Nancy Skinner Announces Senate Run...Fired by Conservative Radio

[linazelle]

station in Chicago.

ABC owned WLS in Chicago has been chomping at the bit for a while now, gunning for Nancy Skinner--who hosts one of two scarcely aired liberal shows on the talk radio station. Over the past ten years, they reduced the show's air time from two 4-hour slots on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, to one, 3-hour slot on Sunday when everybody's at church. The week the "war" started they took the show off the air and they closed the message boards until Bush announced the war was over while their right wing hosts hung up on antiwar callers or insulted them and shouted them down. This same station airs Limbaugh, Hannity, Elder, and a bunch of other radical conservatives who spew out misinformation nearly 24 hours a day.

So it was no surprise that when Nancy Skinner announced her candidacy for Senate on the air a few weeks ago, the scumbags at the station jumped on the opportunity to immediately fire her.

Here's what she said in an op-ed piece:

This week I announced my candidacy for the U.S. Senate, and was fired from my job as a radio talk show host on WLS as a consequence. Management has said my removal was a temporary measure during my campaign. But they also told me I wouldn’t be hired back, because of my lack of judgment in not consulting them before announcing. I’m not sure how that’s not getting fired. I found great irony in the claim that WLS fired me in the name of fairness, as its broadcasting consists of almost non stop right wing programming....

I went into radio because the left had no voice on talk radio. I’m running for the Senate because I think the left has lost its voice in national politics...We Democrats keep sending the same bunch of honorable and well meaning people up to bat, only to get our heads handed to us. We get out-shouted on cable shows, out-sloganed in the PR wars, and snake-oiled when it comes to this administration’s policies...

...The right plays hardball when it comes to politics. They use the power of federal courts and law enforcement to settle political scores. They did it during the impeachment of President Clinton, they did it in Florida during the election of 2000, they’re doing it in the off year redistricting of Texas, and they’re doing it in the recall of California Governor Gray Davis. In the scuffle at the House Ways and Means meeting last week, a vote by a sitting congressman, Pete Stark of California, was ignored, and Republicans passed a bill as if no Democrats were present...



I am saddened by the seemingly unstoppable media takeover that continues to muffle the voice of the majority. At DU, the most common response I see about this is that many ignore this--by not watching or listening. "They" could care less if we watch or listen as long as they control the airwaves and get the message out. I think radio is the worst and most compromised medium of all and I just hope that we find some way to balance it out.

I have volunteered to work on Nancy's campaign here. She's just one candidate of many who we should be supporting so that some balance is reintroduced into the legislature and maybe the media landscape.

[molly]

1. Great news about her announcement

is there a link for her op-ed?

[bspence]

2. Enfuriating

Is this America? Only in America can I NOT be surprised that someone on the left was fired because of their political views. Nobody else raises an eyebrow, either.

Outrageous.

[ibegurpard]

3. Of course she was

Conservative radio doesn't want to give her a platform to air her views. I'd love to see what would happen if Rush Limbaugh decided to run for office. Come to think of it, didn't I hear that the Savage Weiner was in the CA governor's race? Shouldn't he be fired as well?