Enough Already!

By now you all know how disgusted I am with what I hear on conservative Talk Radio from hatemongers, but last week was the straw that broke the camel's back for me.  A local talk show host on the this area's largest AM radio station spends 3 1/2 hours every morning during drive time denigrating the President of the United States in ways so numerous and relentless that I usually can only take a few minutes of it.  This past Wednesday she stepped over the line and I was so furious that I wrote a letter to the station's General Manager and President.  I have no idea whether they will even answer me, but I thought you all would be interested in what I sent them.   I feel like the biggest risk we all have from all this anger we hear and see from these people is the incitement of crazies to do violent things.  Nourishing a climate of violence is the only result this kind of rage can foster.

Mr. Wayne Simons
General Manager
WINK TV/RADIO
2824 Palm Beach Boulevard
Fort Myers, Florida 33916-1590


Dear  Mr. Simons:

You are the manager of a radio station that uses the airwaves that belong as a public trust to the people who listen to your programming.  I have to assume that you are a person of responsibility and moral integrity.  Can you therefore please take a few moments and explain why you permit Mandy Connell to abuse the privilege of using this public trust afforded to her and you.

Last Wednesday morning during the 7-8am hour when I was listening, she screamed at us that she was outraged that President Obama had decided not to be forced into taking some immediate action with regard to policy in Afghanistan.  He had received advice from his military and would in due course decide the way forward, after further consultation with his civilian advisors.

Not only did she vent her spleen in the most angry and malevolent manner, she proceeded to call President Obama an asshole and a coward.  I’m sorry, but when I wake up in the morning I don’t want the first thing I hear on the largest AM radio outlet in this DMA to be the screaming of a banshee that the President is an asshole and a coward!

I have had a number of written exchanges with her over the last year and have tried to remind her of her responsibility to exhibit fair minded journalistic balance, but her response to me has been that she is an ‘entertainer’, and as such she is not bound by journalistic ethics.

Frankly sir, I find her manner, her delivery, her vitriolic anger toward our President goes beyond criticism.  The snide and leering inflection in her voice whenever she quotes him and her rude personal disrespect reflects poorly on your station and WINK’s mission to serve the public interest, convenience and necessity.  WINK has an obligation to the public it serves to prevent people on its air from inciting to riot.  The kind of fear mongering paranoia Mandy Connell spews forth every morning makes me fear for the actions she will incite in those people who are unbalanced and capable of violent actions.

Her program and her opinions are certainly slanderous, possibly libelous and seditious.  She makes accusations about The President that are based on half-truths she concocts based on her own research.

I urge you to put a leash on this kind of reckless broadcasting.  It is one thing to criticize and be an instrument for loyal opposition.  It is another to make a clear effort to sow seeds of doubt, anger and revolt amongst the population.

Where is the conscience of the station in the interest of the people?  Have you no respect for the office, much less the man, that you would allow this use of the public airwaves for the type of character assassination that characterizes the President of the United States as an asshole and a coward during morning drive time?

It is clear that WINK’s  programming strategy is based on a conservative philosophy.  Your programming lineup says it all.  However there is still the need for balance….and there is still the need for civility, both of which seem to be in short supply at WINK NEWS RADIO.

Perhaps you would like to enlighten me as to why this kind of behavior on your part and on Ms. Connell’s part is something you find acceptable.
 
Yours truly,
Laurence A. Lancit