Fighting Against Radio's Hate-Spreading Shock Jocks

AlterNet Books. Posted July 1, 2008.

The highly politicized, overly partisan and often factually challenged world of talk radio dominates a potent portion of the nation's airwaves and provides huge profits to some of America's biggest media companies. Yet the dirty secret of talk radio's success is the use of hate speech under the guise of free speech. Hate speech can lead to hate crimes, and hate speech has no role on our public airwaves. Noted media critic, filmmaker and blogger Rory O'Connor tackles the hate speech establishment in his new AlterNet Books release, Shock Jocks: Hate Speech and Talk Radio. In it, O'Connor deconstructs the industry, using profiles of the 10 worst shock jocks. He also documents how distorted talk radio is in the public dialogue due to the huge ideological imbalance in radio content and concentration in ownership. He then shows how the shock jocks' celebrity leads to a climate that not only tolerates but actually perpetuates racist, sexist, homophobic and xenophobic attitudes -- making America a coarser, more dangerous place.

AlterNet.org is offering the best deal on the internet for Shock Jocks -- yes, even cheaper than Amazon. Buy a copy and read what noted critic Ken Auletta describes as "a lively, well-deserved punch in the nose to these powerful bloviators," and what historian Howard Zinn predicts will "do for talk radio in our time what Upton Sinclair and George Seldes did for the press in their time."

In the short video to the right, O'Connor introduces the problems associated with shock jock radio, and the issues he addresses in his book.

See more stories tagged with: shock jocks, right-wing hate speech

Liked this story? Get top stories in your inbox each week from Media and Technology! Sign up now »