Most people don't know that Disney also owns ABC radio affiliates. Some of those are of the radical right hate speech persuasion. Spocko's Brain, a liberal blog, launched a media campaign against his local hate radio station that was highly successful in getting advertisers to pull their sponsorship from the station. He was highly successful because he recorded the hate speech and had it available for listening on his blog. He then wrote the advertisers about what they were saying and asked them to listen themselves. Christmas Eve the radio station got ABC Radio/Disney lawyers to contact his ISP to pull his site for posting copyrighted material unless he took all the recordings down. There is a legal fair use issue at play here - it is permitted to copy material to criticize it. His site is now down but the story is just spreading.
KSFO features hard right-wing talk show hosts who endorse torture, call for the public hangings of New York Times editor Bill Keller and other journalists, and demand that callers mock Islam. They also mock their own advertisers--calling Chevrolet, for example, "sh!tty," or recommending that Sears' Diehard battery be attached to an African-American's testicles.The Disney Rat versus Spocko's Brain story looks likely to go mainstream. I don't think Disney wants to me known for supporting hate speech.
Since Spocko began contacting advertisers, they have departed KSFO in droves. Netflix, MasterCard, Bank of America, and most recently, Visa have pulled their advertising from the station. According to Spocko, Federal Express, AT&T and Kaiser Permanente are weighing their departure as well.
A spokeswoman for ABC Radio declined comment. Spocko's situation was originally reported on the Web site Daily Kos.
Some of us liberal bloggers and members of Democratic clubs and liberal organizations have been wanting a way to really take on Houston's radio hate speech, maybe we should get together on a project of recording and contacting like this.
Original Daily Kos story.
Electronic Freedom Foundation is helping out with legal support and people are suggesting ways to get his site back up.
YouTube with some audio clips.
Firedoglake, Impolitic, AJ Kandy, skippy the bush kangaroo, and Whiskey Fire. Paul Lukasiak is hosting all the clips and trying to keep up with the links.
Tags: free speech, hate speech, Spocko's Brain, Spocko, ABC, Disney, KSFO, RWNM, blog, audio, EFF, radio, ABC Radio Disney
1 comment:
My conservative librarian friend C believes this is not a "fair use" example. She believe Spocko was using samples of copyrighted recordings to harass and disrupt a business. I disagree and think small snips of recordings taken to criticize performers is the very definition of "fair use."
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