Christopher Hitchens vs. Pat Buchanan Part 8: Rush Limbaugh and Liberal Talk Radio (1993)

August 23, 1993 http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww....

Watch the full program: http://thefilmarchived.blogspot.com/2010/08/christopher-hitchens-and-patrick-...

Limbaugh's radio show airs for three hours each weekday beginning at noon Eastern Standard Time on both AM and FM radio. The program is also broadcast worldwide on the Armed Forces Radio Network.

Radio broadcasting shifted from AM to FM in the late 1970s because of the opportunity to broadcast music in stereo with better fidelity. Limbaugh's show was first nationally syndicated in August 1988, in a later stage of AM's decline. Limbaugh's popularity paved the way for other conservative talk radio programming to become commonplace on the AM radio. In March 2006, WBAL in Baltimore, MD became the first radio station in the country to drop Limbaugh's nationally syndicated radio program. In 2007, Talkers magazine again named him #1 in its "Heavy Hundred" most important talk show hosts.

Limbaugh frequently mentions the EIB (Excellence In Broadcasting) network, but this is a mythic construction, as he told the New York Times in 1990. In reality, his show was co-owned and first syndicated by Edward F. McLaughlin, former president of ABC who founded EFM Media in 1988, with Limbaugh's show as his first product. In 1997, McLaughlin sold EFM to Jacor Communications, which was ultimately bought up by Clear Channel Communications. Today, Limbaugh owns a majority of the show, which is syndicated by the Premiere Radio Networks.

According to a 2001 article in U.S. News & World Report, Limbaugh had an eight-year contract, at the rate of $31.25 million a year. In 2007, Limbaugh earned $33 million. On July 2, 2008, Matt Drudge reported that Limbaugh signed a contract extension through 2016 that is worth over $400 million, breaking records for any broadcast.

David Koresh (August 17, 1959 -- April 19, 1993), born Vernon Wayne Howell, was the leader of a Branch Davidian religious sect, believing himself to be its final prophet. Vernon Howell had his name legally changed to David Koresh on May 15, 1990. A 1993 raid by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the subsequent siege by the FBI ended with the burning of the Branch Davidian ranch outside of Waco, Texas in McLennan County. Koresh, 54 adults and 21 children were found dead after the fire.

Walter Frederick Mondale (born January 5, 1928) is an American politician and member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party. He was the 42nd Vice President of the United States (1977--81) under President Jimmy Carter, a two-term United States Senator from Minnesota, and the Democratic Party nominee for president in 1984. Later, during the administration of Democratic President Bill Clinton, he served as the United States Ambassador to Japan from 1993 to 1996.

William Frank Buckley, Jr. (November 24, 1925 -- February 27, 2008) was an American conservative author and commentator. He founded the political magazine National Review in 1955, hosted 1,429 episodes of the television show Firing Line from 1966 until 1999, and was a nationally syndicated newspaper columnist. His writing style was famed for its erudition, wit, and use of uncommon words.

George H. Nash, a historian of the modern American conservative movement, believed that Buckley was "arguably the most important public intellectual in the United States in the past half century". "For an entire generation he was the preeminent voice of American conservatism and its first great ecumenical figure." Buckley's primary change to politics was the fusion of traditional American political conservatism with laissez-faire economic theory and anti-communism, laying the groundwork for the modern American conservatism of U.S. presidential candidates Barry Goldwater and President Ronald Reagan.

Buckley wrote first God and Man at Yale (1951); among over fifty further books on writing, speaking, history, politics and sailing, were a series of novels featuring CIA agent Blackford Oakes. Buckley referred to himself as either a libertarian or conservative. He resided in New York City and Stamford, Connecticut. He was a practicing Roman Catholic, regularly attending the traditional Latin Mass in Connecticut.

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[theREALshafan]

the myth of "liberal bias" in American media is a classic example of how dangerous false self pity is.

[marktrade88]

I don't suppose anyone has recordings of Hitchens' appearance(s) on Buchanan's show? That'd be awesome.

[knightschwartz]

two of my favorite commentators

[knightschwartz]

@theREALshafan ofcourse, we all know MSNBC, CNN, NBC, CBS, NPR lean far too the right. Thats why MSNBC just fired Buchanan and hired Al Sharpton (well known conservative).

[darwinkilledgod]

@dizzythegreat In your case what you mean is "Just that one fact." There are many other facts worth considering, including the massively slanted coverage of McCain vs. Obama. Taking a snapshot now is not the most impressive. Let's see how they handle it when it's 1v1 in the actual election.

No one mentioned a conspiracy but you, by the way.

Never trust your facts until they're confirmed by theory. Why would a bunch of self-described liberal journalists be biased toward republicans?

[dizzythegreat]

@darwinkilledgod Which is more likely... that there is a giant liberal conspiracy to take over and slant the media in their favor, or that there are a handful of conservative news outlets?

Besides, the Pew Research Center conducted a study on current election coverage and found that the president receives more negative coverage than all of the republican candidates put together, and the republicans each, individually, receive more positive election coverage than president Obama. Just the facts.

[darwinkilledgod]

I should point out that the bias on talk radio is the opposite and has many more republican voices. I can't figure out why that is actually. Possibilities:

1 - Republicans are older and old people like older technologies

2 - Republicans are more likely to work and listen to the radio on their way to work or at work

3 - Republicans like discussing ideas more, and it's easier to do that on radio rather than fast-paced TV

4 - Radio is less likely to use "real" journalists with degrees

[darwinkilledgod]

@theREALshafan Either that or there really is a liberal bias in the media...

Arguments of this kind are hard to quantify because one person's "bias" is another person's "just telling the truth."  The best way to identify bias, in my opinion, is to look at the attitudes of the people in those jobs and see i they match up with the rest of the country. In the case of journalists, they do not. Most journalists are Democrats, and by a wide margin. Make of that fact what you will.

[pmizzle2010]

The rich aligning themselves with religion is the smartest thing republicans ever did. Best politcal move ever.

[Newspeakgeneration]

@polymath7 well not after the arrival of conservative talk radio.. before conservative talk radio , it was heavily one sided to the point that it almost appeared like real journalism.

[godscuttingyoudown]

Liberals Dominate TV news and when the people don't want to hear that shit and listen to radio, liberals complain they need to dominate that market as well

it seem liberals are more interested in denying the people a choice

[trexx32]

that caller was on fire