Reporters

are also hampered because of the sophisticated propaganda network of cable television of the Fox/CNN variety, and the wildly profitable talk radio circuit, both of which serve the Republican Party's interests (again because of the repeal of the Fairness Doctrine). If reporters other than Helen Thomas ask tough questions, they will be lacerated by these propagandists for hire.

In my remarks a few weeks back about Limbaugh, I believe I said I used to be a regular listener of talk radio from the late 1960s to the mid-1980s (to about 1987). Those were heady days for talk radio because not only were the shows designed to discuss issues and opinions, but talk radio operators had the public interest in mind. Oh, sure, there were whack jobs like Joe Pyne, but he was the exception rather than the rule.

Anyway, in my teens until I was about 30 I avidly listened to talk radio, chiefly KGO in San Francisco. They had hosts of all persuasions of the political spectrum (though they didn't have people of the Bob Grant/Gordon Liddy vile variety), and by and large the hosts there and on other stations weren't rude to callers, unless the callers got out of line (exception: Larry King of Miami--yes, THAT Larry King, who was the rudest bastard ever on talk radio bar none). I listened as they talked about Nixon and Watergate, I listened when the murders of George Moscone and Harvey Milk were being reported, and at the Denver talk station, I listened as a grieving Ken Hamblin (before he became a wingnut for hire) was informing people of the murder of talk show host Alan Berg. Perhaps my favorite talk show host of that time was the late Ira Blue of KGO, who was a political moderate, but he was great. I also loved his use of the George Gershwin song "Rhapsody in Blue" as his theme song. (Blue died of cancer in 1974, so that REALLY dates me.) Talk shows were actually educational, and there were many things discussed on those shows that weren't generally discussed on news programs and the then-prestigious Sunday public affairs programs.

Among the last talk show hosts I listened to regularly was personal finance expert Bruce Williams, who was unfailingly polite to everybody who called and who seemed to have an unlimited amount of knowledge about business and personal finance. I also listened to Michael Jackson out of Los Angeles, who was pretty good but generally stuck with having celebrities on as guests. Somewhere along the line, though, I got bored with talk radio. I believe it may have been around the time of the repeal of the Fairness Doctrine in 1987. When I heard about the repeal, my first reaction was this was the first step to propagandizing the airwaves. I was right.

The rise of Limbaugh and others seemed to coincide with the rise of trash talk television of the Geraldo Rivera/Jerry Springer variety. It was lowest common denominator television, and radio seemed to ape it. Say things outrageous and that will get ratings. Public interest and education went out the window. It was all for ratings and money. Roger Ailes and Limbaugh found there was a market for those "angry white males" and they decided to appeal to that market (and never mind the issues advocated by these Republican shills would screw that very audience). Since there was no longer a Fairness Doctrine, Limbaugh's producers could screen callers in advance. This basically made the show a monologue for this overpaid, egotistical windbag. It wasn't long before there were numerous other imitators of Limbaugh.

As a result of this 24/7 propaganda, the public discourse shifted even further to the right of what it was during the Reagan/Bush eras. And with it the gradual disintegration of the United States.