I haven’t really followed liberal radio news network Air America since its launch, largely because there’s no station carrying the network near me. I did happen across their web page, though, and was fascinated by two of the on-air personalities they are employing.
First is Public Enemy’s Chuck D who appears on not one, but two shows for the fledgling network. I guess if they were reaching for the pro-Farrakhan anti-Semitic listeners, then Chuck D will probably help them solidify that market segment. Imagine, for a second, if someone like Rush Limbaugh had said anything even remotely resembling what Chuck D said on “Welcome to the Terrordome” (“Crucifixion ain’t no fiction So called chosen frozen Apology made to who ever pleases Still they got me like Jesus”) or had tolerated anti-Semitic remarks from his staff as Chuck D tolerated anti-Semitic statements by Professor Griff onstage long before his notorious remarks to a reporter that Jews were responsible for most of the wickedness in the world.
The other person who caught my eye was Laura Flanders, who hosts the Laura Flanders shows on Saturdays and Sundays from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. Flanders probably isn’t a household name to most people, but a hoax that she helped perpetuate might be. While she was working at the misnamed Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, Flanders was part of a number of FAIR folks who in 1993 helped create the myth that the day of the Super Bowl sees a dramatic increase in domestic violence against women. Flanders herself appeared on Good Morning America to push the claim.