Did you know O’Connor is an Irish name? The Irish Voice did, and they interviewed Rory about Shock Jocks, the tone of the recent national election, and a little family political history. Read it here!

Last week Rory flew out to the desert and appeared on Tucson’s KXCI Community Radio on David Yerkey’s A View From Slightly Off Center (listen here) and then, a few days later, gave a talk which was listen to here which was followed by a little audience Q-and-A.

“What a man sow shall he reap —
And you know that talk is cheap…”
- Bob Marley

John McCain was right in August when he called John Lewis one of the “wisest people” he knew.

So when Representative Lewis — a Georgia Democrat and veteran of the civil rights movement – recently denounced the McCain/Palin campaign for its use of divisive rhetoric and said the negative tone of the Republican presidential campaign reminded him of the hateful atmosphere that segregationist Governor George Wallace fostered in Alabama in the 1960s, he was calling it like it is.
Continue Reading »

What happens when America’s airwaves fill with hate? BILL MOYERS JOURNAL takes a tough look at the hostile industry of “Shock Jock” media with a hard-hitting examination of its effects on our nation’s political discourse –and interviews Rory O’Connor in the process.

Rory makes another appearance on Laura Flanders’ GritTv web show, talking about “the rise of talk radio and its influence on the American electorate.”

View the video here.

Shock Jocks was just featured on FireDogLake’s Book Salon, where Ian Williams delivers a glowing endorsement:

Rory’s book is essential reading for those of whose stomachs are not strong enough to listen round the clock to this stuff.

This recent report from industry trade journal Broadcasting & Cable offers details on the media priorities officially limned in the Democratic Party platform for this fall’s election. As reporter John Eggerton notes, “It’s official, support for net neutrality, media diversity, public interest obligations, and free airtime for candidates are officially enshrined in the Democratic platform.” Not surprisingly, says Eggerton, the platform planks support the media priorities outlined previously by Barack Obama… and there’s no mention of that all-purpose right wing bete noir, the Fairness Doctrine!

The platform, which is the party’s official position on a variety of issues, includes a promise to “encourage diversity in the ownership of broadcast media, promote the development of new media outlets for expression of diverse viewpoints, and clarify the public interest obligations of broadcasters who occupy the nation’s spectrum.” But there is no mention of the secret Democratic plan to “Hush Rush!”

Meanwhile, at the Republican Party convention in St. Paul, police were busy literally pressbashing in the streets while the candidates were occupied verbally bashing the media inside the convention hall…

My friend Aaron Barnhart of the Kansas City Star is one of the best television observers and critics in the business. A recent post on his “TV Barn” site made note of an MSNBC appearance by Gwen Ifill. As Barnhart remarked, seeing the ex-New York Times reporter once derided as “a cleaning lady” by the self-styled I-Man on his former cable home “was a reminder that wounds can heal … and that Don Imus really is a jackass.”

As previously noted, after Jenna Kern, a member of the Unitarian Universalist Church, decided to write an Op-Ed piece for Newsday questioning whether shock jocks and hate speech contributed to the recent murderous shooting spree in a U-U church in Tennessee, the haters started to come after her as well. Among them — as usual — was Bill O’Reilly of Fox News. O’Reilly’s crew ambushed Kern with camera and microphone in her own driveway. Before Billo had a chance to air his ambush, his cable nemesis Keith Olbermann scooped him on it on his MSBNC program…and declared O’Reilly again to be the “Worst Person in the World.”

The ambush video has now aired. Go here, click on “reality check” (under playlist on the left hand side) and then click on the top of the list, one that says “Smear Patrol” Factor confronts Newsday editor. Clearly, O’Reilly is also going after Newsday hard, as the ambush interview with its editor also makes clear.

Last month, Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Arizona’s Maricopa County visited nearby Pima County for a book signing (“Joe’s Law: America’s Toughest Sheriff Takes on Illegal Immigration, Drugs and Everything Else that Threatens America”) at a Tucson Barnes & Noble. The event drew protests against the controversial and reactionary lawman, who has been running immigration sweeps in heavily Hispanic sections of the Phoenix area. Several immigrant and human rights groups, including the Coalición de Derechos Humanos, or The Human Rights Coalition, wanted to send a clear message that “Arpaio’s racist and divisive policies are not welcome in Pima County.”

MORE HERE: