Media Matters implores ABC not to air violent hate speech and racist fearmongering
January 12, 2007
Robert A. Iger
President and CEO, The Walt Disney Company
Stephen McPherson
President, ABC Entertainment
David L. Westin
President, ABC News
The Walt Disney Company
77 West 66th Street
New York, New
York 10023
Dear Messrs. Iger, McPherson, and Westin:
We are writing to urge ABC/Disney to stop airing the violent hate speech and racist fearmongering of extreme right-wing radio talk show hosts Melanie Morgan and Brian Sussman on KSFO radio in San Francisco. Morgan, Sussman, and their associates have no right to advocate torture and murder on airwaves that are owned by the American people and licensed to ABC/Disney.
We wonder why ABC/Disney and its sponsors would want to continue to be associated with such extremist views.
Recently on KSFO:
- On the November 14 broadcast of KSFO's Lee Rodgers & Melanie Morgan Program, Morgan said, "We've got a bull's-eye painted on her big, wide laughing eyes," referring to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), as noted by Bay Area blogger Spocko. On the November 20 broadcast of the show, Morgan again asserted that "it's time to put the bull's-eye" on Pelosi. As Media Matters for America has noted, Morgan previously said that she "would have no problem" with New York Times executive editor Bill Keller "being sent to the gas chamber" if he "were to be tried and convicted of treason" for the publication of an article about a Treasury Department program that monitors international financial transactions for terrorist activity.
- Morgan suggested that someone "dig ... up" late environmentalist Rachel Carson "and kill her all over again."
- KSFO hosts have suggested torturing and killing a Nebraskan criminal, asked a caller to prove that he is not Muslim by calling Allah a "whore," and advocated the murder of millions of Muslims in Indonesia, according to Spocko.
- On the December 4 broadcast of KSFO's Sussman, Morgan & Vic, Morgan referred to Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) as an, "as you call, 'Halfrican.' "Sussman responded, "Halfrican ... his father was from Kenya, his mother's white." He added that, "in my opinion -- 'cause my opinion is your average white guy," Obama "is not allowed to wear the African-American badge because his family are not the descendants of slaves, OK? He can't identify with the discrimination and the slavery and all of that that's gone into these black families for generations."
Media Matters for America has posted several examples of KSFO hosts' extreme rhetoric, and recently included Morgan in a petition against "hate merchants" on the airwaves that has garnered more than 33,000 signatures to date.
We are also gravely concerned that ABC/Disney has engaged in what appears to be corporate intimidation in an effort to silence the voices of those Americans who would dare to criticize this type of dangerous and un-American rhetoric.
As you know, ABC/Disney recently sent a cease-and-desist letter to a Spocko, the Bay Area blogger who posted clips of KSFO hate speech on his weblog for the purposes of critcism and contacted station advertisers to make them aware of the views being publicly advocated with their dollars by Morgan, Sussman, and others. The cease-and-desist letter ultimately led Spocko's Internet service provider to shut down his blog, as Media Matters documented.
It is hard to believe that the same company that brought us Mickey Mouse and The Little Mermaid could be involved in any way with individuals who publicly advocate hate, racism, and violence.
For ABC/Disney and its sponsor companies to continue to fund, promote, and broadcast this program and others like it suggests a serious lack of judgment on the part of one of this nation's trusted media companies, as well as a lack of commitment to use of the airwaves as a public trust, and we implore you to reconsider airing such deplorable content immediately.
Sincerely,
David Brock
President & CEO
Media Matters for America
Now she can really say that someone is trying to get her fired. I'm all for it. She's a screeching fool. And that's making fools look bad.
I don't see where Brock is calling for that explicitly although I think a few parts could be interpreted that way.
It is also possible for Disney/ABC to tell MelMorg &al. to "Go! And sin no more".
It is the conduct MMFA should have a beef with. Not the individuals. We can hope against all odds MelMorg could redeem herself.
I think it would be wrong to try to get them fired. If they can't sell ad time or have no ratings then I would think that is fair and alright. Going after them through their employer smacks of the fascist tactics we have come to expect from people like MelMorg &al.
Hit the record button at Media Matters, because this is going to get interesting.
No escalation here! ;)
I haven't trusted ABC/Disney since that propagandist trash movie, "Path to 911", aired. Good luck appealing to their nonexistent conscience. It may be a futile exercise, but I am glad that you continue to make noises about hate speech and speak out against those media personalities who thrive on it with corporate support.
I understand he is the majority stockholder now in Disney.
As a local boy, I suspect he's well aware of these folks, and they know it. Obviously, the KSFO people are very worried about something, and that something is probably 'something' we don't know about behind the scenes....
would "the majority stockholder" in Disney have?
Get a grip. Jobs is not a majority stockholder in Disney, or anything close to that.
We're into accuracy here, and NOTHING else, yessir!
Jobs is not a "majority" shareholder... he is the largest single shareholder and has a seat on the board.
[link to www.businessweek.com]
The commenter said "I understand..."obviously not trying to assert something which he/she wasn't sure of. Yes, she/he was a little wide of the mark, but the point is still a pretty good one. As the single largest shareholder, Jobs has real influence.
Jobs doesn't hold a majority in the company, but he is the largest single shareholder at 7%. Definitely enough to throw weight around, but I doubt he'd want to get involved with something like this. In the end I think the best thing is that the advertisers realize what their money is buying.
Per Wikipedia:
On January 24, 2006, Jobs and Iger announced that Disney had agreed to purchase Pixar in an all-stock transaction worth $7.4 billion. Once the deal closed, Jobs became The Walt Disney Company's largest single shareholder with approximately 7 percent of the company's stock.[30] Jobs' holdings in Disney far exceeds those of Eisner, who holds 1.7 percent, and Disney family member Roy E. Disney, who holds about one percent of the company's stock and whose criticisms of Eisner included the soured Pixar relationship and accelerated his ousting. Jobs joined the company's board of directors upon completion of the merger.
I HAVE BEEN A LISTENER TO LEE RODGERS RADIO PROGRAMS SINCE HE WAS AT KGO. I WAS DELIGHTED WHEN HE RETURNED TO THE BAY AREA AND TEAMED UP WITH MELANIE MORGAN ON KSFO. I HAVE BEEN A DEDICATED LISTENER EVER SINCE EVEN THOUGH THE PROGRAM NOW STARTS AT 5:00 a.m.
THEY MAKE ME LAUGH BECAUSE OF THEIR VERY WITTY DISCOURSE DURING THE PROGRAM BESIDES GIVING ME INFORMATION FIRST THING IN THE MORNING.
WHY ARE YOU SHOUTING? WE CAN HEAR YOU JUST FINE.
First guess: brain damage.
Think listening to hatemongers for long periods of time will do that to a person.
I've been a listener here for quite awhile, and my hearing's just fine.
Maybe you should try reading the posts again since they said RW radio would give you brain damage, not cause you to lose your hearing. Your posts only prove the point.
so you think they're witty? I listened to some clips and found them to be repetitive and predictable.
But if you want to feel superior to brown people, they're a fine crutch.
You're joking right? Please tell me your joking!!!!
If your not, I hope you have not reproduced anymore individuals with your since of humor.
Thank you for sharing.
You're telling us that you think Morgan saying, "dig ... up" late environmentalist Rachel Carson "and kill her all over again" is very witty discourse?!
Rabid right wingers...there's no accounting for their "taste".
It's sad that ABC has prostituted itself with this filth.
All we can do is try to inform people and get the word out. It's hard to believe that ABC hates the American people and Democracy this much?
There are some people--such as WFONDA--who prefer to keep their heads in the sand, but most thinking Americans are outraged at the filth coming out of KSFO.
...of "LeftWing Loons" and their 'crazy' ideas.
Hey this is a nice letter and all, and I'm only just finding out some of the details of this thing that's been going on for a while, but I clicked the link provided in another MMFA item on this topic, a link to Daily Kos [link to www.dailykos.com] to find out more about what this Spocko did to initiate so much action...
Do you guys know what kind of letter he wrote on this matter?
If you read the link above, and whatever other stuff you might find about it, then you'll know... but just for your consideration, here are a few excerpts from what I consider to be about as "action-initiating" a letter as you can write, to the sponsors (unwitting or otherwise) to some of the crap that gets monitored here at MMFA.
Spocko writes AT&T (a sponsor of the Lee Rodgers and Melanie Morgan program... specifically he writes Wendy Clark, VP-advertising):
"...your brand is being associated with torturing and killing people"
"You should know the person calling for the execution and torture of the black man in that clip READS THE AT&T commercials on the air. Right now on KSFO Lee Rogers is THE VOICE of AT&T to the SF Bay area."
Wow! And he not only writes this to Ms. Clark at AT&T, but includes an audio clip to back up what he says... that the very voice of AT&T in the Bay area is also the voice of torture and death!
Spocko writes much more about it to Ms. Clark (and again, backs it all up with audio clips as his evidence!) telling her of many more examples of hate speech and advocating violence...
All by the same malicious voices that then read AT&T's commercials to it's Bay area listeners, right on the show!
Wow! No wonder this guy Spocko got the response he got, and started all these wheels turning like they are, and has those mental defectives at KSFO on the defensive right now...
He wrote one heck of a letter to the sponsors of their bile... they couldn't help to get their own butts in gear on the matter, and pull their commercials off the danged show!
for writing the letter.
And ABC and Disney, please step to the side of decency. Do the right thing.
but nice letter, David.
You should have added Today's three-hour smear against those they disagree with. It was just foul and full of lies.
I'm not really surprised, after The Path to 9/11, that they have gone over to the dark side completely.
On the other hand, they weren't any more faithful to the original of The Little Mermaid, were they?
Melanie-
I think this comes down to simple economics - If a sponsor feels that they do not want to give your show money because you say something the advertiser feels denigrates the value of their product by association, whose fault is that?
I'm assuming that :
•The soundbites that were sent to advertisers by Spocko were from your show, correct?
• And I'm assuming you all have full muscle control over your own mouths, is that correct?
• You were never possessed by an evil smelly demon during your air-shift, right?
• So when you said that the files Spocko was sending were "just plain lies" did he have some sort of puppeteer, voodo-doll curse on you where he was putting words in your mouth like you were some sort of ventriloquist doll and he had his hand up somewhere?
You can say what they want, but you can't expect a sponsor to pay you for saying things that the sponsor finds offensive. Remember - the sponsors pulled ads because of listening to the actual, unedited audio files from your shows, and the advertisers were offended. Sometimes accountability is rough.
And by the way, I'm not giving you my full name because anyone who would say (and I know you said it - I heard the audio file) that "We've got a bull's-eye painted on her [Nancy Pelosi's] big, wide laughing eyes" isn't stable enough to have my personal info.
Disney is in the process of selling ABC Radio and its owned and operated stations (KSFO included) to Citadel Broadcasting. As part of the transaction, Disney will own a majority of Citadel stock, but their hands are no longer on ABCRN operationally. You should add Citadel management to your contact list.
Who's trying to stifle whom here?
Pot, meet kettle.
"[Morgan] asked a caller to prove that he is not Muslim by calling Allah a 'whore,' "
This action is stupid on its face, but even more so when you consider that Allah merely means "the God" in Arabc, the same God Christians and Jews believe in. In fact Arabic speaking Jews and Christians use "Allah" for God. So, in their ignorance, they encouraged someone to call God a whore. I believe a pox of some sort is order.
Just listened to the audio. I think the person speaking is a man. Isn't Morgan a woman??
Maybe yes, maybe no. . .
The only way to shut up these vulgars and insane people is to bycott them.Encourage every body you know not to turn them on.These invalid people under the effects of drugs and Alcohol hidding under false right wing Christian power have no place in our airwaves.In fact there should be a prosecutions aganist defamation of characters aganist them from everyb body these dogs bite.
that ask its radio stations to not air Air America content because it doesn't air content that's not appropriate? And they consider this "content" appropriate? Even calling it content isn't appropriate imo. There is no meaningful content, just stupidity and vapidness. Entertainment for the deliberately mindless and uninformed.
Thanks for watching out for us.
What are you doing to bring this matter to the attention of Democratic legislators newly empowered as the overseers of our airwaves?
The right have made a career out of petitioning F.C.C. and other offices they ran for "naughty" (Janet Jackson...) antics but here we have speech that actually harms our discourse.
Good luck.