There may not be another right wing nut job who’s as proficient at lying as Limbaugh was but we should be able to [finally] see that it’s even more important for Congress to pass a new updated version of the Fairness Doctrine that addresses the internet’s new brand of lying media as well.
After 35 years of unbridled lies and misinformation since Reagan killed the Fairness Doctrine we can see the damage done to the American psyche and the proof lies with the “election” of DJT.
It's amazing how someone like Rush who professed to be such an American did so much to divide and destroy our country. Rush and his ilk are the modern snake oil salesmen. Sadly there are many who will believe this rhetoric because they lack the skill or desire to seek out the facts and apply critical thinking. I'm glad that finally these right wing lunatic outlets are starting to suffer in the ratings. Biden and his agenda remain hugely popular. It's surprising to many how progressive Biden has become but it highlights how the majority of Americans want change in this country. Give the people what they want and they will follow, regardless of party affiliation. It's just too bad the press appears to be late to the dance as usual.
One of the things that made Limbaugh so obnoxious was the fact that he was clearly intelligent enough to know he was gaslighting his audience. The local Rush imitators - like the guy in Cleveland - were generally dopes who merely repeated whatever claptrap Limbaugh was selling. Hannity is also a dope, but he is a skilled polemicist, and Tucker Carlson is the smart rich kid who loves working a con. No one with an ounce of sense thinks guys like Limbaugh or Carlson believe the crap they sell. This would be amusing if not for the harm that comes from broadcast grifters spewing nonsense 7 days a week.
As I have posted before, when Tim Russert challenged Rush about lying Rush said he was “just an entertainer” and had no obligation to tell the truth. That answer and his demeanor made it clear he deliberately lied. Of course Russert didn’t object even though Russert knew that Rush was a political commentator who used his nasty humor to trash liberals, not a humorist who made jokes about politics. Russert later appeared on Rush’s show to tout his book about Big Russ, telling Rush how honored he was to be a guest.
I have always been impressed that political satirists like Jon Stewart, Trevor Noah and Steven Colbert have always made it clear when some insane thing they were addressing was true. As a result I never had any doubt about when they were joking and when they weren’t. Rush, on the other hand, wasn’t joking; he was deliberately lying. Like Karl Rove he was helping create an world based in an alternate reality where the right wing base could be manipulated.
How terribly sad and ironic that it’s the right wing base that is the real target and victim of these manipulators vs the libs they say they love ‘own.’
The thing is, it doesn’t matter if Rush/Carlson/Hannity believe the things they spout, their listeners believe it. Saying, “oh, it’s only entertainment” doesn’t make the agitprop less dangerous, but it does let the “stars” off the hook.
The after-the-fact “I was only joking” defense doesn’t work in a court of law, and it shouldn’t work in the court of public opinion, either.
"No one with an ounce of sense". Exactly and that was the problem. Rush and others like him know there is a large part of the listening audience who have no sense, who let fear and bigotry control their thinking and more importantly how they spend their dollars. You are 100 percent correct. Rush knew exactly what he was doing. He played the con to the millions of dupes who listened.
Growing up in Pittsburgh during the late 60s/early 70s I remember a third rate jackass named "Jeff Christie" who was a real self centered prick. However he went too far and got fired.
Eric, you're about five years younger than me and I just want to tell you it's finally here. "It" being America being forced to grow up. To confront itself. Did you ever think Congress would form a committee to look into African-American reparations? Did you ever think the "blue shield" would ever be questioned, criticized and forced to change? Did you ever think a Committee chair would tell a committee member to "respect the Chair and shut your mouth?" Hell, we might even get meaningful gun control reform if we continue along at the brisk pace of a massacre a week. We're on the verge of transformation and by 2040, it's all over but the crying for Fox-loving, right wing nut jobs. I do not know if I'm going to live another 20 years but while I'm alive, I'm enjoying this. I want you to enjoy this, too. Bring Jay Rosen along for the ride. This is our time. Let's have a party.
That's an insult to Howard Stern. Rush Limbaugh was a horrible person; Howard is an insecure, neurotic guy who makes too many teenage jokes about women. However, he is hilarious.
I was a big fan of Howard Stern from the time he moved to WXRK through the 90s. The show was hilarious but horribly misogynistic and often using racist stereotypes for a gag. I've always said Howard was a trailblazer. He took some of what came before - Long John Nebel and Imus - and really took it to another level. However, I can't listen to tapes of his 90s heyday without cringing.
I can’t listen to him either. Like you, I listened to Howard daily on WNBC and WXRK. When he would talk about current issues, I would truly belly laugh. The sex talk and bringing women in to humiliate them got tiresome.
listen to his interview of Hillary Clinton. He admits he was terrible and has gotten therapy to understand and change that. It was very honest and sincere. The fact that he has daughters is a big reason he realized how sexist he had been.
Thanks, actually, that is the only Stern interview I have listened to in years. I loved it. I loved how he brought her out and called her a "catch" and an "earner." I do not have the antipathy toward Howard that many do. I do think he's hilarious. I just have outgrown the shock jock thing and his callers are still atrocious.
I've often said that Limbaugh and Stern have much in common that neither of them would be comfortable admitting. Yes, Limbaugh was a POS, but he had legitimate radio talent - as does Stern.
You have a legit point - ratings, how they engaged an audience, but I do not want to acknowledge it. Rush Limbaugh = Josef Goebbels (or any Nazi propagandist of your choice). So, while I acknowledge your point, I still think comparing Rush to Howard is an insult. It’s #toosoon for me.
I didn’t listen to Stern much because of his misogyny (which he has since apologized for)but from what I did listen I never heard him try to gaslight his audiences with lies.
I wish this mattered but if you listen to Joe Rogan, Ben Shapiro and all of the other right wing hacks on YouTube you soon realized it does not. Having a Limbaugh on AM radio (which seems slated to die altogether) has been replaced by having a whole host of hacks on Youtube. Millions of primarily young primarily male people listen to this garbage all day long. It’s disheartening.
Correction. Rogan jumped to Sirius radio because they gave him $100M to do it. That tells you everything you need to know about his popularity. It’s not trivial
There may not be another Rush - but how do we get rid of Fox? With Tucker Carlson becoming the star of the network, we’re dealing with someone who can weaponized video.
Sadly faux gets most of its money from the monthly cable fees and related money. If we all could only figure out a way to make Comcast (et al) let us only pay for the channels we want...
By expanding broadband into under served areas formally marginalized listeners will have more from which to choose. Those who’s only access is a Sinclair station can’t be blamed for a skewed outlook.
An updated Fairness Doctrine would certainly go a long way in preventing another Rush Limbaugh from emerging, as well as reigning in another Donald Trump/Russian troll disinformation campaign on social media and Fox, but I also think it’s simple demographics. Conservative ideology is dwindling, especially with younger demographics, and there isn’t an audience for them to get, at least not on the level that Rush captured. And that is only going to get worse for them. Conservative media is so far removed from the mainstream popular priorities they’re officially a fringe group at this point. Let Tucker Carlson run for President. He’ll lose, despite their voter suppression efforts. There are simply too many of us.
I hope you write a book about the press’ colossal failure in reporting on Trump. Highlight his unrequited love Haberman. Didn’t John Donne write any man’s death diminishes me, but maybe without Limbaugh the people who listened to him can step back and gain some perspective?
As video killed the radio star, podcasts killed the talk radio star.
Last year there was a widely circulated story of a young(er) person exclaiming over Apple Music that it was "so cool to think that millions of people were listening to the same music at the same moment,” so there is a chance radio might make a comeback, but for now, think to yourself the last time you heard the same song being played from cars stuck in traffic.
I really miss the days when radio stations had disc jockeys who played a wide cross section of popular music and took requests. Most would also play top hits from the same date in past years every hour too. Now everything is so narrowly targeted both online and on the radio that I have become out of touch with a lot of new music.
I lived in a small town in the Hillbilly Elegy area but we still had a regional station from Huntington, WVa with popular DJ. My town even had an afternoon broadcast like that with local high school kids as DJs. One classmate went on to have a very successful career in broadcasting.
We had no AM broadcast at night but if the weather conditions were right we could pick up stations from Chicago or NYC. I would put my little transistor radio under my pillow.
Thank goodness Limbaugh was one of a kind. I wonder if the Fairness Doctrine were still in place if it might have altered the trajectory of the success and influence of the right wing blow hards of today; the election of the former guy, etc. etc. Wishful thinking I know. (Can’t remember why it was done away with).
The "free speech" aspect was part of it, but the anti-regulation fever the Reagan induced also contributed. It was still on the books until 2011, I think, when the Obama administration finally eliminated it, but the FCC simply stopped enforcing the policy during Reagan's second term.
Please remember that when Fox News started, it branded itself “Fair and Balanced” —and Hannity had a co-star in Alan Colmes, whom he bellowed over, and generally used as a punching bag.
FNC has made it a practice to have liberal voices to bellow over, it is part of their “own the libs” entertainment for the GOP base.
I’m not saying that the Fairness Doctrine was bad, but it was never the solution; there were always ways to get around it on the punditry shows. Reviving the Fairness Doctrine would return Hannity et al to bellow over their liberal co-hosts.
A Goddamn crime. Kind of like Ronald Reagan, but less charming. And Ronnie wasn't all that charming.
I'm not thinking about it too hard at the moment, but I cannot recall anyone that did more to harm our politics than that mean motherf... Shut your mouth.
Truly, for so many years he vomited lies and crap to so many people. He was disgusting then. In death, where everyone fell over themselves to say how great he was, it was like watching Nixon's funeral all over again. Shameful.
I'll bet Trump would have made him a Court pick, given the chance.
Before limbaugh there was bob Grant. Bob Grant didn't have the national syndicated show RL did but was often on 50,000 watt clear channel stations in new York and philadelphia and could be heard for miles beyond his host city. Limbaugh cites him as an *inspiration*.
The media's fawning coverage of Limbaugh ("satirist") is why I refer to them as "Mainslime Media". They brought hate talk to the mainstream. They deserve condemnation for that.
There may not be another right wing nut job who’s as proficient at lying as Limbaugh was but we should be able to [finally] see that it’s even more important for Congress to pass a new updated version of the Fairness Doctrine that addresses the internet’s new brand of lying media as well.
After 35 years of unbridled lies and misinformation since Reagan killed the Fairness Doctrine we can see the damage done to the American psyche and the proof lies with the “election” of DJT.
definitely a direct line between the rise of Rush and the Jan. 6 insurrection.
We never really know what others are thinking do we?
It's amazing how someone like Rush who professed to be such an American did so much to divide and destroy our country. Rush and his ilk are the modern snake oil salesmen. Sadly there are many who will believe this rhetoric because they lack the skill or desire to seek out the facts and apply critical thinking. I'm glad that finally these right wing lunatic outlets are starting to suffer in the ratings. Biden and his agenda remain hugely popular. It's surprising to many how progressive Biden has become but it highlights how the majority of Americans want change in this country. Give the people what they want and they will follow, regardless of party affiliation. It's just too bad the press appears to be late to the dance as usual.
One of the things that made Limbaugh so obnoxious was the fact that he was clearly intelligent enough to know he was gaslighting his audience. The local Rush imitators - like the guy in Cleveland - were generally dopes who merely repeated whatever claptrap Limbaugh was selling. Hannity is also a dope, but he is a skilled polemicist, and Tucker Carlson is the smart rich kid who loves working a con. No one with an ounce of sense thinks guys like Limbaugh or Carlson believe the crap they sell. This would be amusing if not for the harm that comes from broadcast grifters spewing nonsense 7 days a week.
ah, always a looming question regarding LImbaugh: did you he actually believe what he was saying? i'm with you -- i doubt it.
As I have posted before, when Tim Russert challenged Rush about lying Rush said he was “just an entertainer” and had no obligation to tell the truth. That answer and his demeanor made it clear he deliberately lied. Of course Russert didn’t object even though Russert knew that Rush was a political commentator who used his nasty humor to trash liberals, not a humorist who made jokes about politics. Russert later appeared on Rush’s show to tout his book about Big Russ, telling Rush how honored he was to be a guest.
I have always been impressed that political satirists like Jon Stewart, Trevor Noah and Steven Colbert have always made it clear when some insane thing they were addressing was true. As a result I never had any doubt about when they were joking and when they weren’t. Rush, on the other hand, wasn’t joking; he was deliberately lying. Like Karl Rove he was helping create an world based in an alternate reality where the right wing base could be manipulated.
Russert and Rush were two lying peas out of the same pod.
How terribly sad and ironic that it’s the right wing base that is the real target and victim of these manipulators vs the libs they say they love ‘own.’
The thing is, it doesn’t matter if Rush/Carlson/Hannity believe the things they spout, their listeners believe it. Saying, “oh, it’s only entertainment” doesn’t make the agitprop less dangerous, but it does let the “stars” off the hook.
The after-the-fact “I was only joking” defense doesn’t work in a court of law, and it shouldn’t work in the court of public opinion, either.
I can vouch for my brainwashed family taking every syllable that came out of Limbaugh's mouth as the gospel truth.
"No one with an ounce of sense". Exactly and that was the problem. Rush and others like him know there is a large part of the listening audience who have no sense, who let fear and bigotry control their thinking and more importantly how they spend their dollars. You are 100 percent correct. Rush knew exactly what he was doing. He played the con to the millions of dupes who listened.
Growing up in Pittsburgh during the late 60s/early 70s I remember a third rate jackass named "Jeff Christie" who was a real self centered prick. However he went too far and got fired.
And that fool's real name--Rush Limbaugh...
Love this story.
Eric, you're about five years younger than me and I just want to tell you it's finally here. "It" being America being forced to grow up. To confront itself. Did you ever think Congress would form a committee to look into African-American reparations? Did you ever think the "blue shield" would ever be questioned, criticized and forced to change? Did you ever think a Committee chair would tell a committee member to "respect the Chair and shut your mouth?" Hell, we might even get meaningful gun control reform if we continue along at the brisk pace of a massacre a week. We're on the verge of transformation and by 2040, it's all over but the crying for Fox-loving, right wing nut jobs. I do not know if I'm going to live another 20 years but while I'm alive, I'm enjoying this. I want you to enjoy this, too. Bring Jay Rosen along for the ride. This is our time. Let's have a party.
great reminders abt lots of good trends happening!
If only...thanks for the ‘upside’ we so often ignore.
He's akin to Howard Stern. People can try to imitate him but they can never be him.
That's an insult to Howard Stern. Rush Limbaugh was a horrible person; Howard is an insecure, neurotic guy who makes too many teenage jokes about women. However, he is hilarious.
I was a big fan of Howard Stern from the time he moved to WXRK through the 90s. The show was hilarious but horribly misogynistic and often using racist stereotypes for a gag. I've always said Howard was a trailblazer. He took some of what came before - Long John Nebel and Imus - and really took it to another level. However, I can't listen to tapes of his 90s heyday without cringing.
I can’t listen to him either. Like you, I listened to Howard daily on WNBC and WXRK. When he would talk about current issues, I would truly belly laugh. The sex talk and bringing women in to humiliate them got tiresome.
listen to his interview of Hillary Clinton. He admits he was terrible and has gotten therapy to understand and change that. It was very honest and sincere. The fact that he has daughters is a big reason he realized how sexist he had been.
Thanks, actually, that is the only Stern interview I have listened to in years. I loved it. I loved how he brought her out and called her a "catch" and an "earner." I do not have the antipathy toward Howard that many do. I do think he's hilarious. I just have outgrown the shock jock thing and his callers are still atrocious.
I've often said that Limbaugh and Stern have much in common that neither of them would be comfortable admitting. Yes, Limbaugh was a POS, but he had legitimate radio talent - as does Stern.
You have a legit point - ratings, how they engaged an audience, but I do not want to acknowledge it. Rush Limbaugh = Josef Goebbels (or any Nazi propagandist of your choice). So, while I acknowledge your point, I still think comparing Rush to Howard is an insult. It’s #toosoon for me.
I didn’t listen to Stern much because of his misogyny (which he has since apologized for)but from what I did listen I never heard him try to gaslight his audiences with lies.
I wish this mattered but if you listen to Joe Rogan, Ben Shapiro and all of the other right wing hacks on YouTube you soon realized it does not. Having a Limbaugh on AM radio (which seems slated to die altogether) has been replaced by having a whole host of hacks on Youtube. Millions of primarily young primarily male people listen to this garbage all day long. It’s disheartening.
Correction. Rogan jumped to Sirius radio because they gave him $100M to do it. That tells you everything you need to know about his popularity. It’s not trivial
There may not be another Rush - but how do we get rid of Fox? With Tucker Carlson becoming the star of the network, we’re dealing with someone who can weaponized video.
good Q! and yes, Carlson now clearly operated w/o any boundaries. scary stuff
Keep targeting corporations who advertise on his show.
Sadly faux gets most of its money from the monthly cable fees and related money. If we all could only figure out a way to make Comcast (et al) let us only pay for the channels we want...
How do you get rid of Fox?
Answer--get rid of the cable box and stream instead. That way Fox, Newsmax, OANN and right wing preachers get hit in the wallet.
By expanding broadband into under served areas formally marginalized listeners will have more from which to choose. Those who’s only access is a Sinclair station can’t be blamed for a skewed outlook.
An updated Fairness Doctrine would certainly go a long way in preventing another Rush Limbaugh from emerging, as well as reigning in another Donald Trump/Russian troll disinformation campaign on social media and Fox, but I also think it’s simple demographics. Conservative ideology is dwindling, especially with younger demographics, and there isn’t an audience for them to get, at least not on the level that Rush captured. And that is only going to get worse for them. Conservative media is so far removed from the mainstream popular priorities they’re officially a fringe group at this point. Let Tucker Carlson run for President. He’ll lose, despite their voter suppression efforts. There are simply too many of us.
I hope you write a book about the press’ colossal failure in reporting on Trump. Highlight his unrequited love Haberman. Didn’t John Donne write any man’s death diminishes me, but maybe without Limbaugh the people who listened to him can step back and gain some perspective?
As video killed the radio star, podcasts killed the talk radio star.
Last year there was a widely circulated story of a young(er) person exclaiming over Apple Music that it was "so cool to think that millions of people were listening to the same music at the same moment,” so there is a chance radio might make a comeback, but for now, think to yourself the last time you heard the same song being played from cars stuck in traffic.
It’s been a while.
I really miss the days when radio stations had disc jockeys who played a wide cross section of popular music and took requests. Most would also play top hits from the same date in past years every hour too. Now everything is so narrowly targeted both online and on the radio that I have become out of touch with a lot of new music.
I lived in a small town in the Hillbilly Elegy area but we still had a regional station from Huntington, WVa with popular DJ. My town even had an afternoon broadcast like that with local high school kids as DJs. One classmate went on to have a very successful career in broadcasting.
We had no AM broadcast at night but if the weather conditions were right we could pick up stations from Chicago or NYC. I would put my little transistor radio under my pillow.
Those were the days ....same memories from the way back machine in NJ.
Thank goodness Limbaugh was one of a kind. I wonder if the Fairness Doctrine were still in place if it might have altered the trajectory of the success and influence of the right wing blow hards of today; the election of the former guy, etc. etc. Wishful thinking I know. (Can’t remember why it was done away with).
oh i think w/ Fairness Doctrine still in place, Limbaugh has no career.
Was it’s demise a ‘free speech’ argument from the right? Somehow it all comes down to $ and power. Here too?
The "free speech" aspect was part of it, but the anti-regulation fever the Reagan induced also contributed. It was still on the books until 2011, I think, when the Obama administration finally eliminated it, but the FCC simply stopped enforcing the policy during Reagan's second term.
All it takes it enough money to bribe 3 stooges on the FCC and you get a blank check to spread lies.
Please remember that when Fox News started, it branded itself “Fair and Balanced” —and Hannity had a co-star in Alan Colmes, whom he bellowed over, and generally used as a punching bag.
FNC has made it a practice to have liberal voices to bellow over, it is part of their “own the libs” entertainment for the GOP base.
I’m not saying that the Fairness Doctrine was bad, but it was never the solution; there were always ways to get around it on the punditry shows. Reviving the Fairness Doctrine would return Hannity et al to bellow over their liberal co-hosts.
Rush was a God!
A Goddamn crime. Kind of like Ronald Reagan, but less charming. And Ronnie wasn't all that charming.
I'm not thinking about it too hard at the moment, but I cannot recall anyone that did more to harm our politics than that mean motherf... Shut your mouth.
Truly, for so many years he vomited lies and crap to so many people. He was disgusting then. In death, where everyone fell over themselves to say how great he was, it was like watching Nixon's funeral all over again. Shameful.
I'll bet Trump would have made him a Court pick, given the chance.
I did not like that man.
Boomzilla
Before limbaugh there was bob Grant. Bob Grant didn't have the national syndicated show RL did but was often on 50,000 watt clear channel stations in new York and philadelphia and could be heard for miles beyond his host city. Limbaugh cites him as an *inspiration*.
Another inspiration was Wally George a right wing gasbag who was on Pat Boone's TV station in Orange County CA.
The media's fawning coverage of Limbaugh ("satirist") is why I refer to them as "Mainslime Media". They brought hate talk to the mainstream. They deserve condemnation for that.