Molly Ivins -- On the 'free market" giving us corporate media monopolies

Edward Monks, a lawyer in Eugene, Ore., did a report for the newspaper there last year on the prevalence of right-wing hosts on radio talk shows.

"The spectrum of opinion on national political commercial talk radio shows ranges from extreme right wing to very extreme right wing -- there is virtually nothing else," he said, noting the irony that many of these right-wing hosts spend much of their time complaining about "the liberal media."

On the two Eugene talk stations, Monks found: "There are 80 hours per week, more than 4,000 hours per year, programmed for Republican and conservative talk shows, without a single second programmed for a Democratic or liberal perspective. … Political opinions expressed on talk radio are approaching the level of uniformity that would normally be achieved only in a totalitarian society."

The United States now ranks 17th, below Costa Rica and Slovenia, on the worldwide index of press freedom established by the group Reporters Without Borders.

I think these speak for themselves.