Saturday, April 5, 2003

Manipulation of a headline
On Thursday, I was a bit surprised to hear an interview with Terry Hughes on Howie Carr's show: [Public radio station fires host: Terry Hughes voiced views on war during his show at EMU]. Hughes has become a darling of the conservative-influenced media, always looking for more proof of bias. What could be better than a music host fired for "supporting the troops, Bush?" It is a chickenhawk's wet dream.
The problem is that it isn't true: Hughes was fired - not for his views - but for refusing to run NPR newcasts, and for "denigrating National Public Radio" on the air. He admitted on Carr's show that he repeatedly attacked what he felt was NPR's anti-war, anti-Bush broadcasts. But let's be honest here: If any of us went off on management - live on the air - we'd be fired too. Can anyone say, Jim Hightower? It's too bad. His music show sounded pretty interesting.