| As editor Mike Dobbs pays tribute in last week's Opinion Column to citizen journalist blogger Heather Brandon, he takes a sideways swipe at other journalists who simply "re-spin opinions on national issues . . ." He follows immediately with a propaganda piece in which he simply parrots the one-sided opinions of a well-known liberal think tank on the national issue of talk radio. The national liberal think tank, Center For American Progress, believes that conservative thought holds a lock on talk radio and that the US government should step in and do something to reduce the spread of conservative thought. Funny, neither the think tank nor Mr. Dobbs seem to feel that the major U.S. daily newspapers and big three television networks, who all present a strong liberal bias, should be gagged by the government. Only the lowly radio shows. Anybody who does not think that the national press is overwhelmingly liberal have only to review last week's MSNBC's study that identified 143 journalists who had made political contributions since 2004 to Democratic or liberal causes, but only 20 who gave to Republican or conservative causes a result that has been consistently seen for the last 50 years. So the mainstream national press and TV all lean to the left, which is okay, and doesn't call for government intervention. In his piece, Mr. Dobbs quotes a spokesman for CAP saying "there is little free speech or free choice in the marketplace . . ." Huh? Didn't we have a liberal talk show called Air America just recently, which couldn't hold its own in the world of ideas? Are you aware of any restrictions on radio that keep liberal thought from being heard? Are your tax dollars being used to support conservative expression? The answer is no. But your tax dollars are being used to support the liberal expression on National Public Radio every day. Bottom-line, liberal talk radio has failed in the marketplace, and now wants the government to help it succeed by quashing the freedom of talk radio. Be afraid. Be very afraid! Pat Henry East Longmeadow |
