingjohnny]

Where to start? First we need to break down Clear Channel, Disney, Viacom and Comcast under anti-trust law they became way too big to exist. After that we need to get ISP to upgrade both their speed and their bandwidth package to help promote true IPTV! What left promote and push for the building of an OTA Sat service just like they do in Europe....

[blood1]

The GOP has had 40 years to recruit their lemmings, so this won't change overnight. But, if the DEMS can pull together and actually pass legislation that will positively impact this group before they drown, then the media (in general) will turn it's focus off of all the right wing talking heads and pundits. Until then, the only way to approach this problem is to talk to these folks one on one...because only if you can get them to tell you what they are so angry about and you can tell them the facts as they are, not the made for media facts like birthers and deathers and tenters...will they understand that they are being led to an abyss because they believed the lies.

If, for example, healthcare reform was passed today...no one will feel an Instant direct benefit .... well, maybe those who are being denied coverage for healthcare because of pre-existing conditions....like acne or the like...but in reality, these folks don't know what to look for....we need to help them!

[suddencall]

The GOP has been promoting the destruction of the republics institutions( including the Constitution0 for many ,Many yeatrs ) and being tolorant of these talking heads that are the recruiters of unrest is just not acceptable.The home land security has plenty of power to control this terror type behavior.Obama needs to wake up and study what happened when these terrorists attacked the Clinton administration.They will do him the same way if he does not grow up soon and put a stop to this.The USA citizens do not need another administration that is attacked and shut down by this republican terror group.The enemy is not in Afganstan it is right here in America.

[1laingirl]

I think all of these hatriots would change sides in a minute for more money. They're really not deep enough, much less educated enough, to have well-considered opinions. Basically they want attention like misbehaving children.