Thursday, March 25, 2010

The radio socialism in our future

MSNBC host and progressive radio talker Ed Schultz took to the airwaves earlier this week to call for radio socialism.


The fact is, look, it's not a level playing field when it comes to the audio culture of the country. Ownership has its privileges. When you own, I will be honest, if I owned 500 stations, the drugster wouldn't be on any of 'em. And that's just where it's at right now. But maybe we have reached the point where the Congress needs to equal it out. Equal out the audience.
...
And so, I think that, you know, hell, if we're going to be socialist, let's be socialist all across the board.
Schultz works for the Obama-obsessed MSNBC, which is owned by General Electric. GE's president, Jeffrey Immelt, sits on the Federal Reserve and has secured several special deals for GE from the Obama Administration at the expense of competitors. Both MSNBC and Schultz are lagging behind conservative competitors in the ratings. How long until Immelt leans on Obama to right that wrong? Obama's diversity czar at the FCC is already trying to make Schultz's dream a reality by supporting an initiative to tax large radio companies and redistribute the wealth to smaller, minority-owned stations.
Radio socialism has support in Congress. Rep. Louise Slaughter, of recent health care fame, introduced a bill in 2004 that would reinstate the Fairness Doctrine. Under Obama, the Democrats in Congress just nationalized the student loan industry and the health care industry in a single weekend. Does anyone doubt that they would do the same for the country's airwaves?

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