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Thom Hartmann: "We Need a Democratic Revolution to Overcome the Rightwing Media Machine!"
https://hartmannreport.com/p/we-need-a-democratic-revolution-to-5a6. . .
Another example is Russia’s Putin and Hungary’s Orbán: in both cases, they used — just as Trump is promising to do here if he is reelected — libel laws to drive “normal” and progressive radio, newspapers, and TV out of business and replaced them with the equivalent of Fox “News” owned by friendly oligarchs, proclaiming the wonders of Putin and Orbán all day, every day.
Autocrats and fascists, it seems, know the importance of media ownership (Hitler and Mussolini also took over radio and newspapers during their time). Why this simple lesson is lost on wealthy progressives is confounding.
The main reason the GOP has so much power in Congress is that in low-population rural states the only voices on the radio are promoting Republicans. There are over 1500 rightwing commercial radio stations, and around 900 religious nonprofit stations, all blasting out a pro-Republican message 24/7. They quite literally reach into every nook and cranny — no matter how rural or obscure — of America.
On the progressive/Democratic side, there are only a handful of large commercial stations across the nation, almost entirely located in big cities like Chicago and Minneapolis. SiriusXM, which also carries my program weekdays from noon-3 PM ET, is the only national alternative for progressive talk radio, but requires a satellite receiver and a paid subscription.
. . .
Another example is Russia’s Putin and Hungary’s Orbán: in both cases, they used — just as Trump is promising to do here if he is reelected — libel laws to drive “normal” and progressive radio, newspapers, and TV out of business and replaced them with the equivalent of Fox “News” owned by friendly oligarchs, proclaiming the wonders of Putin and Orbán all day, every day.
Autocrats and fascists, it seems, know the importance of media ownership (Hitler and Mussolini also took over radio and newspapers during their time). Why this simple lesson is lost on wealthy progressives is confounding.
The main reason the GOP has so much power in Congress is that in low-population rural states the only voices on the radio are promoting Republicans. There are over 1500 rightwing commercial radio stations, and around 900 religious nonprofit stations, all blasting out a pro-Republican message 24/7. They quite literally reach into every nook and cranny — no matter how rural or obscure — of America.
On the progressive/Democratic side, there are only a handful of large commercial stations across the nation, almost entirely located in big cities like Chicago and Minneapolis. SiriusXM, which also carries my program weekdays from noon-3 PM ET, is the only national alternative for progressive talk radio, but requires a satellite receiver and a paid subscription.
. . .
1 replies
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= new reply since forum marked as read
Bloomberg articles are paywalled or login-walled.
WHEN ALL FACTUAL INFO IS PAYWALLED, THEN
ONLY LIES ARE FREELY AVAILABLE
Working on a Bloomberg version of this graphic:
