Jeff Jarvis writes a weblog called BuzzMachine.
It's smart, packed with information, and sometimes witty. Please go read Jarvis on the ongoing Howard Stern/free speech issue
Here's a copy of an email I just sent to Jarvis:
Mr. Jarvis:
I have been reading your blog off-and-on for a couple of years now and found you through Matt Welch. Thanks very much for your coverage of the Howard Stern/free speech issue. I live in Orlando, Florida, where Clear Channel has pulled Stern from the air.
The Internet, and specifically BuzzMachine, provides my only information source on this important issue. The day Stern was taken off the air, a handful of protesters appeared outside the local Clear Channel studios (WTKS-FM). Local TV news gave the protest about 30 seconds worth of coverage. Other than that all Central Florida media outlets have been silent. Of course, all the other show hosts on WTKS have been quiet. I would like to have heard what the station manager told them after Stern was taken off the air!
Why has the mainstream media been so quiet on this issue? There are a number of media-centric reasons. Newspapers see radio as a competitor. They secretly wish radio to be hobbled. From the TV news perspective, if there are no pictures, there is no news. You can't send a TV camera out and take pictures of Howard Stern being off the air. It's a good thing a picture is worth a thousand words, because TV reporters don't know a thousand words.
Other radio personalities, and radio station managers, are going to keep quiet too, because they're afraid they will be next. Those are just some of the reasons why I think the mainstream media has ignored this issue. Anyway, thanks for posting The Daily Stern. I be checking in every day.
Chris Howell