A media watchdog organization says President Barack Obama has begun an assault on conservative talk radio.
The Media Research Center (MRC) reveals President Obama took a shot at conservative talk-radio king Rush Limbaugh when he warned GOP leaders last week: "You can't just listen to Rush Limbaugh and get things done."
The MRC says the attack came during a meeting on Capitol Hill held to discuss the president's hefty $1 trillion stimulus package. Tim Graham, director of media analysis at the MRC, sees this as a first step in a war against conservative talk radio.
That is the case, says Graham, "whether you undercut its effectiveness by trying to tell Republican leaders not to listen to it, or whether you put people in charge of the Federal Communications Commission who start investigating what they can do to ensure some sort of a 'Fairness Doctrine,' in the old terminology."
Graham believes that could mean requiring stations to provide more local programming, which could force some conservative shows off the air. He points out they could also intimidate stations into balancing their programming by airing unsuccessful liberal talk shows.
According to the media analyst, other tactics could be employed under the Fairness Doctrine to dilute the influence of conservative radio. "We've suggested that the Fairness Doctrine is, in a sense, a recession doctrine for radio. Let's take the profitable host and right next to that show, we're going to put a show with no listeners," he explains. "Or you may end up delaying them -- so instead of having sort of that 'murderers row' [lineup] like Limbaugh, Hannity, Levin, you're like, 'Oh Limbaugh, then we've got to have two or three hours of liberals. Then we'll get to Hannity, and then it will be bedtime.'"
If Obama had his way, argues Graham, President Obama would have all Americans reading The New York Times and listening to Air America.
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