Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
ERIC DEGGANS"To his credit, Rush started this and created a lot of imitators. Now we've got to decide if we can compete,' says Al Franken.
Which wing of the political spectrum really controls the media?
That's easy: Conservatives dominate talk radio, fill pundit seats on most every TV talk show, own huge media companies and even have a cable network, Fox News, devoted to their point of view.
But wait a minute. Liberal commentators permeate shows on PBS and National Public Radio, while the mainstream media criticize President Bush's policies in Iraq, showcase sexual harassment allegations against Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger and ruminate on the possibility of gay marriage.
Truth is, both sides have their supporters, armed with enough facts to make for a seriously drawn out argument.
But in the world of openly partisan media, it's the left that has been stuck playing catch-up.
Nearly 20 years after conservatives began assembling their own network of talk radio shows, think tanks and TV pundits, two new media ventures have emerged for liberals who feel left out.
And despite months of publicity and speculation about both projects, the most important question remains unanswered: Can they work?
Even comic Al Franken, who has talked up his negotiations with the under-development liberal-oriented radio network Central Air, isn't so sure.
"I have to see if this something we can pull off . . . there's so many things stacked against it," said Franken, explaining why he hasn't yet signed on to the project, now under development by investors who plan to buy five radio stations in major markets.
"Conservatives got a head start and sort of defined what talk radio was," added the comic, who told a Newsday reporter last week he expects Central Air to debut in March. "To his credit, Rush (Limbaugh) started this and created a lot of imitators. Now we've got to decide if we can compete."
Already, former vice president Al Gore's efforts to develop a TV outlet focused on younger -- and presumably liberal -- viewers has hit trouble (an out-and-out liberal news network was considered "dead on arrival" according to an unnamed Gore aide quoted in an Advertising Age story earlier this year).
Gore hopes to purchase Universal-owned digital newschannel Newsworld International, but mogul Barry Diller, who holds veto power over the deal, has not given his approval, according to a spokeswoman. (The New York Post reported Tuesday that Diller resisted a personal appeal from Gore himself.)
Both projects are an effort to counter the powerful voices of conservative pundits in modern media -- especially on radio, where giants such as Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly and Michael Savage dominate talk show lineups devoted to pressing right wing causes.
According to the firm Anshell Media, the top 45 talk radio stations in the country feature 310 hours of conservative talk and five hours from liberal personalities (public and community radio outlets such as National Public Radio and Pacifica Radio -- which often feature more liberal talk hosts -- are not included).
Not everyone wants to talk about the issue. Fox News' resident liberal Alan Colmes, now hosting his own late-night, left-leaning radio talk show for Fox News Radio, declined to talk with the St. Petersburg Times. Likewise, officials at satellite radio company Sirius cited an upcoming revamp of their liberal-oriented channel Sirius Left (among 100 streams of content they broadcast each day), in their decision not to comment.
But Mark Walsh, a former American Online executive and chief technology adviser to the Democratic National Committee, was eager to outline his plans for Central Air -- a network slated to debut in spring 2004 on stations in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Philadelphia and Boston.
Walsh and his partners last month bought Anshell Media, a company created by Chicago venture capitalists Sheldon and Anita Drobny to build their own liberal-oriented radio network.
But instead of spending $10-million to buy time on radio stations nationwide, as the Drobnys had planned, Walsh said his company will spend "tens of millions" to buy stations outright -- scrambling to debut early enough to snag millions in revenue from political ads for the fall elections.
"As an owner, you're master of your own domain," said company CEO Walsh, who envisions Central Air's shows as a radio version of Comedy Central's newscast parody The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (former Daily Show head writer Lizz Winstead serves as head of entertainment). "We don't want to face stations reconsidering airing our programming if it gets too controversial."
Conservatives have derided the idea, saying liberals are too serious, too elitist or too evenhanded to make an impact -- pointing to the long list of failed liberal talk show hosts, including Phil Donahue, Jim Hightower and former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo.
But the real obstacles may have less to do with politics and more with boring stuff like audience demographics and corporate appeal.
Challenge No. 1: Mainstream liberals don't feel as shut out of mainstream media as conservatives do -- yet.
Here's where conservatives have a point: The mainstream media's friendliness to some liberal causes -- social justice, civil rights, curbing corporate power -- keep liberals from feeling as alienated from major media outlets as their conservative counterparts.
Consider a Gallup poll released in October, which noted that 60 percent of those who identified themselves as conservative felt the mainstream media was too liberal, while just 30 percent of liberals felt the opposite.
Indeed, half the liberals surveyed felt mainstream media was "about right" in its focus, while just 29 percent of conservatives agreed.
Such figures highlight a key element to conservatives' appeal, particularly on talk radio: Fans have been told they're the underdogs in a fight with a liberal-controlled mainstream media.
"People who listen to Rush (Limbaugh) and (Sean) Hannity really feel they're getting alternative media," said Jonah Goldberg, a conservative columnist with National Review magazine. "I go to colleges . . . and ask conservative kids what they read, and it's this entire vast conservative alternative media. I ask the liberal college kids, and they say they read the New York Times."
Michael Harrison, editor and publisher of the trade journal Talkers, agreed.
"(Listeners believe) the whole world is liberal and (the host) is giving people a slice of something they can't get anywhere else," noted Harrison, who nevertheless has said a liberal-oriented radio show could work with a talented host. "Talk radio appeals to people who feel disenfranchised."
Still, some left-leaning pundits have succeeded in channeling liberals' growing anger into compelling work, including Franken, filmmaker Michael Moore and columnist Molly Ivins. But building such fury into an ethic that inspires consumer loyalty is the next, most important step.
Challenge No. 2: News viewers and talk radio listeners often are older and more conservative.
Another survey tells the story: According to a study released in July by the Pew Center for People and the Press, 38 percent of those who watch network TV newscasts call themselves conservative, compared to 16 percent who say they are liberal (the numbers are similar -- 36 percent conservative, 15 percent liberal -- for CNN).
In the same poll, 84 percent of the network news audience was over age 30 and almost half was over 50 (among those age 50 and up, CNN scored 40 percent, while Fox News stood at 38 percent). This pool of middle-aged viewers may be less likely to respond to Gore's proposed youth-centered liberalism.
The radio ratings service Arbitron shows similar numbers among news/talk listeners, with about 58 percent of the audience over aged 50 and nearly 60 percent male. And an unscientific poll featured on Talkers' Web site shows an audience twice as likely to be Republican as Democrat (25 percent compared to 12 percent).
"Talk radio's really a male-dominated thing and a white male dominated thing," said Rob Lorei, news director at Tampa community radio station WMNF-FM 88.5, which features Pacifica's overtly liberal Democracy Now show. "It's rare to hear a black person, a female host or a young person. It's put off the majority of the population."
Walsh, who envisions avoiding the "caricature . . . the tree-hugging liberal" for a more centrist vision, is gambling listeners will come if Central Air offers an alternative.
"(Liberals) have lost any traction in the radio industry, because many of our shows were two to three hours of liberal talk in a sea of right wing spew," he said. "This idea of having a home where the entire broadcast day is liberal . . . we think the audience will come."
But even Lorei wondered if an entire network's worth of programming can successfully debut nationwide at once.
"Good radio has to be done more organically," he said. "You start with people who have a track record locally . . . and put them on a little higher platform. It's taking quite a chance to take people whose careers are not in radio and try to make them stars."
Challenge No. 3: Devout conservatives often embrace corporate power and advocate supporting the country's institutions; liberals, particularly these days, criticize such symbols.
Listen to WMNF and you'll hear Democracy Now criticize how the United States once supported Saddam Hussein in Iraq and the Taliban in Afghanistan, or commentator Jim Hightower lambaste U.S. companies that reincorporate in Bermuda to avoid paying U.S. taxes.
Compare that to conservative talker Limbaugh, who recently theorized that good news for America -- including stronger sales in U.S. chain stores and the capture of Saddam Hussein -- is bad news for Democratic presidential hopefuls.
"Conservatives are saying our enemies really are the bad guys, people should be moral," said the National Review's Goldberg. "Liberals say this is still a racist country, still a sexist country and still oppresses the poor. To have these (companies) run down as . . . global-warming-inducing, environment-raping racists is not a good thing to listen to on your lunch hour."
And, as WMNF's Lorei noted, far left politics can also alienate potential advertisers.
"Liberals are going to say there are too few corporations that own too many radio stations . . . does (radio giant) Clear Channel want to hear that?" he said. "Is Wal-Mart going to advertise on a show where its (labor practices) are being attacked?"
Other challenges loom for liberal-oriented media enterprises, including finding a way to unify their ideology and develop a populist, less intellectual approach.
But conservative talker Todd Schnitt, who holds down the post-Limbaugh slot on WFLA-AM 970 weekdays, suggests a simpler goal.
"Hire an entertainer . . . someone who can capture an audience," said Schnitt, also known as WFLZ-FM 93.3 morning personality M.J. Kelli. "If you've got a liberal who is entertaining and engaging, conservatives will listen to him . . . just to check out the opposite point of view."