Talk, Talk

Virginia Postrel, a very nice lady with a great weblog, has an interesting take in the New York Times on the "media bias" question (registration firewall). I've been dealing with my own version of the bias question, albeit from the opposite end of the spectrum: as a radio talk host who is not a die-hard conservative, pro-war, onward-Christian-soldiers, Bush-can-do-no-wrong Republican, I'm frustrated that I and talented hosts I know who share my, er, non-conformity, have had trouble finding work in recent years...while many mediocre hosts (whose apparent idea of show preperation is to regurgitate the GOP platform wholesale) are gainfully employed and high on the hog.

Not that I'm bitter or anything...

Seriously, I'm doing OK, I can't complain (but sometimes I still do), though I've wondered about this for a long time. Certainly you've noticed it as well: the plethora of hosts on radio and TV who are little more than Rush or Hannity clones (a Hannity clone essentially being a Rush clone with a New York accent).

I can tell you as an insider, that for all the lip-service paid to the notion of being an "entertainer" and a "passionate" performer, the talk industry is full of people who are neither. What they are, is conservative and Republican. Talent is incidental; conservative and Republican apparently is all they need to be.

I'll mull this one over and get back to you...