Censorship On Citizen Radio
By Timothy V. Gatto
06 September,
2008
Countercurrents.org
Today the long arm of the government
propaganda “spin machine” or its related civilian associates,
has finally reached out and “touched” me directly. For
over a year I have been broadcasting on “Blog Talk Radio”
on my show called Liberalpro. I had asked James Fetzer, author of
the book The 911 Conspiracy and many other published works, to come
on my show to talk about them. Today, I received an e-mail for me
to call “Blog Talk Radio” and in no uncertain terms I
was told that anyone that advances a theory that advocates anything
than the “official” theory about the events of 9/11 is
not welcome on their website. I was also told that Mr. Fetzer’s
theories were “far-out there”.
To me, this is a travesty. This is censorship at its worst. I am trying to decide whether or not to continue my radio show at http://Blogtalkradio.com/headingleft/liberalpro. I have had other guests on my show that definitely don’t espouse the government line on anything, so I am just about flabbergasted that a respected writer such as James Fetzer would not be permitted to be a guest on my radio show. I really don’t know if the people at Blog Talk Radio are aware of the fact that I write articles that are widely disseminated on the web either. They must realize if they are aware of the content of my show or of the articles that I have written, that I do not agree with censorship in any form.
This causes me to wonder if my show has been singled out or if this is a one-time incident? If I decide to continue broadcasting the show, will the content of the show be scrutinized? Will I step over the boundaries of what they term acceptable? Meanwhile, will the right-wing conservative shows on Blog Talk Radio be given a free pass to continue to spew hatred of liberals and conservatives that they espouse as long as they don’t do anything or say anything that the government looks down on? This is reminiscent of any society that clamps down on free speech. When people do not have an opportunity to hear both sides of an issue, when only the proscribed government view is presented, this leads to a population that has no frame of reference to make an informed decision.
This type of controlled media can be seen on almost all the network outlets in America. If not for the internet, most Americans would continue to believe that Russia invaded Georgia without provocation, an outlook that the mainstream media and the two main political parties in this country still stand by today to the detriment of the truth!. The internet is the last bastion of true news and information that is operating in this country. This is why I am so upset that this “citizen radio” that has cropped up on the web may also be silenced. Once outlets that that allow for different points of view are silenced, regardless how small they may be in the scheme of things, this behavior will not only extinguish an opposing voice, but it also sets a precedent that will stop the free flow of information that is vital to any nation that counts on a well informed electorate to vote on issues that are of importance. This is just another example of how the media is helping to deliver the final thrust that will be the death knell of our republic.
