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Twin Town High (vol. 8) |
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A Clear Bias: Clear Channel thinks Pro-War rallies are good business
Wednesday 09 April @ 12:47:20 |
 by Katherine Glover
A leaked Clear Channel corporate memo with the heading “War Plans” instructed news staff at two of its radio stations to make sure that, in the event of a war in Iraq, their war coverage was “FIRST’ and “the BEST.” But their recent sponsorship of “patriotic” rallies across the country has raised serious questions about their objectivity.
A Pro-war rally at the U of M that was rumored to be put on by Clear Channel. These rumors have not been substantiated.
--photo by John Tribbett
The rallies are the brainchild of conservative talk show host Glenn Beck, who is syndicated on Premiere Radio Networks, a subsidiary of Clear Channel. Beck says he got the idea from a caller complaining about anti-war protesters. Beck started organizing “Rallies for America” to counteract anti-war protests. Beck, who has attended several of these rallies in person, says they are designed to be patriotic, not pro-war. But participants overwhelmingly support military action against Iraq, and the London Guardian reported banners attacking liberals, the U.N., and anti-war countries in Europe, with one sign even saying, “Bomb France now.”
These rallies have attracted tens of thousands of people. Advertising costs and featured bands were paid for in part by sponsors, in part by local radio stations. All of these stations are owned by Clear Channel. Clear Channel also advertised several of the rallies on their corporate Web site. New York Times columnist Paul Krugman has suggested that a directive came from corporate headquarters to encourage the rallies, but Clear Channel executives say local markets make their own decisions. There is no evidence to support Krugman’s claims, but at a time when numerous TV networks are declining to run anti-war ads in the interest of being “neutral,” it seems inappropriate for a media conglomerate like Clear Channel to be funding pro-war rallies with no equal funding for their anti-war counterparts.
Clear Channel is not the only media outlet accused of taking sides. According to a New Jersey newspaper, The Record, Fox TV used its news ticker on Sixth Avenue in Manhattan to insult protesters at a March 27 action against the war. The ticker, which normally provides news updates, instead spelled out messages like “War protester auditions here today ... thanks for coming!” and “Who won your right to show up here today? Protesters or soldiers?”
And after Dixie Chicks singer Natalie Maines told a London audience in mid-March she was ashamed that the U.S. President was from Texas, Louisiana radio station KRMD organized an event at which a tractor demolished piles of the band’s CDs along with other paraphernalia.
Numerous Clear Channel stations have pulled the Dixie Chicks from their playlists. But local country station K102 told Pulse they have continued to feature the band on their station. K102 is owned by Clear Channel, as are KDWB, KOOL 108, Cities 97, WLOL, and two sports stations, KFAN-AM and KFXN.
Clear Channel also owns five stations in Rochester, three in Mankato, and three in New Ulm, Minnesota. Nationwide, Clear Channel operates approximately 1,225 radio and 39 television stations, “plus 776,000 outdoor advertising displays, including billboards, street furniture and transit panels,” according to their own Web site. The company has four lobbyists registered in the state of Minnesota. Pulse called the local office of Clear Channel Outdoors to find out how many billboards the company operates in the Twin Cities, but they refused to answer.
And why would Clear Channel possibly care about the war? The FCC is debating whether to ease limits on media ownership or tighten them. The chair of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is Michael Powell, Colin Powell’s son. Before the Telecommunications Act of 1996 deregulated the industry, Clear Channel owned only 43 radio stations, compared to their current 1,225. They could have a lot to gain from appeasing the administration.
Furthermore, Clear Channel vice-chairman Tom Hicks has had a long relationship with the Bush family. As governor of Texas, Bush appointed Hicks to a University of Texas investment board that granted investment control over the university’s endowment to conservative companies with ties to Bush Sr. In 1998, Hicks purchased the Texas Rangers from Bush Jr., making him a millionaire. Hicks was also a big contributor to the Bush campaign.
The favors go both ways. George Bush Sr. did an interview last September with talk-show host Glenn Beck, who led the “Rallies for America,” and around the same time, Vice President Dick Cheney went on the air with Rush Limbaugh. Both Beck and Limbaugh are syndicated on Clear Channel stations.
Fortune Magazine recently named Clear Channel one of America’s “Most Admired Companies,” but Clear Channel has inspired enough wrath from opponents that a Web site exists called clearchannelsucks.org. The Web site charges that Clear Channel is “using their monopoly to control the entire music industry.”
Both the Anti-War Committee and IndyMedia stated on their websites that a small patriotic rally organized recently by the University of Minnesota’s College Republicans was also sponsored by Clear Channel, but these rumors are, so far, unsubstantiated.
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