Apologist for Right-wing Radio in San Diego May 12 -- Speaking about New "Censorship" book

Brian Jennings, the author of the new book -- Censorship; The Threat to Silence Talk Radio -- will appear at the Mira Mesa Barnes and Noble store on May 12 at noon. The book claims that liberals -- via new regulation -- want to squash conservative voices on the radio -- HA! Conservatives dominate the airwaves -- with barely a sideways glance of the FCC or policymakers -- no one wants to offend the big media companies... I encourage those who care about the state of media in our democracy to attend and ask smart, pointed questions. Jennings is a former executive with Citadel -- 3rd largest over 200, plus providing content for 4,000 stations. Guess who the book's foreward is by - none other than super rightie TV/radio host Sean Hannity. The book has been endorsed by none other than de facto GOP chief Rush Limbaugh -- so you know how fair and balanced it is. See the Democratic Underground's postings.

And to get really riled up, read the transcript of Glenn Beck's May 7th interview with Jennings - you will learn that, see, it's the liberals' evil plot to destroy right-wingers on the air via localism and diversity. oh, the horror, the horror!

The book's tour coincides with the May 7 kickoff hearings of the FCC's new diversity committee, which the likes of Jennings see as a major threat to the free press, specifically, that the committee is "marginalizing conservative talk." The committee seems to have a great diversity itself -- reps from telecom companies, government, and media advocate superstar Andrew Schwartzman of the Media Access Project. The charter of the diversity committee says (sorry to get bogged down in policy wonk stuff, but this is important -- you will see how ridiculous the Censorship book is... bottom line is that a small number of companies own and control media in this country. That oligopoly damages the public interest and does not meet the FCC's responsibilities a stated below; Some people think companies should not be allowed to own so many radio and tv stations and want to reverse the TeleCom Act of 1996 which created this mess... anyway, here is an excerpt from the FCC diversity committee charter:

One of the FCC’s responsibilities under the Communications Act is “...
 47 U.S.C. § 257, directing the FCC to work toward elimination of market entry barriers in order “to promote the policies and purposes of this Act favoring diversity of media voices, vigorous economic competition, technological advancement, and promotion of the public interest, convenience and necessity.” These goals can best be achieved by ensuring that as broad a cross-section of the public as possible has the opportunity to own and/or manage communications and communications related
companies. Consequently, the Commission is forming this Diversity Committee to ensure that it regulates the communications industry in a manner consistent with these goals."

Gentle readers -- if you love this media reform stuff, you will want to see the forthcoming SaveKLSD film (I am one of the producers), which explores the topics discussed here through the story of the rise and fall of KLSD prog talk radio in San Diego. Broadcast Blues is another documentary worth seeing.