Big Ed Schultz takes on Armed Forces Radio

[Master Capper]

Armed Forces Radio is funded through American Tax Dollars thus the programming needs to be equal time even if Rummy doesn't like it!



Senate Letter to Sec. of Defense Donald Rumsfeld

October 19, 2005

The Honorable Donald Rumsfeld
Department of Defense
The Pentagon
Washington, DC 20301

Dear Secretary Rumsfeld:

We are writing to express our concern about the lack of political balance in talk radio programming on the Department of Defense's (DoD) American Forces Network and to request a definitive timeline by which we can expect DoD to correct this imbalance.

More than a year ago, the Senate unanimously adopted a resolution offered by Senator Harkin expressing the sense of the Senate that the Secretary of Defense should ensure full implementation of the American Forces Radio and Television Service goal of maintaining equal opportunity balance with respect to political programming.

AFN Radio carries the shows of a wide range of conservatives, including Rush Limbaugh, Dr. Laura Schlesinger, and James Dobson, to the near total exclusion of progressive talk radio hosts. This is in violation of DoD's own guidelines on political programming on the American Forces Network, specifically, DoD Directive 5120.20R, which calls for political programming on American Forces Network that is "characterized by its fairness and balance," as well as news programming guided by a "principle of fairness" that requires "reasonable opportunities for the presentation of conflicting views on important controversial public issues."
On September 29, 2005, Manny Levy, Chief of the Radio Division of the American Forces Network Broadcast Center, formally advised the syndicate that distributes "The Ed Schultz Show" that AFN Radio would "begin carrying the first hour of 'The Ed Schultz Show' each day, beginning Monday, October 17, 2005 at noon PT/3 ET." However, higher-level DoD officials subsequently backtracked on this commitment. A Pentagon spokesman said that Mr. Levy "got ahead of the process," and that no decision had been made in a review of which programming to add to the network.

Inclusion of "The Ed Schultz Show" would have been a first, partial step toward achieving balance in political programming on AFN Radio. Even that first step has been abruptly canceled. Why, more than a year since the Senate passed its resolution, has DoD not implemented any program changes to balance political programming? At this late date, why is DoD still in violation of its own guidelines for political programming on AFN Radio? Given the time that has passed since this issue was brought to the attention of DoD by the Senate, the problem is not that Mr. Levy was "ahead of the process." The problem is that DoD is woefully behind in addressing this imbalance and coming into full compliance with its own guidelines and procedures.

We request that you provide us with an action plan and timeline for achieving greater political balance in AFN Radio programming as quickly as possible. We respectfully request that you respond to this letter by November 1, 2005.

Sincerely,



Tom Harkin United States Senator

Byron L. Dorgan United States Senator

Carl Levin United States Senator

Frank Lautenberg United States Senator

Mark Dayton United States Senator

Jack Reed United States Senator

Ron Wyden United States Senator

Daniel Akaka United States Senator

Christopher Dodd United States Senator

Edward Kennedy United States Senator

Russell Feingold United States Senator

Barack Obama United States Senator

John Kerry United States Senator

 

[djv]

Simple go back to years ago. Weather, Music, Comedians. And take the political chit and shove it up some one ass. All of it.

 

[danmurphy jr]

DJV, you're my hero. For real

 

[DOGS THAT BARK]

Yep kinda like NPR National taxpayor funded radio--any propaganda machine THEY can run they're for.

Saw today that a british left wing media is adding a fair and balanced U.S. boy for " America's" point of view on their broadcasting--how about these credentials--wonder whose political agenda he'll project

LONDON (AFP) - James Rubin, a former US State Department spokesman under President Bill Clinton, has signed up with British satellite TV station Sky News, where he will anchor a new international affairs show.

Rubin "will offer viewers an incisive international voice to report, analyze and comment on global affairs," said Adrian Wells, head of foreign news at Sky. The show, "World News Tonight", is broadcast every weekday evening.

Rubin spent three years as Clinton's Assistant Secretary of State for Public affairs and chief spokesman for the State Department from 1997 to May 2000. He served as a top policy adviser to Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.


During the 2004 Presidential Election, Rubin, who is married to senior CNN correspondent Christiane Amanpour, served as senior foreign policy adviser to Senator John Kerry.

He was also director of foreign policy for the Clinton/Gore 1996 campaign.

Most recently, Rubin has been a visiting professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics and has hosted another current affairs show on US channel PBS.