Last week I commented about the Jay Weber – WISN controversy over the talk host’s inflammatory remarks about Gus Walz at the Democratic National Convention. In that post I took a lot of people to task: Jay Weber, WISN, social media, talk radio, its management, and corporate owners. I also took a quick shot at the portion of the American public who log into social media and leave their decency outside. These are the same people who listen to bombastic talk hosts to inform and justify their already toxic opinions.
We are their informants and their source for hostile, ignorant, profane, toxic opinions. I’m not saying all talk hosts are bombastic and encouraging that behavior, quite the opposite: most of you are so good at expressing yourselves that you unintentionally inspire people with pent-up anger to light up X. Talk radio has powerful opinions and though we don’t intend to start a social war it happens, and we then take advantage of the opportunity to leverage those emotions into bigger ratings. We may not see it that way but it’s fair to ask ourselves is it really good for our ratings or can you imagine there might be a lot of people on the sidelines who crave information but can’t trust anything they read or hear?
Lee Rainie, Pew Research Director of Internet and Technology:
“People tend to go to sources of information that map with their point of view. And we see in our data Americans don’t trust each other the way they used to. They don’t think Americans share the same facts that they used to. And so, the charge to people who are in the thick of this new environment is to figure out how to help people find their way to the truth and not make it a hard job. And Americans couldn’t be clearer about that. They want to know what’s going on, and they want help doing it, and they are looking to journalists to help solve these problems.”
Can you help solve these problems? Sure you can.
One thing that’s largely ignored in this festering saddle sore of democracy is that the modern American consumer of news, information, and opinion carries the biggest load of responsibility because they often believe us without question. Why wouldn’t they? We’re smart and we’re on the radio; they like what we’re saying because we’re spoon-feeding their biases and, in some cases, hostility. I think it’s fair to say a lot of talk listeners are gullible but we’re the wizards behind the curtain. We have a responsibility to inspire thinking, not just agreement.
If you have kids, you can probably remember a time when they misbehaved, and it suddenly occurred to you that it was your fault. It happens to all of us. As my wife likes to remind our grown children, “You didn’t come with instructions.” When I was very young my father admitted that he had forced me into a lie by threatening to spank me if I didn’t tell him what he wanted to hear, so I told him the lie he asked for. Dad’s honest admission elevated him to hero status in my heart. It made me a better person, too.
Maybe it’s time for talk radio to examine its behavior. We need to clean up some of the mess we made with our rhetoric, our brilliantly delivered diatribes, and yes, fake news.
That’s a broad stroke. Here’s the disclaimer which should be obvious: I’m not talking about all of us. Even if I am describing you, it’s not entirely your fault. It’s the business model we created.
We need to gather our listeners around the fire and say, “Look, you need to think for yourself about this political and social stuff. I’ll tell you what I think, and we can talk about it but first do your homework. It’s complicated but not difficult. Find the convergence of facts from various sources, especially those you wouldn’t normally consult. Read and listen with an open mind. Be a proudly responsible American.”
Are you prepared to search your own motives and biases and adjust the way you approach your show? Why not? Is it more important that you cater to a relative handful of zealots than to consider nuance in your personal views and inspire self-respect?
When I was 23, I had an early evening talk show on 1320 KCRA radio in Sacramento. I talked about all the big stories in the news plus cultural stuff. I had a surprisingly enthusiastic following. People called to say I was making a lot of sense. A lot of them said I had changed their opinions about one issue or another. This blew my mind. I mostly didn’t know what I was talking about, I was just talking. I told my listeners, “Please don’t agree with me just because I’m on the radio. I’m 23. I never went to college. I read the same news you do but I don’t have any privileged insight, real-life wisdom, or perspective. Let’s just talk and learn from each other.”
Yeah, that was 50 years ago. It was a kinder, gentler, more open-minded America. We only had three TV networks, a newspaper, and local radio. Bias is part of human nature, and we had that, too.
Since then, I have gained one piece of insight, and it gives me comfort: people haven’t changed much over time we’ve just become overwhelmed by technology, targeted and questionable information, and opinions.
Even today if you have a pleasant conversation with just a handful of friends or family members you might find yourself saying, “Really? I didn’t know that.” You might even be learning from a 23-year-old.
We all need help in our search for truth.
Just be real. Be honest and open. Don’t back off from your convictions or spirit but encourage decency and embrace open exchange of thought.
Be ready to change your mind and ask your audience to do the same.
Think about it.
Talk radio is a big part of the problem but we can also be the solution.
