RWNJ » Media

Sean Hannity Pulled from Cincinnati Tea Party

admin — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 00:55:19 +0000

Sean Hannity has been pulled from the Cincinnati Tea Party tonight by Fox News. Early reports were that Hannity had to leave for a personal emergency. Later, news started coming out that Fox News executives ordered Hannity to withdraw from the event. Hannity was reported leaving the University of Cincinnati campus prior to a scheduled book signing event.

Fox News executives are reportedly upset that the Cincinnati Tea party was potentially profiting from Hannity’s planned appearance, having nearly sold out tickets for the scheduled April 15th, 2010 event at Fifth Third Arena (which seats around 13,000) at the University of Cincinnati. Tickets for the event ranged from $5 to $20. The Cincinnati Tea Party paid for the facility and had no expectations of turning a profit on the event but stated that any overage would be used for future Cincinnati Tea Party sponsored events.

I was hoping to have the opportunity to attend the event, but had scheduling issues. It will be intesting to see what Hannity says regarding this. I’d certainly have expected that Hannity would have taken another course of action (perhaps paying for the facility himself) had he expected a reaction such as this. When I was listening to his radio program this afternoon he sounded very upbeat and anxious to get to the arena for the event. It’s clearly not a decision made by him.

Moderates: Obama is Not Who We Thought

admin — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 14:24:29 +0000

Moderates seem to be the latest group to discover that Obama was not who they thought. David Brooks entered an Op-Ed in the New York times giving his views on Obama and the direction that unchecked liberalism is taking the country.

While many moderates thought there were good ideas in the plans that Obama had to offer, they did not bank on an administration that refuses to set priorities. Instead of taking trade-offs and working to see bi-partisan solutions through, plans are being rammed through. The result? A budget that puts us in a $1 Trillion a year deficit with no end in sight.

If successful, this new agenda will result in a country further steeped in class envy and even more heavily dependent upon government than it already is. Our country has moved a long way from “Ask not what your country can do — ask what you can do for your country.” Instead we now go directly to the President and ask for him to personally help us. While personal responsibility has been ailing for some time, it seems to be truly dead now.

It seems this is not what moderates had in mind. The change the thought they would get is not the change Obama has been providing. Before anyone gets the impression that Brooks is an outlier, I will point out that Obama’s polling has been dropping rapidly. His approval index today is down to a +4 from a high of +30. Clearly there is some form of buyers remorse among moderates.

Hat tip to The Matthias Chronicles.

Time: 10 Questions for Bobby Jindal

admin — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 14:58:39 +0000

Time Magazine’s 10 Questions series featured Bobby Jindal. While some of the questions were rather odd, such as “What do you think of comparisons following your speech between you and a character on 30 Rock, Kenneth the Page?”, there were a few decent questions in there, such as “What would your top priorities be for a stimulus package?”

Jindal has plenty of substance, but he needs to work on style. We saw in the last election how much more style means than substance. It seems apparent in the current political environment that what is said is not nearly as important as how it is delivered.

Fairness Doctrine Amendment

admin — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 15:44:29 +0000

The Broadcaster Freedom Amendment offered by Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) to the D.C. Voting Rights Act was voted in overwhelmingly 87-11 (46 Democrats crossed over to vote with the Republicans). This amendment prevents the FCC from reinstating the Fairness Doctrine.

Here’s the catch… Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) added an amendment (which passed 57-41 with no Republican support) that instructs the FCC to take a proactive stance “to encourage and promote diversity in communication media ownership.” This is some broad language that could be interpreted in many ways.

DeMint anticipates some issues and commented “Sen. Durbin’s amendment exposed Democrat intentions to impose radio censorship through the back door using vague regulations dealing with media ownership. Sen. Durbin’s language was so broad, it could apply beyond radio to television, newspapers and the internet. All eyes are now on the FCC. If they attempt to shut down free speech indirectly, we will fight to stop them.”

Though the “Fairness Doctrine” may be stopped, it appears a back door method to media censorship could open up.

“Oh God” Muttered Before Jindal’s Response

admin — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 13:42:51 +0000

Between Keith Olberman’s introduction and Jindal appearing on screen, someone on MSNBC muttered an “Oh God” that came over the mic. I’m sure it must have been something totally unrelated to Jindal that resulted in the comment!

DeMint to Push Fairness Doctrine Vote

admin — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 14:56:34 +0000

The Business & Media Institute is reporting that Sentor DeMint (R-SC) is planning on adding the Broadcaster Freedom Act to the D.C. Voting Rights bill next week. This amendment would prevent the FCC from reinstating the Fairness Doctrine.

Attached is audio of Bingaman (D-NM) stating his support of the fairness doctrine. Unfortunately, the Fairness Doctrine will only limit free speech instead of promoting it. Currently the media is open and all viewpoints have equal opportunity to be heard. Success and failure is based upon the ability of those viewpoints to hold an audience.

Jon Stewart Pokes at Obama

admin — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 15:27:03 +0000

It’s far from a scathing satire, but at least I’ll give Stewart credit for poking a bit of fun at Obama (about halfway through the video). I’ll be interested to see what the comics end up focusing on with Obama.

Don’t Vote Video and Spoof

admin — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 00:44:48 +0000

JackFM decided to make a spoof of the Hollywood “Don’t Vote” video. In case you didn’t see the original, I posted it below. After that is the JackFM spoof. Not really any political intent to this, just found it funny. Spiderman told me to vote!

ORIGINAL

SPOOF

Return of the Fairness Doctrine Looming?

admin — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 13:56:26 +0000

The New York Post put up an article that got me thinking. Obama claims that he isn’t looking to have the Fairness Doctrine return. But what are the odds he would stop it? There is little doubt that Pelosi will push this through. I cannot see any situation where an Obama administration would veto it.

The Post does an excellent job pointing out that the name “Fairness” makes it sound like a good thing. Unfortunately, many people don’t think about what the true effect of this is and blindly think “Oh, fairness is a good thing, I support that!” I wonder how many people actually understand that it actually is Government dictation of media content.

Currently, the media is open to anyone that wants to participate. The free market dictates what is successful and what is not. Liberals have tried to break into talk radio, but these ventures have not been successful. Air America is not a failure because it hasn’t had a chance, it is a failure because the product is not desired by the public.

The Fairness Doctrine is nothing more than a move towards Government-controlled media. Media outlets will be forced to air programming offering an opposing point of view of another program, regardless of their popularity. Advertisers will not support programming that does not provide listeners that could potentially purchase their product. Knowing this fact, media outlets will move away from programming that might invoke the Fairness Doctrine.

The net effect is a drowning out of free speech! The current environment is not restrictive to anyone’s speech. If a program is in demand, it is able to find a place to broadcast and be heard. If a product is not in demand, it will lose its voice. This is not because it is being drowned out, it is because it is not wanted for consumption. Supply and demand works just fine here.

The Fairness Doctrine is simply an assault on free speech.