It probably comes as a shock to most leftwingers, but when someone buys advertising from a television or radio network, they usually like to decide when and where that advertising will run. This is because the advertiser is interested in reaching the largest audience which is likely to buy the advertiser's product.
Yeah, I know this sounds like one of those "Duh!" moments, but there are obviously people on the left who just don't get how advertising works. That's why they are so upset that there are advertisers who aren't interested in advertising on fringe shows (via Echidne of the Snakes). Evidently, Media Matters, that intrepid media watchdog, doesn't understand how advertising works, either, given that they think there's some conspiracy involved here.
Sorry to be the one to break the news, but there's no conspiracy here. Advertisers like to put their ads in places where they will be seen and heard, not on programs where the network declares bankruptcy.
Of course, I realize this simple lesson in capitalism gets lost on lefties, who think advertisers should be forced to support programs which are against their interests but, hey, we aren't talking about NPR or PBS here, right? Those only get supported by those whiny taxpayers.
Did you happen to notice that the list of advertisers who had decided to boycott a left-wing radio show with a large audience in order to drive it into bankruptcy - included the US Navy, and the United States Postal Service?
ReplyDeleteMost of the companies listed could assume that people who vote Democratic were as likely to use their services as people who vote Republican. They would have got an audience on Air America. They just didn't want to fund a radio show that didn't support Republicans.
The commercial organisations listed had, in the US, a perfect right to make that political decision - to do without advertising to a wide audience because they prefer that radio shows in the US have a right-wing bias, and wanted to censor out of existance a radio show that didn't.
Neither the US Navy nor USPS had a right to make that decision, and - assuming that you read the list carefully and saw they were there - I'm appalled at your hypocrisy in claiming that a taxpayer-funded organization ought to have refused to support a show that large numbers of taxpayers were listening to.