| August 12, 2005 Red Alert by Soren Wuerth Uncle
Ted’s Radio
A clip from Sen. Ted Stevens began this week’s “Talk of Alaska.” His rant, punctuated by moments of stuttering, dealt with the state of public radio in America. The public airwaves are being overrun by people “taking sides,” he said, and the intent of the act creating the public broadcasting network was to create an unbiased medium. After the Stevens monologue, the host had several commentators discuss whether or not NPR is “biased.” One of the guests, David Horowitz, told listeners in a gravelly voice that if Stevens says public radio is too liberal, it must be because “Stevens is not an ideologue; and if he is warning you, you have to do something about it. ... He’s ticked and you can tell.” Stevens is not an ideologue? NPR, or, as my friend calls it, “National Petroleum Radio,” is too liberal? (Horowitz, who calls himself a “prominent national conservative intellectual,” labels NPR “National Palestine Radio.”) No doubt that Horowitz had checked with a few of his Republican contacts in Alaska in advance. The conversation likely went something like this: “Hey, I’ve been asked to talk about NPR for the public radio station that carries NPR and they have this tape of Stevens . . .” “Just follow Ted’s lead. Everyone loves him up here, even the Anchorage Daily News.” Unfortunately, had this recommended approach occurred, it would have backfired for Horowitz. Most of the listeners who called in know what the Daily News and Chamber of Commerce cultists don’t, principally that Ted Stevens’ molestations of the public process would make a Catholic priest blush. Ted Stevens, as one of the most senior of U.S. congressmen, has an almost perfect record of favoring his buddies (be they corporate, wealthy, or otherwise) over the public need. Alaskans know that he is on one hell of a power trip. Take Girdwood, for example. As an administrator of local roads, I worked over years with dozens of folks to carefully craft a list of dozens of highly needed repairs. Besides these municipal projects, we were put on a long waiting list for state funds for roads. Then along comes Sen. Ted in to save the day. Stevens allocates millions for Girdwood roads. But, alas, there’s a catch. The money has to go to paving and expanding roads where his friends and allies have businesses, places that weren’t on the community’s wish list at all. In further gestures of impudence, Ted used public money to build himself a plush Girdwood office (attached to the new Post Office building). Back on the NPR show, the radio guests, especially the NPR representatives, were unwilling to directly address the accusatory Ted Stevens sound byte—but not the callers. “How public is public radio?” an articulate woman asked. With all public radio’s corporate sponsors, “how fair and balanced can it be?” “It’s ultimately a question of who has power and whose viewpoints are being challenged.” To listen to the enormously interesting "Talk of Alaska" show about NPR bias, go to aprn.org and click on "programs." Soren Wuerth is perhaps Alaska's best known community activist. He resides in an undisclosed location in Southeast Alaska and can be reached at soren@insurgent49.com. |
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2005
Insurgent Media. All Rights
Reserved. in-sur-gent (in sur'jent), n. 1. a member of a group which revolts against the policies of its leadership. |
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