Everyone likes to scream about Fox News.But at least on cable TV, people can choose a liberal perspective via MSNBC.That is not the case with radio; because of the 1996 Telecommunications Act,more than 90% of talk radio is "conservative." And more than 90% of the country has zero opportunity to hear a dissenting point of view.Fox News is the boil on the face of the body culture;Talk radio is the cancer that is eating us alive.

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My guest today is Sue Wilson, director and producer of the 2009 documentary,Broadcast Blues. Welcome to OpEdNews, Sue. Please tell our readers how you came to make this film.



I've worked as a broadcast journalist since 1987, when we were still working under the Fairness Doctrine. I saw how the character of broadcasting changed when we lost that rule: personal attacks were suddenly okay, community programming was not worth the price, and candidates for public office could forget about going on the air for free; if they wanted time, they could buy it.

Then after Bill Clinton signed the 1996 Telecommunications Act into law, I saw how one man on 600 radio stations nationwide could pummel a president into impeachment. I would hear Rush tell his audience, "I'll do the reading for you so you won't have to," then lie to his listeners about what he'd read. Nobody was there to check his facts, and so he began writing America's new oral history. By 2000, more right wing voices dominated the AM dial, and Presidential candidate Al Gore became unfairly portrayed as prevaricator in chief. After the 2004 media swiftboating of war hero John Kerry, I just couldn't take it anymore. I had to connect the dots so people could understand why and how we are getting the lies and misinformation we have in the media today.

So I began shooting Broadcast Blues in 2005, and thanks to Public Interest Pictures, obtained financing to complete the film. I finished just after President Obama's inauguration.

You've just given a great summary of what's happened to the media in the last several decades. Let's start with Obama and work our way backwards. Many had high expectations of him regarding deregulation and diversity of media ownership. Was that misplaced or have there been any hopeful signs so far?

The Obama administration FCC is currently working hard on the issues of net neutrality and broadband. They correctly see that all Americans need access to high speed internet, and that content providers need equal access to eyeballs (as opposed to a tiered system where a big corporation could pay to have quicker downloads and higher search engine ratings than a small startup). It was thought that this issue would be resolved by spring, but groups are now challenging the FCC's jurisdiction over this issue. The smart money bets that it will be resolved by year's end.

But longtime FCC Commissioner Michael Copps is once again talking about media diversity and the public interest. President Obama established three guidelines for media after his inauguration: to establish public interest guidelines, to restore localism, and to diversify media ownership. Look for Copps to make an announcement in L.A. on this March 11.

So, is FCC Commissioner Copps a good guy or a bad guy? It's so hard to tell. Media diversity and the public interest are good things. But, then again, we've grown used to buzz words and key phrases (think Clean Air Act) that say one thing but mean something else entirely. Also, how should we look at the whole brouhaha about the administration website removing a paragraph about media diversity and local ownership because of alleged pressure? Is that just a tempest in a teapot or does it mean really something about Obama's willingness to stand up for the public interest?

Anyone who has seen Michael Copps crisscross the country for the last many years to attend grassroots workshops and events knows that he is a true advocate for the public interest, and I absolutely take him at his word that he is again fighting for the public interest via putting teeth into broadcast license renewals. Whether the rest of the FCC commissioners and the crucial FCC Media Bureau (which approves or denies petitions to deny licenses) follow suit remains to be seen.

It is true that the White House website no longer includes the goals to establish public interest guidelines, to restore localism, and to diversify media ownership. Why it has been removed, I cannot say. But President Obama, like all politicians, responds best to pressure from constituents. That is really why I made Broadcast Blues, to educate people as to our rights in this media landscape, and to encourage people to stand up and start shouting to reclaim our rights. We the People have to be our own advocates, or nothing will happen in Washington.

Well, it's very encouraging that this FCC Commissioner is on our side. Let's talk about investigative journalism for a moment. It's really expensive and, with the consolidation of media outlets, more and more of an endangered species. How much truth is there to the charge that if the public wasn't just interested in celebrity gossip and other non-news, the media wouldn't dish it out?

CBS' 60 Minutes consistently shows up in the top ten highest rated shows. That proves two things: the public is interested in investigative journalism, and the public has a much longer attention span than we've been led to believe.

That may be true and that's good. Then, what's happened to all the intrepid journalists of yesteryear? If you look at the White House press corps, there was Helen Thomas asking the hard questions during the Bush administration and everyone else was sitting there with a vacuous smile. Even Bob Woodward today isn't the Woodward of the Watergate era. Is this a function of corporate downsizing, the threat of loss of access, the lowering of journalistic standards, the prevalence of talk shows as a substitute for research or something else entirely?

It's everything you've said, including something else entirely. There has been a right wing movement for more than a generation to dumb down and control our culture. It started before Ronald Reagan and goes right up through the Citizens United case [recent Supreme Court decision unleashing corporate campaign contributions]. This movement has been purposely confusing people as to facts in order to sway public opinion and to write its own oral history. I began writing on this topic recently, and found the answer merits a book, not an essay. Working title: The Premeditated Misinformation of America.

Can't wait to read that book. After Goldwater's defeat in 1964, conservative Republicans slowly built themselves an empire that includes but isn't restricted to the media. Waves of media deregulation and the demise of the Fairness Doctrine have also played into their hands, creating a veritable echo chamber of a unified message. [Paul Krugman laid this out really well in his 2007 book, The Conscience of a Liberal.] Conservatives would contend that all the protest is just sour grapes on the part of liberals who didn't invest the time and resources to build their own, rival empire. After all, it's not the conservatives' fault that Democrats are disorganized and splintered. Or, is it?

Will Rogers famously said, "I am not a member of any organized political party. I'm a Democrat." While it is easy to get Republicans to go in lockstep, getting Democrats to agree is a little like herding cats. (That's why I give such kudos to Nancy Pelosi.)

But it is true that most Democratic funding tends to go into direct help for people in need, while Republicans have made funding the message machine a priority for decades. Democrats still haven't woken up to the reality that they have lost the ability to get their message out, (although perhaps the misinformation that led to the health care debacle is waking them up. President Obama mentioned it in a speech in Missouri yesterday.) Will Democrats start to fight for the message? Here, kitty, kitty, kitty...

Let's talk about the Democrats' inability to get their message across. That's a pretty important weakness, especially right now. Are they just poor communicators? How has the growing media consolidation fed into this?

Democrats do not have access to the radio microphones, it is as simple as that.

Everyone likes to scream about Fox News. But at least on cable TV, people can choose a liberal perspective via MSNBC. That is not the case with radio; because of the 1996 Telecommunications Act, more than 90 percent of talk radio is "conservative." And more than 90 percent of the country has zero opportunity to hear a dissenting point of view. Fox News is the boil on the face of the body culture; Talk radio is the cancer that is eating us alive.

Let's look at the numbers: Glen Beck gets about 2.5 million viewers on his one hour Fox News tirade. But he gets 9 million listeners on the radio. Rush Limbaugh gets 15 million more, Sean Hannity another 14 million. Add it all up, and about 42 million people hear lying talk radio every single day. 42 million people who get in their cars and turn on the radio and cannot find a liberal viewpoint. 42 million people who have been brainwashed into thinking their grandmothers are going to face death panels with the Democrats' health care plan. That is why polls on health care have shifted dramatically.

Which brings me to the Tea Parties. Why has a small grassroots movement grown to widespread national attention? It is because Fox News and Talk Radio have been cheerleading the movement. Here's the game: Fox News and Talk Radio promote the heck out of the April 15 and 9-12 Tea Party events. Thousands show up (that's what happens when events are promoted to millions of people). So many show up that mainstream newspapers put the Tea Parties on their front pages, which legitimizes the spread of misinformation. Soon, independent voters who would never listen to Limbaugh are hearing and believing the lies. And politicians are terrified to face their misinformed constituents due to the passion and anger we witnessed at last summers' town hall meetings. (This is a key reason Evan Bayh gave for stepping aside from the Senate.)

We've seen President Obama try to do an end run around this problem with his televised health care forum. But even the President's bully pulpit is dwarfed by the Talk Radio machine.

Let's pause here. When we return, Sue has lots more to say about the state of American media and how to take the public airways back. I hope you'll join us.

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Part two of my interview with Sue

Sue Wilson Reports: news and commentary about the media itself.

Public Interest Pictures Broadcast Blues website

Authors Website: http://www.opednews.com/author/author79.html

Authors Bio:

Joan Brunwasser is a co-founder of Citizens for Election Reform (CER) which since 2005 existed for the sole purpose of raising the public awareness of the critical need for election reform. Our goal: to restore fair, accurate, transparent, secure elections where votes are cast in private and counted in public. Because the problems with electronic (computerized) voting systems include a lack of transparency and the ability to accurately check and authenticate the vote cast, these systems can alter election results and therefore are simply antithetical to democratic principles and functioning.



Since the pivotal 2004 Presidential election, Joan has come to see the connection between a broken election system, a dysfunctional, corporate media and a total lack of campaign finance reform. This has led her to enlarge the parameters of her writing to include interviews with whistle-blowers and articulate others who give a view quite different from that presented by the mainstream media. She also turns the spotlight on activists and ordinary folks who are striving to make a difference, to clean up and improve their corner of the world. By focusing on these intrepid individuals, she gives hope and inspiration to those who might otherwise be turned off and alienated. She also interviews people in the arts in all their variations - authors, journalists, filmmakers, actors, playwrights, and artists. Why? The bottom line: without art and inspiration, we lose one of the best parts of ourselves. And we're all in this together. If Joan can keep even one of her fellow citizens going another day, she considers her job well done.


When Joan hit one million page views, OEN Managing Editor, Meryl Ann Butler interviewed her, turning interviewer briefly into interviewee. Read the interview here.

While the news is often quite depressing, Joan nevertheless strives to maintain her mantra: "Grab life now in an exuberant embrace!"


Joan has been Election Integrity Editor for OpEdNews since December, 2005. Her articles also appear at Huffington Post, RepublicMedia.TV and Scoop.co.nz.