CNN's Carol Costello began a new series on political talk radio on
Monday's American Morning, suggesting it was unfairly dominated by
conservatives, and brought on a liberal psychiatrist who theorized that
Rush Limbaugh has an audience because he's "operating like the
bully, and if you're on the playground...you want to be...under the
bully's wing and go along with him and get...some power by proxy."
The correspondent's report, which aired just before the bottom of
the 7 am Eastern hour, was the first installment in a "special series
on talk radio," according to anchor John Roberts. Costello zeroed in on
the listeners and why the format "can capture people for such long
periods of time." A graphic on the screen during her report heralded
"anger on the air: what listeners don't know about talk radio." [MP3
audio available here [1]]
Towards the end of her report, the CNN correspondent played a sound
bite from radical left-wing host Randi Rhodes, who speculated that "the
reason they don't passionately listen to liberal talk radio is access"
(Costello outrageously downplayed Rhodes's political leanings by
describing her as someone whom "many consider a liberal talker"). The
"liberal talker" noted that apparently, "ninety-one percent of talk
radio is conservative." Costello continued that "according to Talkers
magazine, liberal talkers fill just nine percent of the nation's news
talk radio on the commercial dial. Change that, Rhodes says, and
liberal listeners would listen just as much."
The 91 percent figure actually came from a 2007 report titled "The Structural Imbalance of Political Talk Radio [2],"
written by two liberal organizations- Center for American Progress and
Free Press. However, the report, which was co-authored by current FCC "chief diversity officer" Mark Lloyd [2], "suffers from a number of structural flaws," as a 2008 special report by MRC's Culture and Media Institute [3]
pointed out. The CMI report continued that "the CAP report's greatest
flaw is ignoring noncommercial talk radio," such as NPR's many public
radio affiliates.
Costello's statement that the 91 percent figure came from Talkers
magazine is also dubious because Talkers publisher Michael Harrison
voiced his own criticism of the CAP report when it was released in
2007. An article by Jesse Noyes of the Boston Herald from June 22 of
that year (cited on Free Republic.com [4],
and confirmed via Nexis) noted that "Harrison...said the report is
flawed and narrow. It doesn't consider the broader spectrum of talk
radio, which would include public radio stations, he said. 'There's a
lot more to talk radio than what they call talk radio,' Harrison said."
Roberts questioned the correspondent on the flawed statistic:
"Carol, you talk about this issue of access- 91 percent of the airwaves
being taken up by conservative talk radio, nine percent liberal, but
are liberal listeners as loyal as conservative listeners are?" Costello
replied, "Well, it depends on what you consider a liberal talk show or
something that leans more liberal in what you listen to. Let's say- of
course, conservative talkers compromise most of the AM radio dial, but
FM radio doesn't. Some people consider NPR liberal. NPR gets 20 million
listeners. That's more than Rush Limbaugh. So, it's all in how you look
at." So even Costello indirectly acknowledged that the CAP report
didn't look at the whole picture!
Earlier in her report, Costello featured one listener from
conservative Lancaster County, Pennsylvania who tunes-in for more than
eight hours a day, and noted how "ten of the top 11 radio talk shows
are conservative. The king? Rush Limbaugh, with 15 million listeners."
As to the question of why talk radio has such "intense loyalty," in her
words, the correspondent hinted to what her answer to the question was
in her clip from psychiatrist Gail Saltz, who gave her own
psychoanalysis of the typical Limbaugh fan:
COSTELLO: Psychiatrist Gail Saltz says Limbaugh's style appeals to those who feel they have no voice.
DR. GAIL SALTZ, PSYCHIATRIST: He's essentially kind of operating like the bully, and if you're on the playground, do you want to be the bully's- you know, under the bully's wing and go along with him and get, therefore, some power by proxy, too, or do you want to be like left out alone on the playground where- you know, who knows who's going to take you out?
COSTELLO: Saltz says conservative talkers are more popular than liberal talkers because they attract the kind of person who likes strong, aggressive messages.
Costello previously used Saltz back in May 2008 [5]
during a report on Scott McClellan's "tell-all" book, where she again
issued some left-leaning analysis. This take is not at all surprising,
given how, according to OpenSecrets.org [6], she has donated $3,750 to liberal candidates over the years.
-Matthew Balan is a news analyst at the Media Research Center.
