Mystery Beef

Media activist Josh Silver’s Huffington Post commentary (“Air America’s ABC Blacklist: The Real Story”) takes censorial companies to task for stemming the free flow of information. After claiming “90 major corporations demanded that their ads be pulled from radio stations that run Air America programming,” Silver suggests the unidentified cartel made this move because Air America “gives airtime to reports that are critical of corporations and the powerful politicians they keep in Washington.” Maybe he’s right, but Silver’s pontifications are a bit hard to take seriously when he doesn’t bother to say exactly how the corporate command he’s denouncing went down, or if the culprits have given any explanation for whatever it is they did. Silver never even reveals why ABC is referenced in the headline. Why would he assume readers are already familiar with the details he leaves undisclosed? -- Jeff Norman

UPDATE (11/3/06 10:30 AM PST) Josh Silver emailed me to acknowledge his “oversight” and point out he has now added a link to a leaked memo ABC Radio Networks sent to its affiliates instructing them not to air the 90 sponsors’ spots on any Air America stations. The sponsors are named in the memo. A Media Advisory issued by Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) contains additional information Silver’s commentary lacks: The memo was somehow obtained by radio talk show host Peter B. Collins, who provided it to FAIR. None of the corporations have apparently given a reason for blacklisting Air America, nor does it seem that anyone has asked.