Clear (Channel) Politics
As part of its new broadcast decency initiative, Clear Channel took Howard Stern off the air yesterday in the six markets in which the company carries him.
Part of the motivation is clearly the FCC's crackdown on media indecency in light of the Janet Jackson Superbowl controversy.
However, it may also be worth noting that ...
- Clear Channel has close ties to Bush and a history of silencing his critics.
- Although in the past Stern was supportive of Bush (primarily for his post-9/11 actions in Afghanistan and Iraq), he has recently been a vocal critic, not only about culture war issues, but also about his economic policies, National Guard story, and overall competence.
- Of the six markets in which Clear Channel took Stern off the air, three (Miami, Orlando and Pittsburgh) are in battleground states.
- A fourth, Louisville, was host yesterday morning to a speech by President Bush, followed by a local fundraiser. (It's a bit difficult to restrict radio airwaves to a "Free Speech Zone".)
- There's the tiny, tiny, tiny possibility that the government's crusade against indecency and Bush's "reelection" campaign are not independent of each other, and that Clear Channel recognizes this.
Perhaps it doesn't make much of a difference in electoral terms, but symbolically, the ban communicates Clear Channel's support for the "reelection" campaign.
Postscript:
Question: if Howard Stern were a right-wing radio host and consistently pro-Bush, do you think Clear Channel would have taken him off the air?
3:06:14 AM 
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