Andrew Neil Calls Alex Jones an Idiot in Sunday Politics Clash
THE GUARDIAN: US shock jock lambasted by BBC TV presenter after interrupting fellow guest to warn viewers over 'Bilderberg Group puppeteers'


The BBC's Sunday Politics show is generally a rather sedate affair, heavy on serious interviews and light on controversy. But viewers were treated to a highly charged confrontation between host Andrew Neil and US conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, which saw the latter labelled the worst person to be interviewed on the show and an idiot. » | Alexandra Topping | Sunday, June 09, 2013

Have Shock Jocks Gone Too Far after Rush Limbaugh Called Sandra Fluke a Slut?

THE INDEPENDENT: Rush Limbaugh’s incendiary remark about a 30-year-old law graduate may be the beginning of the end for outspoken right-wing US broadcasters

When Rush Limbaugh called Sandra Fluke a slut, he probably thought it was just another incendiary remark: the latest in a four-decade career full of – and, arguably, built on – incendiary remarks.

In February 2012, Fluke, a 30-year-old graduate law student at Georgetown, appeared before Washington lawmakers to explain why her university ought to offer free contraception under its student health insurance plan. Limbaugh, 62, the cigar-chomping king of conservative talk-radio, described her on his show as a “slut” and a “prostitute”.

When his comments proved controversial, rather than back down, he doubled down, suggesting: “If we are going to pay for your contraceptives, thus pay for you to have sex, we want something for it … We want you to post the videos online so we can all watch.”

But this particular incendiary remark, and the ensuing controversy, were different to the others. A year later, observers believe his “slut” moment may prove to have been the beginning of the end for Limbaugh. Not only has the big beast been wounded, but some say the right-wing shock-jock’s entire species may be facing extinction. Radio industry expert Jerry Del Colliano, the editor of Inside Music Media, says, “When Limbaugh attacked Sandra Fluke, everybody said, ‘he’s killing himself’ – but he was dying off years before that.” » | Tim Walker | Sunday, May 19, 2013

Shock Jocks: Tuning in to Radio GaGa
THE SUNDAY TIMES: As one US shock jock is banned from Britain, Giles Hattersley* asks why millions love to listen to the ranterati

Last week Jacqui Smith forgot the first rule of dealing with shock jocks: never take the bait. On Tuesday the home secretary unveiled 16 names from a list of 22 undesirables the government has recently banned from entering the UK: Ku Klux Klan members, Russian skinheads, religious extremists . . . and Michael Savage, a 67-year-old American radio presenter with a dog called Teddy who can bark the tune of Jingle Bells.

Now, Savage (born Michael Alan Weiner) isn’t some lonely nutcase with a ham radio ranting about Hitler, but America’s third most popular chat show host with 8.5m weekly listeners. Think of an American Nicky Campbell — with a gun, a temper and some highly contentious views on immigration.

Take this gem from The Savage Nation, his nationally syndicated show, last summer: “The illness du jour is autism,” Savage fumed. “You know what autism is? In 99% of the cases, it’s a brat who hasn’t been told to cut the act out. They don’t have a father around to tell them, ‘Don’t act like a moron. You’ll get nowhere in life. Stop acting like a putz. Straighten up. Act like a man. Don’t sit there crying and screaming, you idiot’.”

Or this on Muslims: “I said, ‘So kill 100m of them, then there would be 900m of them.’ What is it gonna take for you people to wake up? Would you rather we disappear or we die? Or would you rather they disappear and they die? Because you’re gonna have to make that choice sooner rather than later.”

Savage has also said the victims of the 2004 tsunami deserved it for harbouring terrorists, that children’s minds are “being raped by the homosexual mafia” and that a caller who mocked his teeth “should only get Aids and die, you pig”.

These soundbites were enough for Smith to label him as “someone who has fallen into the category of fomenting hatred, of such extreme views and expressing them in such a way that it is actually likely to cause inter-community tension or even violence if that person were allowed into the country”.

And then . . . what? Did she imagine that would be that? If so, she didn’t know her man. In full spit-fleck mode, Savage took to the airwaves later that day to call the home secretary a “witch” and a “lunatic”, adding if she didn’t remove him from the list he would sue for defamation. Since he hasn’t committed any crime, he might have a case. >>> Giles Hattersley* | Sunday, May 10, 2009

*The opinions expressed in this article are the opinions of the writer of the article, Giles Hattersley. They are his opinions, and his alone.