Salem Communications

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SEE WAR ON XIAN BS GORKA CULT WAR CRM 4

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HotAir.com is part of the Townhall Media alongside Townhall.com, PJMedia.com, BearingArms.com, RedState.com, Twitchy.com, and Townhall Finance. THM is a **Salem Media Group** company.

Jonathan Garthwaite, Vice President and General Manager @JonGarthwaite on Twitter.

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mma

After former White House chief of staff John Kelly criticized Donald Trump, right-wing commentators linked to the former president have called Kelly a “traitor,” a “seditionist,” “compromised,” a “threat to America,” and treasonous.

In a trio of audio interviews with The New York Times, Kelly “said that, in his opinion, Mr. Trump met the definition of a fascist,” and “discussed and confirmed previous reports that Mr. Trump had made admiring statements about Hitler, had expressed contempt for disabled veterans and had characterized those who died on the battlefield for the United States as ‘losers’ and ‘suckers.’”

Reflecting the chaotic nature of the Trump White House, numerous former staffers have supported and bolstered Kelly’s warnings and recollections. Right-wing media figures, however, have dismissed, ignored, or cast doubt on his remarks.

They have also descended into retributive rhetoric, saying Kelly is a “traitor,” treasonous, and seditious. Such language echoes the words of Trump himself, who has promised to carry out a retribution tour if he’s elected president.

The following are several right-wing commentators who have connections with Trump who have lashed out at Kelly:

Sebastian Gorka is a radio host who pushes conspiracy theories and extreme rhetoric. He is a former Trump White House adviser. Gorka has interviewed and been praised by Trump.

During an interview with Salem Media Group colleague Mike Gallagher, Gorka said: “I've got a message for John Kelly. You're no Marine, John Kelly. You're a seditionist. You're a traitor. You tried to push me and Steve Bannon out.” He added: “I spit on his career because he is not a Marine and people like him are the threat to America.”

Peter Navarro is an election denier and Project 2025 author. He is also a Trump campaign surrogate who was recently released from prison, where he was serving a sentence for defying a congressional subpoena.

He wrote an opinion piece attacking Kelly with the headline “Trump’s four-star bully chief of staff John Kelly was a traitor within.”

Mike Flynn is a right-wing commentator who spreads conspiracy theories and toxic rhetoric. He is also a Trump ally and former national security adviser who left in disgrace. Trump told Flynn last year that Flynn would return to the White House if he wins. And CNN reported that “multiple foreign diplomats tell CNN they see Flynn as someone who will have influence if the former president retakes the White House and have privately speculated that he could be tapped for another high-level position if that comes to pass.”

He endorsed a post by conspiracy theorist Buzz Patterson that claimed: “Flag officers who perpetuate lies and fraud, like Kelly, Milley, Austin, Brennan, etc, have violated their oaths and, in some cases, the law. They are treasonous and, dare I say, the ‘enemy within.’ Yes, I said that.”

Flynn responded to Patterson: “What Buzz said!”

Tony Shaffer is a right-wing commentator and conspiracy theorist. He advised Trump and is part of his Veterans and Military Families for Trump coalition.

During an interview, Shaffer said of Kelly: “I think he's compromised. He was part of — I'll be very clear. He was compromised when he was chief of staff to Trump.” As evidence of him being compromised, Shaffer claimed that Kelly wouldn’t let him talk to the president about concerns over the FBI being corrupted. He added on social media that “people like John Kelly were the inside men of the whole effort to conduct a coup to remove President Trump.”

//

Fox anchor Harris Faulkner on labeling Trump fascist: “This is hate speech now”

10/25/24

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mma 6 24 see 200 mules anno

he widely debunked documentary was mentioned in dozens of articles on The Gateway Pundit and pushed by conservative media figures including Steve Bannon and Charlie Kirk

WRITTEN BY AUDREY MCCABE

PUBLISHED 06/05/24 10:51 AM EDT

Right-wing media conglomerate Salem Media has retracted and apologized for Dinesh D’Souza and True the Vote’s conspiracy theory-laden “documentary” 2000 Mules after settling a lawsuit with a Georgia voter falsely accused by the film of committing fraud in the 2020 election.

Before halting distribution of the film and removing it from its platforms, Salem Media provided a platform to widely circulate its election integrity misinformation throughout the right-wing media ecosystem. Salem Media’s Charlie Kirk was featured in the documentary, and a search for the film name on The Gateway Pundit’s website yielded dozens of articles.

In May 2022, filmmaker D’Souza released 2000 Mules in partnership with “election integrity” group True the Vote and Salem Media. The film relies heavily on the use of cellphone geotracking, a faulty approach that reportedly fails to prove claims of ballot trafficking. (D’Souza also published a book version of 2000 Mules, which was recalled by the publisher soon after it hit bookstores and altered to retract certain allegations before its re-release. True the Vote claimed to have “had no participation in” the book.)

The documentary has been repeatedly debunked by law enforcement and the media, but right-wing media heavily promoted the film as supposed evidence of widespread voter fraud aimed at stopping former President Donald Trump from winning the 2020 presidential election.

Mark Andrews, a Georgia man falsely depicted as committing voter fraud in the film, sued D’Souza and his company, Salem Media, True the Vote and its founders Catherine Engelbrecht and Greg Phillips, and the book publisher. In a separate legal proceeding, a Fulton County Superior Court judge ordered True the Vote to provide evidence of voter fraud in Georgia, which the film asserted. True the Vote admitted in court that it did not have evidence substantiating its claims.

Salem Media recently settled in the suit, paying Andrews an undisclosed “significant” amount and issuing a formal apology. The outlet also claimed that it “relied on representations made to us by Dinesh D’Souza and True the Vote.” Engelbrecht claimed in a livestream that Salem retracted 2000 Mules only because of pressure from shareholders and advertisers, and True the Vote posted on X that it “stands by its processes and methodologies” and Salem’s settlement “does not change our [True the Vote’s] position.” D’Souza reposted the statement.

IFrame Content

Right-wing media figures and outlets have pushed the film, using it to fuel claims that the 2020 election was stolen

• One America News regularly promoted the film around the 2022 midterm elections, devoting 58 hours of airtime to the film between October 15 and November 1. One America News figures also attended the Mar-a-Lago premiere, bizarrely weaved the film into unrelated segments about crime, and called it the “film of the century.” Host Dan Ball stated, “After watching this movie, I will say this: There’s not one doubt in my mind that this election was rigged, period.” Media Matters, [11/3/22, 5/11/22]
• The Daily Signal, The Published Reporter, and several GOP politicians ran ads on Meta promoting 2000 Mules, further spreading the film’s false claims.The Daily Signal’s ad features a quote from Phillips claiming that there was an “organized effort to subvert” the 2020 election. Meta prohibits ads that have been debunked by third-party fact-checkers, but Media Matters found 36 ads promoting the film. Media Matters, [5/6/22]
• Right-wing podcaster and former Trump advisor Steve Bannon invited Engelbrecht and Phillips onto War Room to promote the film, even after the group failed to provide evidence before the court. Bannon claimed that True the Vote was being targeted in an “organized media hit.” Media Matters, [2/20/24]
• Salem Media host and Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk appeared in 2000 Mules and brought D’Souza, Engelbrecht, and Phillips on his show to promote the film. Kirk also partnered with D’Souza to host exclusive showings of the documentary. Media Matters, [5/4/22; CharlieKirk.com, 4/9/22]
• A search for “2000 Mules” on The Gateway Pundit’s website returned dozens of articles.The outlet claimed that the film “irrefutably confirms the widespread belief that Democrats stole the election in 2020.” The Gateway Pundit, [6/2/22]
• Jeffrey Clark, whom Trump attempted to make attorney general, has repeatedly praised 2000 Mules on X (formerly known as Twitter) and claimed that it revealed a “massive multi-State operation.” He promoted a Gateway Pundit article on Kirk’s interview with Engelbrecht and Phillips. Media Matters, [6/23/22]

Inside the Mar-a-Lago Premiere of 'Police State': 'We're Already in One'

Trump wasn't at Mar-a-Lago for a red-carpet movie premiere Wednesday night, but his presence was felt — and celebrated — by around 500 conservative influencers, media personalities and politicians who partied at the former president's Florida home without him.

The premiere was for Dinesh D'Souza's documentary, Police State, about allegedly normal, harmless Americans who say they've been arrested, harassed or censored by various branches of the U.S. government.

While not there, Trump posted online his support for the film and midway through the party D'Souza read the message aloud to guests. The movie exposes "the witch hunt that the deep state has against me. And the police state is coming for you," Trump wrote.

D'Souza also alluded to a civil trial where Trump is accused of exaggerating the value of his assets, including Mar-a-Lago, which Trump said was worth more than $1 billion while a judge has said it's value is between $18 million-$27 million.

"It's hard to believe this place is worth only $18 million," D'Souza told the assembled in a large hall near the swimming pool.

"Maybe some of us should buy it; sell it for $400 million and use the profits to buy Fox News," he joked to laughter and applause.

:{From left, Dinesh D'Souza speaks alongside Debbie D'Souza and Dan and Paula Bongino at the premiere of "Police State" at Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago club and estate on November 1, 2023. The film is about allegedly normal, harmless Americans who say they've been arrested, harassed or censored by various branches of the U.S. government.

While progressives typically dismiss D'Souza's work as conspiratorial, a Rasmussen poll in September found that 72 percent of voters are worried that the U.S. is becoming a police state, which the poll described as a tyrannical government that engages in mass surveillance, censorship, ideological indoctrination and targeting of political opponents.

What Americans fail to agree on is from which side of the aisle the threat comes from. D'Souza's film tries to make the case it is mainly from the left, though he does criticize a few Republicans — most notably former President George W. Bush — for their alleged contributions.

Progressives also often discount D'Souza's movies because he pleaded guilty in 2014 to enlisting the help of a straw donor so that he could give more money than was allowed by law to a Senate candidate.

After D'Souza served his sentence, Trump pardoned him, and D'Souza briefly revisits the episode in his movie.

While Rotten Tomatoes gives the movie an 82 percent audience score at time of publishing, a critic at the progressive outlet, Mother Jones, calls it the work of "far-right fringe characters" and laments: "None of the alleged victims in Police State are innocent people like George Floyd or Breonna Taylor, who literally died at the hands of overzealous cops."

But at Wednesday's premiere, the movie earned a standing ovation.

Off to the sidelines, D'Souza told Newsweek that he has run into several odd problems in the distribution and marketing of the film, which he says has thus far played for two nights at mostly sold-out theaters, raking in about $1.5 million.

Most notably, he accused the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network of the U.S. Department of the Treasury of "intercepting" a $106,000 payment to Salem Media to purchase ads for the movie.

"We now have to retrieve our funds, and it's going to be a hassle," he said.

Newsweek has reached out to the Treasury Department and will update this story should it respond.

Newsweek reviewed documentation indicating that the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has held up funds D'Souza attempted to wire to Salem for the purpose of advertising.

OFAC's stated mission is to enforce trade sanctions based on national security goals that include terrorist threats, weapons of mass destruction and narcotics traffickers.

"Why would they intercept our domestic wire? They can't seize our money and pretend there is some legitimate government purpose for doing it," D'Souza said.

D'Souza, a former adviser to President Ronald Reagan, is the right's most successful producer of conservative documentaries. In 2012, his debut movie, 2016: Obama's America, scored $33 million at the box office, enough to become the second most popular political documentary of all time, after Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11.

Partners in the film include YouTube competitor Rumble, which is streaming the movie, and talk-radio host Dan Bongino.

Ahead of the film, Bongino motioned toward Rumble CEO Chris Pavlovski and said: "His idea was to create a free speech, free idea platform...Make no mistake — this guy's got a lot of guts."

U.S. Senate candidate Kari Lake told Newsweek: "We are living in a police state. It's pretty apparent. Look at January 6 and the two tiers of justice. Our rights are slipping away and more people are waking up to it."

:{Senate candidate Kari Lake attends the "Police State" premiere at Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago on November 1, 2023. She says it is "pretty apparent" Americans live in a police state

D'Souza said that authorities who claimed to be saving democracy, upholding the rule of law, fighting misinformation and saving lives with COVID restrictions have abused their power.

A police state is "coming to us in disguise. It's coming to us marching behind the slogans of virtue," he said. "The task of this film is to strip away the facade."

When D'Souza introduced the families of some of those who were arrested during the January 6, 2021, riots at the U.S. Capitol, the crowd applauded.

Will Pope, who attended the premiere and the riots, and has been charged with several crimes associated with the latter, told Newsweek: "Nobody there that day was trying to overthrow the government. Most are normal people who don't mean you any harm, and they love America."

Actor Kevin Sorbo, who played TV's Hercules in the 1980s and stars mostly in faith-based films like God's Not Dead nowadays, told Newsweek: "Free speech has been disappearing quickly. That's the truth, but the truth is kryptonite to Hollywood and to Washington, D.C."

:{'Hercules' actor Kevin Sorbo takes a selfie at Mar-a-Lago. Donald Trump's estate hosted the premiere of the documentary "Police State" on November 1.

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who is facing charges in Fulton County, Georgia, that allege he tried to subvert the will of voters in 2020, similar to charges against Trump, told Newsweek that the mainstream media is biased against conservatives.

"The coverage is consistent with the country. A large percentage of it, through Biden, is becoming fascist," he said. "The coverage is despicable, disgraceful, unpatriotic and, at times, supportive of criminal conspiracies, and I include Newsweek."

Fox News personality Leo Terrell, who switched from liberal to conservative in 2016, told Newsweek that Police State is a timely movie for all Americans, but added: "Liberals won't watch it, but they should."

Actor Nick Searcy, who plays a composite FBI character in Police State, was at the January 6 riots and made a documentary about it, dubbed Capitol Punishment. He told Newsweek that he's working on a sequel.

"The suppression of free speech should concern both sides. The intimidation of everyday Americans can happen to anyone," he said.

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mma 6 23

Blake Neff, a former writer for Fox’s now-defunct Tucker Carlson Tonight who resigned from the show in 2020 following revelations that he made racist and sexist posts in an online forum, has resurfaced on Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk’s radio show, apparently as a producer.

In July 2020, CNN’s Oliver Darcy reported that Neff, then the top writer for Tucker Carlson’s show, had been anonymously posting racist, misogynistic, homophobic, and other offensive content on an online forum for five years. Neff used racist and homophobic slurs, referred to women in a derogatory manner, andpushed white supremacist content while writing for Carlson’s show. Neff resigned after CNN contacted him for comment.

On the website for The Charlie Kirk Show, Neff is identified as “producer Blake.” In addition to appearing on that show, Neff has also joined Kirk on a new panel show called THOUGHTCRIME.

Neff appeared with Kirk on the first episode of THOUGHTCRIME, a new weekly panel show streamed live exclusively on Kirk’s Rumble channel that’s apparently co-hosted by Pizzagate conspiracy theorist Jack Posobiec. Kirk introduced Neff as “very high-IQ Blake,” saying, “And we’re really honored to have Blake on our team —he’s great. And the most, let’s just say, awful people in the world tried to destroy Blake’s life and we’re not going to let that happen.” Later he added, “We love Blake and he does a great job.”

In a prerecorded introduction attached to the audio-only version of the show, Kirk described THOUGHTCRIME as “R-rated,” with “rather graphic elements,” and “not homeschool friendly.”

On June 21, Neff appeared again on Salem Radio Network’s The Charlie Kirk Show to discuss the submersible vessel carrying four tourists and a captain that got lost while diving to the Titanic shipwreck.Kirk described Neff as “our resident submarine expert,” and a chyron identified Neff as “The Charlie Kirk Show Submarine expert.” Neff described the plight of the lost vessel story as “refreshing” as far as news cycles go.

After the break, Kirk referred to Neff as “part of” the new weekly panel show. Neff also said, “I don’t want to say, like, you should not” go on a submersible vessel seemingly operated on a video game controller.[vid]

during THOUGHTCRIME, the panelists repeatedly used an anti-trans slur and discussed the X-rated topic of “glory holes” in response to The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh’s claim on Twitter that “Fox Corp is celebrating Pride by encouraging employees to read about ‘“glory holes.’” 

This type of talk stands out coming from Kirk, not only because of the raunchy topic, but also because of how it contrasts with  the self-righteous Christian nationalist rhetoric he’s embraced over the last year with the launch of Turning Point USA Faith, an initiative to propagandize young people by setting up Turning Point USA chapters in their churches.

“What is a glory hole?” asked Kirk.

“Oh my sweet summer child,” responded Neff.

Kirk then Googled it live on air.

HotAir.com is part of the Townhall Media alongside Townhall.com, PJMedia.com, BearingArms.com, RedState.com, Twitchy.com, and Townhall Finance. THM is a Salem Media Group company.

shad net CNP

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All of this must have been music to the ears of the Council for National Policy. The ongoing disruption of the traditional news industry created a vacuum, and they were systematically building a stable of media partners prepared to fill it. The regulatory environment was working in their favor.

The gutting of the Fairness Doctrine had opened the door for the Salem communications empire, originally founded as a radio operation by fundamentalist broadcasters Stuart Epperson and Edward Atsinger III. Salem and other CNP media partners produced highly politicized one-sided broadcasts. CNP member Donald Wildmon founded American Family Radio in 1991; it would expand into a network of almost 200 stations in 35 states. American Family Radio developed three different programming streams designed for its various markets: AFR Talk, AFR Hybrid, and Urban Family Talk, which employed an African-American staff to target an African-American audience. All three adhered to the statement of faith:

The American Family Association believes that God has communicated absolute truth to mankind, and that all people are subject to the authority of God’s Word at all times. Therefore AFA believes that a culture based on biblical truth best serves the well-being of our nation and our families, in accordance. with the vision of our founding documents…

The organization’s action statement spurred followers to “promote virtue by upholding in culture that which is right, true and good according to Scripture.” Its overtly political goal was to “motivate people to take a stand on cultural and moral issues at the local, state, and national levels.”¹⁷(https://flux.community/anne-nelson/2021/05/disinformation-factory-how-christian-fundamentalist-media-brainwash-millions#sdendnote17sym)

Another CNP radio partner was the Bott Radio Network, founded in 1962 by Dick Bott, a former child evangelist, and his wife Sherley. Bott quickly recognized the potential of commercial religious broadcasting, and his radio network grew to over 100 stations in fifteen states, heavily concentrated in the Bible Belt.¹⁸(https://flux.community/anne-nelson/2021/05/disinformation-factory-how-christian-fundamentalist-media-brainwash-millions#sdendnote18sym) States like Kansas and Missouri had plenty of news deserts without a daily newspaper, but they were blanketed byBott radio signals carrying the programs of CNP stalwarts like James Dobson and Gary Bauer.¹⁹(https://flux.community/anne-nelson/2021/05/disinformation-factory-how-christian-fundamentalist-media-brainwash-millions#sdendnote19sym)

Together, Salem’s Epperson and Atsinger, American Family Radio’s Donald Wildmon, and Bott Radio’s Dick Bott – all members of the CNP – built overlapping radio empires that were all but invisible to the urban northeast. But it was hard to drive very far across the Plains without running into their signals and their increasingly virulent rhetoric.

Wildmon’s American Family Radio network, for example, produced programs with titles like “Infanticide Adopted by Democrats” and “Homosexuality is the Dividing Line Between Light and Darkness.”²⁰(https://flux.community/anne-nelson/2021/05/disinformation-factory-how-christian-fundamentalist-media-brainwash-millions#sdendnote20sym) One program asked how Christians should respond to a Muslim call to prayer, and answered “They should take the call to prayer as a call to arms, to go to war in the Spirit against the demon-god Allah and the spiritual deception of Islam.”²¹(https://flux.community/anne-nelson/2021/05/disinformation-factory-how-christian-fundamentalist-media-brainwash-millions#sdendnote21sym)

The Salem Radio Network was especially aggressive in acquiring new stations.Atsinger and Epperson developed a successful strategy of purchasing leveraged stations in urban markets. But they ran into an obstacle with the Federal Communications Commission, which prohibited a broadcaster from owning too many stations in one market. Epperson and Atsinger—by now members of the CNP Board of Governors– joined other broadcasters to lobby against the regulations; Salem contributed $74,000 to key legislators. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 was written by industry lobbyists, promoted by Newt Gingrich, and signed into law by Bill Clinton.²²(https://flux.community/anne-nelson/2021/05/disinformation-factory-how-christian-fundamentalist-media-brainwash-millions#sdendnote22sym) It eased the ownership regulations to the benefit of Salem and other large companies. Salem went on an acquisition binge and created a system of station “clusters” to cut costs.

In 1999 Forbes magazine reported that Salem Communications (as it was now called) owned 57 stations. This made it the eighth largest broadcaster and the largest religious broadcaster in the country, with at least one station in 19 of biggest 25 markets. “Christian radio” had become the third most popular format in the US. (following country music and talk). ²³(https://flux.community/anne-nelson/2021/05/disinformation-factory-how-christian-fundamentalist-media-brainwash-millions#sdendnote23sym)

In July 1999 Salem issued an initial public offering. The company was booming. It still reaped half of its revenue – nearly $78 million — from the sale of block programming, but advertising accounted for a third of its revenues, and it was growing. The IPO’s influx of capital allowed the company to acquire more stations.^ ^²⁴(https://flux.community/anne-nelson/2021/05/disinformation-factory-how-christian-fundamentalist-media-brainwash-millions#sdendnote24sym)

Salem’s reach extended beyond religious programming, it also rode the wave of conservative talk radio. Local radio stations, like hometown newspapers, had traditionally been owned by – and answerable to — members of the community. In the wake of deregulation, over a quarter of the nation’s radio stations were sold, many passing from local to corporate owners, while new satellite technology facilitated national programming.

Eventually the Salem, Bott, and American Family Radio empires – all owned and operated by members of the CNP – extended to at least forty-six states. (As of January 2019, they owned stations in every state except Idaho, Nevada, Utah and Alaska.) Their programming, including political content produced by CNP members, was utilized by other radio networks, including the Christian Satellite Network and Family Life Radio. In combination with their affiliates, the CNP radio broadcasters covered the entire nation; California and Texas were blanked by all three. ABC, NBC, and CBS began to dump their radio stations, especially in small and mid-sized markets, and their news programs disappeared. The Great American News Desert grew drier by the year. [NPR]

National Public Radio, founded in 1970, did much to fill in the gap. As it grew to over 1,000 member stations, NPR offered traditional journalism and newscasts that presented multiple perspectives on public issues. Listeners could turn to NPR for detailed, thoughtful interviews with leaders from the leading political parties. Nonetheless, many conservatives in Middle America distrusted NPR as a smugly liberal voice with little interest in their issues, a maddening focus on identity politics, and a propensity to promote the Democrats’ agenda.

NPR tilted urban and coastal for obvious reasons. Its stations, its listeners – and its listener contributions – were concentrated in urban areas, suburbs and college towns. NPR’s weekly listenership would reach 28.5 million by 2017 – but that was still less than ten percent of the national population. Public broadcasting was founded with federal support, but the ongoing assault by Republican administrations whittled that down to almost nothing over the years. NPR responded by basing its budgets on listener contributions. But that meant that urban NPR stations—especially powerhouse stations in New York, Washington and San Francisco— had outsized budgets and programming capacity. Stations in conservative, rural areas – the news deserts that needed them most – got by on a fraction of the funding, with part-time employees and spotty local coverage.

Oklahoma, for example, has six NPR stations, mostly in cities and college towns, while Bott and American Family Radio have a combined twenty stations blanketing the state.²⁵(https://flux.community/anne-nelson/2021/05/disinformation-factory-how-christian-fundamentalist-media-brainwash-millions#sdendnote25sym) And radio matters: it remains an important part of daily life for millions of Americans, whether in the home, the workplace, or the car.²⁶(https://flux.community/anne-nelson/2021/05/disinformation-factory-how-christian-fundamentalist-media-brainwash-millions#sdendnote26sym)

Salem Communications developed three principle formats for its stations: Christian (fundamentalist) talk, contemporary Christian music, and conservative news and talk. and blocks of religious programming (AM). ²⁷(https://flux.community/anne-nelson/2021/05/disinformation-factory-how-christian-fundamentalist-media-brainwash-millions#sdendnote27sym) The company created a syndication service that distributed talk programs and a 24-hour news service to over 2,000 affiliates nationwide. It billed its programs as “Christian Radio’s Definitive Source for News” that “breaks the ivory tower approach of the traditional networks.”²⁸(https://flux.community/anne-nelson/2021/05/disinformation-factory-how-christian-fundamentalist-media-brainwash-millions#sdendnote28sym) This was not news about Christianity, it was current events filtered through a highly partisan fundamentalist lens. Salem’s “Christian journalism” was a new genre, unhampered by professional practices of multi-sourced reporting, fact-checking, and corrections.

The Salem, Bott and American Family Radio networks, all run by members of the CNP, bypassed the crisis in business models that afflicted the rest of the industry, buoyed by blocks of airtime sold to fundamentalist churches and advertising sold to CNP affiliates such as the Family Research Council.

Further revenues resulted from the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA, pronounced D-shay), promoted by Senator Orrin Hatch. Hatch and his family had extensive involvement in the nutritional supplements industry, which is based in Hatch’s home state of Utah. DSHEA prevented the FDA from regulating harmful or fraudulent supplements before they hit the market. The Los Angeles Times concluded, “The harvest [of DSHEA] has been a public health disaster.”²⁹(https://flux.community/anne-nelson/2021/05/disinformation-factory-how-christian-fundamentalist-media-brainwash-millions#sdendnote29sym) The elderly were especially easy marks. Bott and American Family Radio run ads for products such as “vitamin cures” for impotence and organizations such as the Institute for Creation Research, which argues “Birds didn’t evolve from dinosaurs because they can fly.”³⁰(https://flux.community/anne-nelson/2021/05/disinformation-factory-how-christian-fundamentalist-media-brainwash-millions#sdendnote30sym) Salem’s online outlet RedState rented its email lists to the Health Sciences Institute, which used it to promote a product that supposedly “vaporizes cancer in six weeks.”³¹(https://flux.community/anne-nelson/2021/05/disinformation-factory-how-christian-fundamentalist-media-brainwash-millions#sdendnote31sym)

Salem’s stations took a regional approach. In Irving, Texas, “The Word 100.7 FM” was overtly religious. Focus on the Family and related programming offered advice from a fundamentalist perspective for listeners’ daily problems of marriage infidelity, alcoholism, and depression, and condemned abortion and homosexuality. CNP member and attorney Jay Sekulow’s programs expounded on policy issues from a fundamentalist perspective.

Beyond the South, Salem’s “conservative news and talk” format built on the success of talk radio’s secular “shock jocks” like Rush Limbaugh, promoting hosts such as Hugh Hewitt, Sean Hannity, and the ubiquitous Sekulow. Salem’s Detroit station, “The Patriot WDCK,” focused on the anxieties of the Rust Belt: “politics, pop culture, the war on terror, education, immigration, and much more.”³²(https://flux.community/anne-nelson/2021/05/disinformation-factory-how-christian-fundamentalist-media-brainwash-millions#sdendnote32sym)

Atsinger and Epperson expanded their political footprint along with their radio empire. In 2005 journalist Adam Piore published a detailed history of Salem’s strategy called “A Higher Frequency” in Mother Jones magazine. Piore reported that between 1998 and 2004, they and their company offered $423,000 in federal campaign contributions, 96 percent of it to Republicans. This rendered them the sixth largest donor in the industry.³³(https://flux.community/anne-nelson/2021/05/disinformation-factory-how-christian-fundamentalist-media-brainwash-millions#sdendnote33sym)In 2000 Atsinger, Epperson, and a colleague donated $780,000 towards a California state ballot initiative to oppose gay marriage.

...

:{In recent years, the CNP media affiliates have continued to modernize and proliferate. It’s difficult to say exactly how many there are, or to track all the platforms where they appear. Salem Media, rebranded as the:{ Salem Media Group, has acquired various digital platforms, including TownHall, RedState, and PJ Media. }:

}:

The Daily Caller, co-founded by CNP member Neil Patel and Tucker Carlson, lists Clarence Thomas’s wife Virginia (another CNP member) as a “special correspondent,” and Tony Perkins makes frequent appearances on its video channel “American Voices.”

 CNSNews (originally the Cybercast News Service) was founded by CNP executive committee member Brent Bozell III in 1998 as a division of his Media Research Center. Like many of the other organizations mentioned, MRC is designated a tax-exempt “non-partisan” 501(c)3 organization, despite its unrelenting stream of partisan content.

The movement has been focusing on developing social media platforms, especially since Donald Trump was banned from Twitter in the wake of the January 6 Capitol riot. On May 14 the Wall Street Journal reported that Donald Trump may launch his own platform on July 4, although it’s unclear what form it might take. Tony Perkins has endorsed a relatively new social media platform called Gab, which has been widely reported for providing a haven for QAnon supporters and other extremists.

Other contenders, such as Parler and Frank (launched by My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell) also vie for attention. The CNP has tried to develop its own “celebrity spokespersons” to cultivate specific target audiences, such as CNP member Charlie Kirk, who has his own YouTube channel and a radio program on Salem Media targeting youth. CNP member Alveda King (MLK’s niece) is prominently featured on Salem’s TownHall as an African-American opponent to HR1 and voting rights initiatives.

In the distorted mirror of this media system, the violent storming of the Capitol was a “tourist event,” and the illegal efforts to overturn the electoral results were exercises in “election integrity. Tragically, these media initiatives have not limited themselves to political misinformation; they have also been disseminating deadly misinformation about Covid for over a year, and sowing manufactured doubt about the safety of vaccines.

The stakes couldn’t be higher. The battle against Covid may have peaked, but millions of Americans are still vulnerable. The 2022 midterms will determine the fate of the House and the Senate, and in many ways, the future of the nation. These information systems create a growing chasm in America. Thanks in large part to their efforts, Americans are more sharply divided than they have been in our lifetimes — and as Abraham Lincoln warned, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”

===

===

amanda c

https://www.thebulwark.com/dinesh-dsouzas-2000-mules-is-a-hilarious-mockumentary/

dinesh D’Souza’s 2000 Mules is Plandemic for election truthers. For the non-insane, it’s a hilarious mockumentary. Not that D’Souza cares what the non-insane think: He has discovered that there are enough suckers out there to keep him laughing all the way to the bank.

Released by the Salem Media Group, 2000 Mules aspires to be a work of serious investigative reporting which will rock the foundations of American democracy. In reality, 2000 Mulesis an investigative documentary in roughly the same way Reno 911 was a hard-hitting look at real-life police work. Though that doesn’t mean that D’Souza’s cash-grab won’t further pollute the political system. For instance, Kari Lake, who can’t wait to get elected governor of Arizona so she can jail her political opponents, is championing the film—which ends with a plea for law enforcement to take up D’Souza’s cause.

Here’s the elevator pitch for 2000 Mules: D’Souza’s buddies at True the Vote spent $2 million on cellphone geotracking data—which he describes as “digital DNA”—that they say proves “mules” were paid to illegally “traffick” thousands of ballots from non-profit “stash houses” into drop-off ballot boxes.

All D’Souza really has—if the cellphone data is real and is really what he represents it as being—is some evidence that some people made frequent trips in areas around ballot drop-off boxes which, by design, were usually placed in heavily-traveled areas for convenience. Putting that aside, who are these mules? Who paid them? Where is the evidence of people making repeated trips to illegally stuff drop-boxes with ballots? What non-profits were involved? These questions are not even asked, let alone answered, in the movie. The theory of the case relies almost entirely on digital maps with dots and squiggles, supposedly demonstrating the questionable movement of the “mules.” Boom-Diggity. All that’s left is for the FBI to take it from here. Or something.

2000 Mules doesn’t survive the most basic fact-checks to support its most important claims. See them here, here, here, and here. But, let’s stipulate that the film’s purpose isn’t really to present facts. Because if it were true that D’Souza had rock-solid evidence of widespread voter fraud in his possession, would a true patriot like him be selling that evidence for $29.99 per download? Bwahahaha. (In defense of D’Souza, that $29.99 was only the premium VOD price. This week he dropped it to $19.99 to buy or just $14.99 to rent. Or you can get the movie free by purchasing an annual subscription to his Rumble channel!)

It’s better to view the film as a performance piece, a comedic triumph where the joke is on the rubes gullible enough to give D’Souza their money.

some quick backstory: The people behind True the Vote—Catherine Engelbrecht and Gregg Phillips–have been unsuccessfully hunting the Loch Ness Monster of voter fraud for many years. After the 2016 election, Phillips claimed he “verified” that more than 3 million votes were illegally cast by “non-citizens.” Piggybacking on Phillips, Trump launched a “Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity” to pursue this and other claims. Chaired by Vice President Mike Pence and former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, the commission ultimately found no evidence of widespread voter fraud and disbanded without ever producing a report. (Since producing such a report would contradict Trump’s kooky allies.)

After the 2020 election, True the Vote sought $7 million to chase down new voter fraud stories and shop them to GOP consultants in hopes of getting some courtroom or member of Congress to take them seriously. But even in the cluster that was the Kraken #StopTheSteal show, they had no takers. It was such a disaster that one of True the Vote’s biggest donors, who gifted the organization $2.5 million, took the group to court to get his money back, citing their failed efforts.

All of which goes to say that True the Vote’s tall tales are too dumb even for its biggest supporters to go along with anymore. D’Souza, however, is happy to scrape up the bullshit and repackage it for the direct-to-consumer market.

some of the film’s funniest moments come when D’Souza summons his fellow Salem Media Group talkers—Dennis Prager, Eric Metaxes, Seb Gorka, and Charlie Kirk—for a meeting of the minds to discuss their thoughts about election fraud before and after viewing D’Souza’s movie.

The “before” meeting amounts to an assortment of pronouncements about how none of these very fine people believe that Biden won. They cite the massive turnout in the election, GOP success down-ballot, Trump’s ability to draw large crowds, and apparent popularity in the face of withering media coverage.

Kirk offers that “millions of Americans know something went wrong, and they have little pieces, and no one’s really put it together.” Prager, somewhat of an outlier in the group, says he wants someone to “show me the proof” of fraud. Which sets the stage for D’Souza to helpfully put the pieces together.

The movie draws heavy suspicions about people who dropped off ballots early in the morning, wore gloves to drop off ballots, and took photos of drop boxes. All this is drummed up as proof of nefarious activity captured on surveillance video. Coupled with the True the Vote’s geotracking data, the viewer is led to believe these were the “mules” making repeat trips to unnamed non-profit offices to collect ballots and “traffick” them to drop boxes. One problem: They have no video showing these individuals making repeat trips to said non-profits or drop locations, or evidence they were paid to do so. Also, one of the so-called “mules” presented in the film has already been investigated by Georgia officials and no evidence of wrongdoing was found.

No matter. Engelbrecht and Phillips make their presentation to the group and the guys jump on the clips accordingly. What Salem wants, Salem gets.

Questioning why someone would drop off ballots late at night or early in the morning is a common refrain, even though drop boxes were implemented precisely so voters could drop off their ballots any time they chose. For this, these unnamed individuals are depicted as dangerous people. Phillips described them as “not grandma out walking her dog.” They have “bad backgrounds, bad reputations, we’ve had encounters with several who are not terribly positive.”

“Violent guys?” D’Souza asked.

“Can be,” Phillips replied. “They are interested in one thing, that’s money.”

But even the Salem hosts seem wise to the game and acknowledge that D’Souza hasn’t, and won’t be able to prove anything. Gorka sums it up with this non sequitur: “It’s the perfect crime because it cannot be curated after it’s committed.”

Kirk says: “I don’t think we will ever know the full story and what makes this crime so compelling and unique is that once the ballot enters the system it’s really hard to reverse engineer it. But when you have the cell phone geolocation data and then the actual footage . . . it explains the sudden spike of Biden support that we saw late at night.”

At this point, all that’s left is for law enforcement to intervene. “There’s an easy way to bust it,” D’Souza says. “Law enforcement has to step in . . . go interview the mules. Who paid you? Where did you get the money?”

Which satisfies Prager enough to bellow:

“They have ruined election day in the United States of America. That’s provable, and that is enough for me to fight the left with every fiber in my body!” This counts as a conversion. But, considering the fact Prager is someone who also believes the ,”:(style="background-color:#ffff66;"/maxresdefault.jpg),” it’s not like he needed any pretext from D’Souza to declare total war on the Democrats. That’s just a regular day at the office for the old man.

the Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro2000 Mules and said, “my problem with the documentary” is that “there are dots that need filling in.” He said:

You can question all the ballot harvesting; you can take for granted that all the geolocation data that they’re using is actually true . . . that does not mean all those ballots are illegal votes. . . . . What you need is actual evidence of people going to multiple drop boxes that isn’t just the cell phone data moving past the drop boxes. . . I guess what I would say is an answer that’s gonna make nobody happy. I think that the data is really interesting. I think that it’s really suspicious for sure, I don’t think it’s just positive that this alone shifted the election . . . I think the conclusion of the film is not justified by the premises of the film itself. There are a bunch of dots that need to be connected. Maybe they will be connected, but they haven’t been connected in the film.

But I suspect that D’Souza is delighted with even the critical reviews. A hate watch is still a watch. All the people talking and writing about 2000 Mules means more relevance and more downloads and more income. Despite being released only on “non-cancelable” platforms, D’Souza says the film has grossed $10 million.

What burns D’Souza are the people who won’t give him attention—especially those at Fox News and Newsmax. And why shouldn’t he be? The movie’s storyline, complete with a brown menace subplot, is tailor-made for their audiences. At one point in the film, a woman, who keeps her identity hidden, says she worked as a “mule” in Yuma County, Arizona, on behalf of an organization that collected ballots from Hispanic people who were unable for various reasons to get to the polls. “Most of the Hispanics that live in the town are not well educated as far as the law . . . I call it the Mexican mafia, seriously because they work like that.”

How could Fox and Newsmax resist this premium content? Probably because the executives at these infotainment companies are wary of fighting another round of lawsuits for pushing bogus election claims. Dinesh D’Souza is judgment proof. Fox and Newsmax aren’t.

Donald Trump is mad about the Fox blackout, too. He gave the film a glitzy premiere at Mar-a-Lago, and still, no love from Tucker Carlson. Waaaah.

“Fox News is no longer Fox News,” Trump posted on his Truth Social account. “They won’t even show or discuss the greatest & most impactful documentary of our time, ‘2000 Mules.’ The Radical Left Democrats are thrilled – They don’t want the TRUTH to get out.”

In a way, the pairing of 2000 Mules and Truth Social is perfect: A pretend social media company doing PR for a fake documentary, with both siphoning off dollars from gullible superfans.

It would be funny if these people weren’t also the past and possible future of the United States government.

===

Meet the Press hosted NBC News contributor and right-wing radio host Hugh Hewitt this morning. Host Chuck Todd did not disclose that Hewitt has a financial tie to President Donald Trump: Last month, the Trump Make America Great Again Committee rented Hewitt's newsletter to raise money twice last month.

Hewitt is a pro-Trump hack who recently tweeted that “every Catholic, indeed every person of any faith, has to realize the left despises them and that the Democrats shelter this virulent bigotry and pretend it’s something else” (Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is Catholic). Hewitt also regularly turns over his radio program to guest host and unhinged bigot Kurt Schlichter.

===

ref no doc

https://www.mediamatters.org/hugh-hewitt/meet-press-and-chuck-todd-failed-disclose-trump-sponsors-hugh-hewitts-newsletter

nbc ...Chuck Todd did not disclose that Hewitt has a financial tie to Trump’s campaign: Last month, the Trump Make America Great Again Committee twice rented Hewitt’s newsletter to raise money. 

Hewitt is the host of a program on Salem Radio Network, a columnist for The Washington Post, and a commentator for NBC News. He is a pro-Trump and Republican hack who recently tweeted that “every Catholic, indeed every person of any faith, has to realize the left despises them and that the Democrats shelter this virulent bigotry and pretend it’s something else” (the Democratic presidential nominee is Joe Biden, who is Catholic). 

The Daily Beast reported last year on how “Hewitt has fallen in line with the rest of the conservative media ecosystem as a reliably Trumpian defender of the president’s bizarre and potentially criminal behavior.” 

Hewitt also regularly turns over his radio program to guest host and unhinged bigot Kurt Schlichter. 

Media Matters subscribes to Hewitt’s email newsletter, which is run by Salem and sends paid advertising. In September, “Trump Make America Great Again Committee, a joint fundraising committee authorized by and composed of Donald J. Trump for President, Inc. and the Republican National Committee,” rented Hewitt’s newsletter twice -- on September 2 and September 21 -- for fundraising emails.[doc]  Trump messages state that they’re “brought to you by The Hugh Hewitt Show” along with the disclaimer: “Occasional messages from sponsors allows us to provide our content at no cost to you. This message reflects the opinions of the advertiser alone, and not necessarily the opinion or editorial position of Salem Media Group.”

Meet the Press host Chuck Todd did not mention Hewitt’s financial tie to the Trump campaign. During his appearance, Hewitt stated that “this has been a week of enormous relief. I've interviewed a dozen Republican senators and the vice presidential debate really turned it around for a lot of Republicans, as did the president's sort of powerful energy on conservative media, getting back out there.” He added: “I believe the president is down in double digits but closing nationally.” 

Hewitt has also done advertisements for Keep America America, a project of the pro-Trump Job Creators Network that aims “to activate the conservative base and boost turnout.” (Meet the Press didn't disclose that financial connection either.) 

Hewitt has had other conflict of interest problems related to former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt; the Clean Water Act; and the anti-LGBTQ hate group Alliance Defending Freedom. 

===

gorka

https://thehill.com/homenews/media/432450-gorka-fox-part-ways

hmmn

gorka...parted ways with Fox News and has joined Sinclair Broadcasting.

Gorka, who joined Fox News as a national security strategist in November 2017 following a seven-month stint in President Trump's White House, will serve as a national contributor at Sinclair.

"I'm very excited to be one of Sinclair's national contributors," Gorka told the Hill by email. "Fox News and Fox Business Network have both been very good to be before I joined the Trump Administration and after I left the White House.

"I am especially grateful to Sean Hannity," he continues. "My new nationally syndicated radio show with Salem Radio and position with Sinclair will allow me to go deeper on the key issues of the Trump era."

The 48-year-old British, Hungarian and U.S. citizen told The Hill that his Fox News contract had expired. A Fox News spokesperson confirmed the exit and said the the parting of ways was mutual.

Gorka launched his syndicated talk radio show, "America First," in November.

==

==

OMG:

In 1993, the Regnery family sold the publishing company to Phillips Publishing International, which put the book publishing company into its Eagle Publishing subsidiary, which also published the weekly Human Events.^[10][11] At that time, Regnery Gateway was renamed Regnery Publishing Inc. Alfred Regnery left his post as president of Regnery Publishing in the 2000s to become the publisher of The American Spectator magazine.^[12] He still holds a seat on the Regnery board of directors. Pat Sajak also is a member of the board. Alex Novak, son of political columnist Robert Novak, is associate publisher.

In January 2014, Regnery was acquired along with other Eagle Publishing properties by Salem Communications.^[13]

=

SW

Salem Communications Corporation, a publicly-traded radio broadcasting company, "provides programming targeted at audiences interested in religious and family issues. The Company owns and operates radio stations in large metropolitan markets. Salem also operates Salem Radio Network, a national radio network offering syndicated talk, news, and music programming to affiliated radio stations."[1]

About

Salem Communications Corporation promotes itself as "the leading provider of radio programming, online resources and magazines targeted to the Christian and family themes audience."[2][3]

Salem Communications states that it currently "owns and operates 95 radio stations nation-wide, with 60 stations located in the top 25 most populated U.S. markets," with the majority of its stations operating "within clusters involving three strategic formats" and its "foundational format ... Christian teaching and talk, featuring well-known speakers such as James Dobson, Janet Parshall, Dr. Charles F. Stanley and Chuck Swindoll."[4]

In April 2006, Salem Communications purchased conservative website Townhall.com.^[1]

Propaganda

On February 21, 2005, Sarah Posner, writing for the The Gadflyer, reported that:

"And while the mainstream media is asleep at the switch, CNP (Council for National Policy) members' access to conservative media outlets enable them to collaborate and disseminate their propaganda. ..."Another example is that five directors of Salem Communications Company are or have been officers and directors of CNP: Salem's president and CEO, Edward G. Atsinger III; Stuart W. Epperson (host of Truth Talk Live, a radio show broadcast on Salem's radio network); Roland S. Hinz (who is also president of Hi-Favor Broadcasting, LLC, which has purchased radio stations from Salem to implement a Christian format in Spanish); former [Ronald Reagan cabinet member] Donald P. Hodel; and Judge Paul Pressler (a retired Texas judge who has made a career of advocating a conservative resurgence in the Southern Baptist Convention). Salem owns over 100 Christian broadcast radio stations, is the provider of Christian programming on XM Satellite Radio, and recently agreed with America Online to provide the only Christian talk radio station on the AOL Radio Network. Last year, Salem was ranked in the top 100 in Fortune Small Business magazine's list of fastest growing small public companies. Salem is the seventh largest owner of radio stations in the country, and while it barely rivals Clear Channel Communications at over 1,200 stations, the combined Christian broadcasting power of Salem and American Family Radio -- a project of the American Family Association -- would rank them fourth, just behind powerhouses" Clear Channel, Cumulus Media (Cumulus Broadcasting), and Citadel Communications Corporation. "Many Republican House and Senate candidates, as well as the Bush/Cheney campaign (Bush-Cheney '04 Inc.), the Republican National Committee, and the Republican Majority Issues Committee, the issue advertising committee formed by [Tom] DeLay, have been the beneficiaries of not only Atsinger's largesse, but that of Salem Communications' political action committee as well."

In a February 28, 2005, follow up, "Salem Communications and the White House" Posner wrote:

"So let's recap: Salem Communications, which owns SRN News, is intimately involved with CNP, which for more than two decades has evaded paying federal income taxes by operating as a tax-exempt educational organization but conducting its activities in secret. Had CNP complied with the law, it either would have had to forego its tax exemption or made its activities, speeches, panel discussions, and publications available to the public. But it did not, so the American public helped finance its secret meetings, which included secret meetings with Bush Administration officials. SRN has a correspondent in the White House press pool who partied in the basement with Scott McClellan. All this hardly seems like the makings of an objective reporter."

Jon Rappaport wrote in his November 3, 2004, Populist Party article "Enter, Mr. Blackwell: Was He Bush's Trump Card In Ohio?" that

J. Kenneth Blackwell, Ohio's Secretary of State, "controls every aspect of the voting process, from his office. ...What may not be so well known is that "Mr. Blackwell is a member of the national advisory boards of Youth for Christ and was formerly a domestic policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C. Mr. Blackwell has held the nation's highest security clearance. He is a contributing commentator for Salem Communications, delivering commentaries on Salem's more than 90 [Christian] radio stations nationwide."

Salem Communications Corporation is listed among the many high-profile clients of the Alexander Strategy Group, a "Full Service Lobbying and Public Affairs Firm" with close ties to the Republican Party.[5]

Divisions

• Salem Radio Network
• Salem Web Network

Board of Directors

• Stuart W. Epperson, Chairman of the Board
• Edward G. Atsinger III, President and CEO
• Eric H. Halvorson, Director
• Roland S. Hinz, Director
• Denny Weinberg, Director
• Richard A. Riddle, Director
• David Davenport, Director
• Judge Paul Pressler, Director

Executive Officers

• Stuart W. Epperson, Chairman of the Board
• Edward G. Atsinger III, CEO
• Eric H. Halvorson, President and Chief Operating Officer
• Joe D. Davis, President, Radio Division
• David A.R. Evans, President, New Business Development, Interactive and Publishing
• Greg R. Anderson, President, Salem Radio Network
• James R. Cumbee, President, Non-Broadcast Media
• Evan D. Masyr, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
• Jonathan L. Block, Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary

Contact details

Salem Communications Corporation

4880 Santa Rosa Road, Suite 300

Camarillo, CA US 93012

Phone: 805 897-0400

Fax: 805 384-4520

URL: http://www.salem.cc/

NASDAQ: SALM [Industry: Services - Broadcasting & Cable TV]

Articles and resources

References

1. ↑ Salem Communications to Acquire Townhall.com, April 10, 2006

Related SourceWatch articles

• Salem Radio Network
• Deseret Management
• manufactured journalism
• Richard Land
• The Bush Theocracy
• White House correspondents

External resources

External articles

• Salem Communications Corporation Political Action Committee, Congress.org.
• "Profile of Top 10 Corporate Radio Groups. Radio Broadcast Companies,", Corporate Media Portal: "Prior to the Telecommunications Act of 1996, radio group owners had a limit of 12 stations nationally. Now, there is no limit to their greed and deceptions. ... Many of the big media groups have contributed $5,000 or more so far to the National Association of Broadcasters Political Action Committee (lobbyists). We are attempting to connect the dots between Politics and Corporate Media. It's a vicious cycle, broadcasters contribute soft money to politicians, politicians pass legistlation favorable to Corporate Media's interests, politicians use soft money campaign contributions to wage their wars in the Corporate Media. They in turn make money off the Political advertising, and contribute back to the Political Action Fund."
• Stuart Epperson, "Law of Unintended FCC Consequences," Washington Dispatch, May 6, 2004.
• Top 100 Corporate Donors By Percentage, Follow Your Money, as of February 8, 2005. Republicans: Salem Communications Corporation ranked 17th at 98.60%. (broken link).
• Sarah Posner, "Just who is the Council for National Policy, and why aren't they paying taxes?," The Gadflyer, February 21, 2005.
• "Social Security Misinformation," Media Matters for America, February 25, 2005: "Salem Radio Network personality Janet Parshall misrepresented the solvency of the Social Security system on Scarborough Country."
• Sarah Posner, "Connect the Dots," The Gadflyer, February 26, 2005.
• Mariah Blake, "Stations Of The Cross. How evangelical Christians are creating an alternative universe of faith-based news," Columbia Journalism Review, 2005.

Categories: Corporations | Media | Propaganda | Religion | United States

Salem Radio Network (SRN), a division of Salem Communications Corporation, is a national radio network offering syndicated talk, news, and music programming to affiliated radio stations. On its website SRN states that it has approximately 2,000 affiliated stations with 1,100 offered "a comprehensive package of headline news, specials and breaking news 24-hours a day, 7-days a week."^[1] (The actual reach of the network is unclear as SRN state that they offer 1,100 stations their news programming; how many broadcast it is not stated).

News

Salem Radio Network News (SRN News) promotes itself as originating from "its state-of-the-art international News Center just 10 minutes from the White House and Capitol Hill." Additionally, "SRN News is the only Christian-focused news organization with fully-equipped broadcast facilities at the U.S. House, Senate, and White House manned by full-time correspondents -- ensuring timely, on-the-spot coverage of breaking news. ... Written, produced and anchored by respected news pros, SRN News is family-focused and credible -- specifically created for Christian-formatted radio stations." ^[2]

White House ties

In February 2005 Sarah Posner wrote in The Gadflyer, ^[3] that

"Called 'Christian radio's definitive source for news,' Salem also syndicates its Salem Radio Network (SRN) news to over 1,100 radio stations (including translators) across the country. These short broadcasts consist of one, four, and five minute news summaries at designated times during an hour and are unabashedly Christian conservative. Users of the service include Salem's own radio stations, the Bible Broadcasting Network[1] and the Moody Broadcasting Network[2] , which is owned by the Moody Bible Institute of Chicago[3]."In the lead-up to the election last year, Karl Rove and Tom DeLay were guests on SRN's 'Beyond The News Weekend Journal'."Greg Clugston is SRN's White House correspondent. His reports and news summaries are heard regularly on SRN news. A Google search of his name revealed a scant number of previous publishing credits for Christianity Today about music and a Christian telecommunications company."As reported by the Heritage Foundation's Townhall.com, Clugston attended the annual Christmas 2003 'White House Basement Party,' where he read a poem in homage to the president aloud to the assembled crowd, which included Scott McClellan. ..."A few weeks ago, Clugston interviewed First Lady Laura Bush."

J. Kenneth Blackwell, who served as Ohio's Secretary of State at the same time he was honorary co-chair of the "Committee to re-elect George W. Bush" in 2004, is a "regular guest commentator for Salem Communications." [4]

Hosts

Hosts currently syndicated by Salem Radio Networks:[5]

• William J. Bennett
• Dr. Richard Land - Richard Land Live!
• Hugh Hewitt
• Janet Parshall
• Mike Gallagher
• Michael Medved
• Dennis Prager
• Albert Mohler

Personnel

• Joe D. Davis

Contact information

Salem Communications Corporation

4880 Santa Rosa Road, Suite 300

Camarillo, CA US 93012

Phone: 805 897-0400

Fax: 805 384-4520

URL: http://www.salem.cc/

Articles and Resources

References

1. ↑ Salem Communications, "Radio Network & national Sales", accessed February 2008.
2. ↑ "SRN News", accessed February 2008.
3. ↑ Sarah Posner, "Salem Communications and the White House", The Gadflyer, February 28, 2005.

SourceWatch resources

• manufactured journalism
• media
• Mike Gallagher
• White House correspondents

External Articles

• "Social Security Misinformation," Media Matters for America, February 25, 2005: "Salem Radio Network personality Janet Parshall misrepresented the solvency of the Social Security system on Scarborough Country."
• Sarah Posner, "Connect the Dots," The Gadflyer, February 26, 2005.

Categories: United States | Media

conserv book club

Staff Bios

Christopher N. Malagisi, Editor in Chief

aaaprofile

Christopher N. Malagisi is Editor in Chief of the Conservative Book Club – a division of Salem Media Group.  As Editor, Malagisi is responsible for writing and managing editorial content, social media, marketing, and serves as the Club’s public spokesman.

Malagisi is also an Adjunct Professor at American University teaching History of the Conservative Movement and serves as President of the Young Conservatives Coalition (YCC), which hosts the annual “Buckley Awards” and Reaganpalooza confab.

Previously, he was the CPAC Director & Director of External Relations at the American Conservative Union, the Director of Political & New Media Training at The Leadership Institute, worked at the International Republican Institute, and has served in coalition leadership positions on four U.S. presidential campaigns.

He has been published in over a dozen publications as a freelance writer and has been a political analyst on Fox News, Fox Business, CNN and CSPAN.  Campaigns & Elections magazine has recognized Malagisi as a “DC Mover & Shaker” and received their “Rising Star Award,” and was awarded the “Conservative Leader Award” from The Leadership Institute.

He received his M.P.A. from Syracuse University and B.A. from American University, completed fellowships with National Review and The Claremont Institute, and serves on the board of The Philadelphia Society and his church young professionals’ group.

Fun Facts: Malagisi has sailed around the world and visited 40 countries, enjoys rock climbing, racquetball and fencing, is a movie aficionado, is originally from Buffalo, NY, and has recorded two original piano albums.  His favorite conservative classic is Dr. George H. Nash’s The Conservative Intellectual Movement in America Since 1945.

Follow him at @chrismalagisi.

Bradley Matthews, Assistant Editor

Brad Matthews is the Assistant Editor for the Conservative Book Club. After having interned for the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity, Brad joined the site in June 2015. He graduated from The American University in 2014 after only three years, with a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science.

Katelyn Brantley, Marketing Coordinator

Katelyn BrantleyKatelyn Brantley is the Marketing Coordinator for the Conservative Book Club and Regnery Publishing. Previously, she worked at the American Enterprise Institute, a nonpartisan public policy research institute in Washington, DC, and Summit Ministries, a non-profit organization in Colorado Springs, CO that trains Christians in apologetics, worldview analysis, and social engagement.

She has been a contributing writer for the Intercollegiate Studies Institute and the NVC Review in addition to her active participation in Liberty Fund and Acton Institute programs.

Katelyn graduated from the University of Florida with a degree in Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience and studied Political Theory and Psychology at Oxford University.

Todd Miller, Advertising Director

Todd MillerTodd Miller has transitioned to full-time employment with Salem Eagle as the Advertising Director for the Conservative Book Club after functioning in this capacity since January 2015 as an independent contractor.

Over the course of his thirty-five year career in advertising sales, Todd has served in executive and leadership positions with media companies in New York, NY and Washington, DC.

He has earned distinctions for sales achievement with multiple organizations, including Eagle Publishing’s Annual Award of Excellence (2008). At Eagle Todd was responsible for delivering over $10 million in advertising sales during his five-year tenure with the company (2006-2011), and was Eagle‘s sales leader in each of those years.

Todd enjoys playing the piano, reading, writing, running, tennis and swimming. He currently resides in Northwest Washington, DC with his wife, Margot, and daughter, Madeleine.

• See more at: http://www.conservativebookclub.com/editors-bio#sthash.EfzVYXxO.dpuf

==

Isn't it well past the time when democrats should at the least demand that those they voted for, oppose the agenda of our principle political enemies, the conservative media owning, and private army owning billionaire families of the christian evangelical right....things like lowering taxes of the wealthiest instead of raising them, specifically by, if necessary, allowing the sunsetting of all Bush era tax cuts set to expire at the end of this year? Wouldn't the comparatively modest increases wage earners would experience, be more than offset by the increased revenue from inheritance and top bracket income taxes, again set at Y2K levels? 

Aren't those sunset provisions in force now because of a compromise then, demanded by our progressive representatives? 

Just three CNP members, Philip Anschutz,

Edward Atsinger III, and his brother-in-law, Stuart W. Epperson, through the media they control, are responsible for the "Jesus flavored" political indoctrination of millions of voters. 

Through "the message" distributed by Anschutz's

http://www.sourcewatch.org/... 

Clarity Media Group is the holding company for media properties owned by Philip F. Anschutz. These include the San Francisco Examiner and the Washington Examiner. An Examiner newspaper in Baltimore was shut down in February 2009.[1]

Clarity Media has trademarked the name "Examiner" for possible future newspapers in dozens of other U.S. cities.[2] The company also operates news portal websites in numerous cities under the "examiner.com" name, and is seeking editors to oversee regional and local content for those websites.[3][4]

On June 17, 2009, Clarity Media Group acquired The Weekly Standard, a conservative opinion journal, from Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation.[5]

...and by Atsinger III's and Epperson's

http://www.sourcewatch.org/... 

Salem Communications Corporation promotes itself as "the leading provider of radio programming, online resources and magazines targeted to the Christian and family themes audience."[2][3]

Salem Communications states that it currently "owns and operates 95 radio stations nation-wide, with 60 stations located in the top 25 most populated U.S. markets," with the majority of its stations operating "within clusters involving three strategic formats" and its "foundational format ... Christian teaching and talk, featuring well-known speakers such as James Dobson, Janet Parshall, Dr. Charles F. Stanley and Chuck Swindoll."[4]

In April 2006, Salem Communications purchased conservative website Townhall.com.[1] 

http://motherjones.com/... 

....The left—which for years dismissed evangelical activists as out-of-touch zealots—has nothing on the radio dial even close to Salem’s reach and influence. Air America is broadcast on 70 stations and owns none. Salem owns 103 stations in the nation’s largest markets and broadcasts to more than 1,900 affiliates. It owns radio stations in New York City, San Francisco, Chicago, Dallas, and Atlanta. In fact, it doesn’t own just one station in those markets. It owns two—sometimes more. In Los Angeles it owns four. In Honolulu it owns seven. It also owns 62 websites and a magazine publishing division.

Though the chain is not as large as Clear Channel Radio (which owns 1,200 stations) or Viacom’s Infinity Broadcasting (178), Salem’s programming is available to one-third of the U.S. population; its websites are read by some 3 million people. Salem Radio Network News division is, according to its website, "the only Christian-focused news organization with fully equipped broadcast facilities at the U.S. House, Senate, and White House manned by full-time correspondents—ensuring timely, on-the-spot coverage of breaking news...specifically created for Christian-formatted radio stations." In a move that mirrors the Republican Party’s objectives, Atsinger and Epperson have recently expanded Salem’s stable of Christian talk-show hosts—James Dobson, Randall Terry, Janet Parshall—to include conservative Jews like Prager and Michael Medved. The company is a leading outlet for Christian rock, one of the music industry’s fastest-growing segments, and is chasing after black and Latino listeners. The company was also quick to embrace iPod technology to do what evangelicals call "godcasting."

By melding business savvy, generous political giving, and an unshakable faith in their own moral righteousness, Epperson and Atsinger have built Salem into a blue-chip Wall Street company that has tapped into what Medved calls "a conservative religious counterculture" that is "far more powerful and far more significant than anything in the stupid counterculture of the 1960s." ...

Instead of opposing every important, right wing political stance espoused by Salem Radio's stooge, Michael Medved, who has declared that there should be shame associated with the unemployed's receipt of public aid, that subsidized school lunch programs should be eliminated, and that the Food Stamps program should be replaced by government warehouses distributing cheese to the hungry queued up in in waiting lines, congressman Adam Smith (D-WA), to name one democrat, regularly appears on Medved's show to either agree with his extreme points or to react to some democratic initiative, with the disclaimer, "I didn't vote for that."

As long as we stand aside while the right cons voters who sell their labor to feed and clothe their families, via the distraction of their alleged obligations associated with their devotion to "Jesus", into voting for the CNP billionaire sponsored agenda and candidates, they will continually compensate for the votes they naturally lack due to the shear numbers of subsistance level voters. 

(Continuing the theme in yesterday's diary...) 

We must work tirelessly to get out the message to our elected officials and to voters whose net worth and income is not in the top ten percent, that this is the consequence of class division we stand against and intend to reverse through our political organizing and fund raising activities, and not via the propaganda weapon that uses religion to hide the crisis of the gross inequity of security, wealth, and power.

http://www.pbs.org/... 

Middletown I 

....The rough egalitarianism of the farmland had been replaced by a two-class system 

in the city. The Lynds found a business class, which worked with people 

and symbols, and a working class, which worked with things. And the 

Lynds found that these two groups were as different as two different 

tribes. They had different values, different expectations and did not 

mingle. :{Among the differences between the two groups was financial 

security: the working class was subject to frequent layoffs with no 

notice, while the business class was almost never laid off.}:

http://online.wsj.com/... 

FEBRUARY 13, 2010 

From Deal Journal, MarketBeat and Wealth Report 

Unemployment? Not for the Rich 

Top Decile Earners' Rate Is 3%, New Study Says; Bottom 10th Is at 31%