Conservatives Dismiss Pay-To-Play in Talk Radio
Politico's story about pay-to-play on conservative radio got the usual ho-hum treatment from most conservative blogs -- if it gets any mention.
Politico's story yesterday about pay-to-play on conservative radio got the usual ho-hum treatment from most conservative blogs -- that is, when it got any mention at all.
Here's Ed Morrissey at Hot Air.
The claim that “Those fees buy them a variety of promotional/span>< tie-ins/span><, as well as regular on-air plugs” describes all commercial radio, not just talk shows and not just conservatives. Advertisers buy time to get those on-air plugs, and usually pay extra for live reads and promotional tie-ins. It’s about as explosive a revelation as the fact that car prices vary depending on how well a consumer dickers, or that mail-order products can differ in quality.Next week from Politico: Boiling water can often be unsafe for bathing
Everybody does it folks, nothing to see.
But the ho-hum attitude skiddles over some important questions, beginning with these two:
1) Michael Harrison of Talkers magazine may say that Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck are in the same business as the local top-40 disc jockey. I may agree. For all I know, Ed Morrissey may agree. But do the listeners agree? Or do they imagine they are hearing information from a trusted, reliable source? If so, the hired nature of that information is troubling.
2) Sponsorship is not just a radio issue. Radio practices have spread throughout the conservative media world, to television and newspapers as well. A New York Times editorial writer cannot moonlight as an investment adviser. Rachel Maddow does not operate a political consulting business, accepting fees from clients who might be interested in what she has to say on air.
Those standards are not, unfortunately, consistently upheld by their conservative counterparts.