KHOW's Boyles allowed "blogger" Armstrong to defend Caldara without disclosing his ties to Independence Institute
Summary: Blogger Ari Armstrong appeared as a guest on 630 KHOW-AM's The Peter Boyles Show on January 28 and defended Independence Institute President and Newsradio 850 KOA host Jon Caldara's on-air use of the term "bitch-slapped." However, Boyles uncritically allowed Armstrong to omit reference to his work for Caldara at the Independence Institute. Additionally, Armstrong falsely claimed that "the public's radio waves" are "owned by" stations that "bought the waves up"; in fact, the Federal Communications Commission licenses use of the broadcast spectrum.
As a guest on the January 28 broadcast of 630 KHOW-AM's The Peter Boyles Show, in which he defended Newsradio 850 KOA host Jon Caldara's January 21 on-air use of the term "bitch-slapped" in reference to Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, libertarian blogger Ari Armstrong failed to disclose that he was a contributing author and research associate at the "free-market" Independence Institute, of which Caldara is president. As Colorado Media Matters has noted, during his own appearance earlier in the same broadcast, Caldara failed to identify his connection to Armstrong when mentioning him. Furthermore, although Boyles asked Armstrong to "talk about" himself and his writing, Boyles uncritically allowed Armstrong to omit reference to his work for Caldara.
Armstrong and host Peter Boyles also ridiculed as akin to "some communistic system" a reference by Colorado Media Matters editorial director Bill Menezes to what Armstrong termed "the public's radio waves," with Armstrong falsely claiming that the radio waves are "owned by" the stations that "bought the waves up." Boyles and Armstrong did not specify the source of the quote that Armstrong cited, but a January 25 Rocky Mountain News article quoted Menezes as saying, "What we're trying to do is promote responsible discourse on the public airwaves." (emphasis added) In fact, according to its website, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) licenses use of the broadcast spectrum; private companies do not own parts of it.
The liberal advocacy organization ProgressNow Action has mounted a petition drive seeking to pressure Caldara's advertisers after he suggested on his January 21 broadcast that Clinton got "bitch-slapped" by rival Sen. Barack Obama (IL) during that evening's Democratic presidential debate.
From the January 28 broadcast of 630 KHOW-AM's The Peter Boyles Show:
BOYLES: Let me do this: I'll put you on hold, but ladies and gentlemen, please say -- and I don't think we have ever met -- this is Ari Armstrong. Ari, good morning.
ARMSTRONG: Hi, Peter. How are you doing?
BOYLES: Have we ever met?
ARMSTRONG: I'm not sure, actually.
BOYLES: When I first saw your name in The Denver Post on Saturday, I thought, "Do I know this guy?" First of all, talk about yourself and FreeColorado.com if you would, please.
ARMSTRONG: Well, I'm just basically an advocate of free markets, individual rights, and I've been working on FreeColorado.com -- this is actually the 10th year, so --
BOYLES: Oh, wow.
ARMSTRONG: -- I've been doing this for some time, and you and I have not always been on the same side, but --
BOYLES: That's all right.
ARMSTRONG: -- in general, you know, you run a good show.
BOYLES [laughs]: Now, was that a left-handed salute. All right, tell me about your background, education, where you grew up and everything that you do.
ARMSTRONG: I'm mostly from the Western Slope. I grew up in Palisade area.
BOYLES: Oh, sure.
ARMSTRONG: And I've been mostly writing about politics and --
BOYLES: Where'd you go to school?
ARMSTRONG: -- [unintelligible] for the last few years. I went to high school in, at Palisade High School, and then I went to, out to California to go to college.
BOYLES: OK. What was your major?
ARMSTRONG: Economics.
BOYLES: Very good! And, do you work another job besides FreeColorado.com?
ARMSTRONG: No, I have a variety of other writing projects going --
BOYLES: OK.
ARMSTRONG: -- just freelance.
BOYLES: So you're a freelancer.
ARMSTRONG: I'm writing an article about Harry Potter right now, so --
BOYLES [laughs]: Good or bad?
ARMSTRONG: Pretty varied.
BOYLES: Good or bad about Harry?
ARMSTRONG: Oh, I love Harry Potter.
BOYLES: OK. See, I like Harry Potter too, so that's cool. All right. Having said all those things, now Jon Caldara and the term "bitch-slap."
In stating that he had seen Armstrong's name "in The Denver Post on Saturday," Boyles apparently referred to a January 26 Rocky Mountain News article that also quoted Armstrong defending Caldara without identifying the relationship between the two. In fact, as Colorado Media Matters noted, the Independence Institute website lists 24 "articles" by Armstrong. Articles identifying him as a senior fellow or as a research associate for the Independence Institute also appear on the website of Dave Kopel, the think tank's research director. Caldara has been president of the Independence Institute since November 1998.
After failing to mention Armstrong's ties to the Independence Institute, Boyles and Armstrong proceeded to make false statements regarding part of a comment that Menezes made about the Caldara controversy in the January 25 News article. According to the article:
"Their goal is to 'Imus' a conservative talk show host in Colorado," Caldara said, referring to Don Imus, whose show was canceled after a racial remark caused a national furor.
Bill Menezes, editorial director of Colorado Media Matters, said that Caldara is wrong.
"What we're trying to do is promote responsible discourse on the public airwaves," he said.
"I think most people would agree that does not include using offensive or bigoted commentary, as well as the misinformation that Mr. Caldara typically provides," he said.
Referring to "the fellow from Colorado Media Matters" later in the broadcast, Armstrong stated that Menezes had "referred to the public's radio waves ... as though they're some communistic system where it's run by the people":
BOYLES: And so, what I'm saying to you is, in this time that we now live, both sides push in. And it's one of the weird things about a guy like [former University of Colorado professor] Ward Churchill. And as much as I think Churchill is Churchill, who is the next guy that a sitting governor doesn't like who has tenure at a university? You have to ask those "next-man" questions, and this is the same thing. I think that eventually the left, if it has its way, as it has in other countries, you know, it's the, the state owns the newspapers and television stations and radio stations. And you will hear only the thoughts of the state.
ARMSTRONG: Well -- yeah, there's a lot of interesting issues along that. And something that the fellow from Colorado Media Matters --
BOYLES: Uh-huh.
ARMSTRONG: -- they're actually the group that first was complaining about Caldara --
BOYLES: Sure.
ARMSTRONG: -- he actually referred to the public's radio waves --
BOYLES: Mmm-hmm.
ARMSTRONG: -- as though they're some communistic system where it's run by the people --
BOYLES: Yeah.
ARMSTRONG: -- instead of being owned by the people who actually pay, you know, bought the waves up --
BOYLES: Of course.
ARMSTRONG: -- and then who pay to run them. I mean, I'm sure it's not cheap to run 850 KOA, or any radio station here in town.
BOYLES: No, it's not. And every day, every year it gets a little tougher. But you're right. I mean, it's --
ARMSTRONG: And so, it is ironic, because the left is actually trying to --
BOYLES: Sure.
ARMSTRONG: -- crack down on radio, and actually impose censorship on radio.
BOYLES: Of course they are. But if you, if you know how, like revolutions in the Third World, which are, you know, the first thing that the revolution does is grab the radio station. And it is, it's what happens if, you know, what's the first thing you want your hands on? You want your hands on the radio station.
ARMSTRONG: Right.
BOYLES: And so that way we can broadcast, you know, what we've done.
ARMSTRONG: Well, the key distinction here is property rights, right?
BOYLES: Of course.
ARMSTRONG: I mean, if the radio station wants to set a policy and say, "Look, no one can say 'bitch-slap' on our radio station, and if you do you can't work here" -- well, to me, that's the radio station's right.
BOYLES: Sure. Right.
ARMSTRONG: But if they have no such policy -- and to me, that's not an offensive word, right? -- but certainly, even if the FCC wasn't involved, the radio station might want to say, "Look, you can't use the 'F-word' on the air, because that's gonna offend our listeners."
BOYLES: Well, no, but again -- no, it isn't offending the listeners. There are restrictions that the FCC has applied that says these are -- that there are words that -- and it's because, that's why, in what's coming our way now, Sirius and XM, which is the equivalent of cable television, you can say that. Because you are inviting it into your home. When Roosevelt decided to have the FCC, when it was -- let me take a break and come back. Can I do that, Ari?
ARMSTRONG: Yeah.
BOYLES: All right. Hang on. This is the blogger Ari Armstrong, who talks about -- with FreeColorado.com is his website -- using the term "bitch-slap."
Although Boyles and Armstrong spoke of the FCC's role in setting standards for the content of radio broadcasts, they did not correct their claim of private ownership by those who purportedly "bought the waves up." Contrary to this suggestion, the FCC notes that it licenses radio and television stations to use the public spectrum "for a period of up to eight years" before the license must be renewed.
Further, as FCC Commissioner Michael J. Copps stated of the broadcasting industry on the May 2, 2003, broadcast of PBS' NOW with Bill Moyers:
[T]his is a special industry with a special charge administering the public airwaves. Nobody owns these airwaves. There's no TV company or radio company that owns the airwaves. The people of the United States of America own the airwaves. [emphasis added]
—E.B.
