- “Fear Channel” and the FCC Silence Howard
Stern’s Anti-Bush Speech
-
- by Roman Bystrianyk and Meryl Barr
-
- OpEdNews.Com
-
- On February 26, Clear Channel Communications pulled Howard Stern off
its six stations that carry his syndicated show as part of the radio
giant's new “zero tolerance” policy against indecency on the
airwaves.
-
- As a reason for the action, Clear Channel cited Stern's interview on
Tuesday with Rick Solomon, the man who was filmed having sex with
hotel heiress and Fox reality star Paris Hilton in a video widely
distributed on the Internet. According
to a transcript released by Clear Channel, Stern asked Solomon about
his sexual practices and referred to the size of certain body parts.
Using a racist term, a caller asked Solomon if he had ever had
relations with any famous black women.
-
- “It was vulgar, offensive and insulting, not just to women and
African-Americans but to anyone with a sense of common decency,”
said chief executive officer John Hogan.
-
- But was it the “indecency” which caused Clear Channel to ban
Stern on their stations or was it for other reasons? Howard Stern and his “shock jock” antics have been the
same for the last 15 years. Clear
Channel never complained in the past about his behavior, and what
occurred on the cited day was not out of the ordinary.
What had changed is that in the four days prior to his banning
by Clear Channel, Stern began to heavily criticize Bush.
- “Listed by FOX last March as one of the
"pro-Bush celebs out on the limelight," Stern has since
rethought his position. On February 26 (the day Stern's program was
suspended in half a dozen Clear Channel markets), he not only said
that the Bush administration doesn't know what it is doing in Iraq,
but within a ten minute span pointed out that:
- ·
Al Gore won the election.
- ·
Bush did not fulfill his duty in the National Guard.
- ·
George W. will never admit that Poppy Bush pulled
strings to get him into the Guard and keep him out of Vietnam.
- ·
There are several questions about Bush's character.
- While callers to the show repeatedly
expressed dismay that Stern was taken off the air in certain cities,
one fan expressed the overall mood by saying that the new FCC/Clear
Channel tactics are reminiscent of Nazi book burnings. Never mind that
the canaries in the proverbial coal mine were chirping a similar tune
last year, back when radio stations were organizing Dixie Chick CD
demolitions, the distant rumbling of goose-stepping is now being heard
by former Bush supporters, too. Dubbing Clear Channel "fear
channel," Stern warned that the "fascist right-wing" is
"getting so much power."” [i]
-
-
- Lowry Mays is the Big Daddy of radio. The founder and CEO of Clear
Channel, Mays oversees 1,233 radio stations with some 100 million
listeners across all 50 states, and runs a company with $8 billion in
revenues and a $23 billion market cap. [ii]
-
- Lowry Mays, a rancher and one-time George W. Bush business
associate, from Clear Channel has ridden a wave of acquisitions,
spending more than $30 billion to become the world's largest radio
broadcaster, concert promoter, and billboard advertising firm. Clear
Channel owns approximately 50 percent of the U.S. radio stations, five
times more than its closest competitors, CBS and ABC.
Considering the fact that prior to the Telecommunications Act,
a single broadcaster could not own more than 40 stations in the entire
country, it is hard to see the behemoth as anything but a creation of
the act itself. [iii]
-
- Clear Channel company founder and chief executive Lowry Mays and the
Mays family have a long history with the Republican Party with Lowry
Mays having been a big financial backer of President Bush.
-
- According to the director of the telecommunications project at the
Center for Public Integrity, John Dunbar, “If you have a politically
active CEO who is of a particularly ideological bent you become
worried that if they control entire markets, which Clear Channel does,
that ideology might make into some of the coverage,” [iv]
-
- Also, according to corpwatch.org, “Far from
fostering a diversity of voices, Clear Channel's monopolistic
practices are accelerating the homogenization of our airwaves. The
company syndicates both Rush Limbaugh and Dr. Laura to hundreds of
stations nationwide, shuts out independent artists who can't afford to
go through high-priced middlemen.” [v]
-
- Clear Channel’s pattern of behavior is that of
pro-Bush and pro-War. Their
stance is reflected in the many actions they have taken over time.
-
- “Just days after the 9/11
attacks, slates of blacklisted songs, including Cat Stevens'
"Peace Train" and John Lennon's "Imagine," were
leaked to the public. But it was not until the invasion of Iraq that
Clear Channel really kicked into high gear. Facing the massive public
outcry and protests against the war, the network began sponsoring
pro-war rallies called "Rally for America." Using its 1,200
stations, Clear Channel pummeled listeners with a mind-numbing stream
of uncritical "patriotism." Finally, there was the recent
and gleeful banning of Dixie Chicks songs from several prominent Clear
Channel stations after singer Natalie Maines made derogatory remarks
about George W. Bush.” [vi]
-
- Clear channel even found it necessary to let go of a conservative
talk show host that dared speak against the war. He said,
-
- “Why did this happen? Why only a couple of months after my company
picked up the option on my contract for another year in the
fifth-largest city in the United States, did it suddenly decide to
relegate me to radio Outer Darkness? The answer lies hidden in the
oil-and-water incompatibility of these two seemingly disconnected
phrases: “Criticizing Bush” and “Clear Channel.”
Clear Channel made it clear—“With you, I feel like I’m
managing the Dixie Chicks,” said my program director—that they
would have liked to fire me anyway. While a well-drafted contract made
that difficult, it did not prevent them from tucking me away outside
prime time.” [vii]
-
- Love him or hate him for what he says, Howard Stern speaks honestly
on the radio and now represents a threat to the Bush Administration
because of his shift of support from pro-Bush to anti-Bush.
After Michael Powell, head of the FCC, makes the trumped-up
charges against Howard Stern with enormous fines attached, Infinity
Broadcasting will have little recourse except to fire Howard Stern.
They will have accomplished their goal of silencing Howard
Stern not only on Clear Channel stations, but on all stations
hammering yet another nail into the coffin to bury dissent.
-
- The FCC move will send a chill through the industry and more people
will think twice before speaking in opposition to President Bush and
any of his policies. Those
that continue in some measure will be targeted and systematically
removed from the airwaves and from other media including the Internet
using “decency” as a pretext for such a removal.
Voices such as Pacifica radio, Democracy Now, commondreams.org,
and others may soon be only a memory as the thought police continue
their moves to concentrate power and crush dissent under their boots.
-
- Before we easily dismiss Howard Stern because he is
just a “shock jock” we should remember the immortal words of
Martin Niemoller, “In Germany they came first for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I
wasn't a Jew. Then they
came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a
trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up
because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me, and by that time no one was left to
speak up.”
Roman Bystrianyk is an investigative reporter for
www.healthsentinel.com and can be reached at roman@healthsentinel.com
. Meryl Barr is a community activist and can be reached at merylnro@hotmail.com
.
- [iii] Stephen
Marshall, “Primetime Payola for Clear Channel”, In These
Times, April 10, 2003
- [vi] Stephen
Marshall, “Primetime Payola for Clear Channel”, In These
Times, April 10, 2003
|
|
Enter
Your E-mail address to Receive OpEdNews
Newsletter