On his program, Mike Savage has urged bloggers to post the following on their sites a letter from a Congressman calling upon a radio station to remove his program from the airwaves. I hope you will take the time to read of this dangerous threat to frees speech.
September 29, 2004
Mr. Ken Charles
Director of Operations/Programming
Clear Channel Communications
510 Lovett Blvd.
Houston, Texas 77006
Dear Mr. Charles:
I was shocked to learn of your actions and read your comments in an Associated Press article "KPRC Gives Rather's Radio Show the Boot" filed September 28, 2004. Apparently, KPRC makes programming decisions based on a political agenda, rather than on ratings or broadcasting standards.
The CBS television news organization and Dan Rather made a huge mistake by airing a story based on faulty documents from an unreliable source. The CBS story was wrong, it was presented wrongly, and the network took too long to set the record straight. However, CBS has spent a considerable amount of airtime correcting that mistake and apologizing for their error, which apparently resulted from the sloppy work and the competitive nature of the news business, rather than by a political agenda.
Removing one radio show for one acknowledge mistake by its host while continuing to run shows of commentators who often make inaccurate and unverified statements reveals a double standard. I believe KPRC should hold Mr. Rather and all others to the same standards. The failure to do so strongly suggests KPRC has no broadcasting standards of accuracy and only a political agenda. Here is a sampling of just a few inaccurate, uncorrected statements from other KPRC commentators to illustrate my point.
From Michael Savage's "Savage Nation":
1. Sen. John Kerry has given "some intelligence to Osama bin Laden." 9/17/04.
2. The Democratic Party is "ethnic minorities and women and immigrants." 7/28/04
From Rush Limbaugh's "The Rush Limbaugh Show"
1. "[W]e spend over two times on education already, what we spend on defense." 6/30/04
2."There aren't families living on the minimum wage" 4/29/04
I strongly support the free speech rights of Mr. Savage, Mr. Limbaugh, and your station as a whole, but the above statements are completely inaccurate. Sen. Kerry has never given intelligence to Bin Laden. As a white, native Texan male, I can testify that the Democratic Party is diverse and open to all Americans, and is not based on race or gender. Furthermore, the federal government spends fully 14 times less on education than we do on defense, and millions of American families do, in fact, live off the minimum wage. How does KPRC justify Mr. Rather's punishment, while ignoring repeated inaccuracies by other hosts?
Please make a commitment to your listeners that KPRC has standards of accuracy and they are enforced for all broadcasters. If KPRC can make such a commitment, then there is no justification for removing Mr. Rather's radio show. However, if KPRC makes no such commitment, then at least listeners should be forewarned.
Sincerely,
Gene Green
Member of Congress
Doctor Savage points out that, in typical Democrat fashion, the above statements are incorrect as they have to taken out of context.
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