Ed Schultz show pulled from Armed Forces Radio
Submitted by PMattos on October 17, 2005 - 2:17pm.
Call to Action
From the Diaries -- Brent
I'm listening to Ed Schultz and Armed Forces Radio was to begin carrying the first hour of his show today. Allison Barber (she of the staged Bush fiasco last week) pulled the plug on it. Just happened today at 6 a.m. Schultz thinks it is because he criticised her on the show last week. She told them that "We heard Ed announce it on Friday and we had to call you to tell you it was not going to happen." Democracy is on the move...right outta here.
Thank goodness for the edit button. Schultz just went off about how they allowed Wes to be slammed on Armed Forces radio when he announced he was running for President and said "They allow that garbage on and won't allow us on?" Clarkies, let's contact our members of Congress and scream bloody murder!
is the impunity with which they do things like this. I've never run into this before regarding previous administrations. Mostly the prior ones felt constrained to at least present themselves with a fig leaf to cover up any of their autocratic tendencies.
Indeed, they don't even try to avoid the mere impropriety of looking inappropriate...let alone criminal.
by the way, I have a short story (30 pages) about how bad Bush is and how much of a mistake it was to not have Wes as the nominee. One mother of an Iraqi soldier read it and told me she was honored to have done so. I'm just doing my utmost to find like-minded folks to read it so as to help me bring it to the attention of someone to formally publish it on line. let me know if you'd like me to forward you a copy.
but the hack who staged the press conference won't face the facts?
Can she be court martialed for her actions? If so, we should call for it.
I guess you can't put anything past this group. I think we should contact our senators and congressmen and complain.
Who's got this Allison Barber's contact information, eh? Lay it on me. I double dog dare you! :)
Ooops, that darn Google:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/government/abarber-bio.html
Allison Barber, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense
Current Assignments: Allison Barber is the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Internal Communications and Public Liaison. In this position, she is responsible for the Department's communication to the men and women of the military, worldwide, and for community relations programs that link citizens to members of the Armed Forces at home and abroad. Ms. Barber is also an Army wife and her husband recently returned from a year's deployment in Iraq.
The operational components of Ms. Barber's organization are the American Forces Radio and Television, the Pentagon Channel, the American Forces Press Service, the Department's Internet web operations, the Defense Media Center, and Stars and Stripes newspaper.
American Forces Radio and Television (AFRTS) broadcasts news, information and entertainment programming to more than 800,000 deployed military and their families worldwide. The Pentagon Channel provides military news and information to military locations and communities nationwide via a domestic satellite and to U.S. forces overseas via AFRTS. The Defense Media Center procures and broadcasts programming for AFRTS and is the contracting office for the broadcast requirements.
American Forces Press Service produces news and feature articles on all aspects of military life, with articles posted on www.defenselink.mil, the Defense Department homepage. Web operations also include www.defendamerica.mil, with complete coverage of the war on terrorism; and www.americasupportsyou.mil, which highlights what the American public is doing to support our troops.
Stars and Stripes is a first amendment newspaper that is distributed to troops overseas and is available to anyone via the Internet at www.estripes.osd.mil
Ms. Barber's Public Liaison responsibilities include oversight of outreach programs, such as the Secretary's Joint Civilian Orientation Program and the Department's Speakers. Bureau, as well as policies and initiatives that provide community and other organizations with opportunities to better understand Defense policies and strengthen support of America's Armed Forces.
Past Experiences: Ms. Barber comes to her position with extensive experience in public relations and advertising. Prior to this position, Ms. Barber was the President of Sodenta, her public relations firm in Washington, D.C. Previously, she was President of the Washington D.C. office of PlowShare, a Connecticut-based advertising agency. From 1992 to 1998, she was a Public Relations Director for the American Red Cross. From 1986 to 1991, Barber was a grade school teacher at Merrillville Public School in Indiana and served as Vice President of the Teachers Association.
Education: Ms. Barber holds a BS in Elementary Education from Tennessee Temple University and a MS in Elementary Education from Indiana University.
Also... Give ED some support!
-- Kevin
I sent Senators Boxer, Feinstein and congressman Schiff a quick e-mail. This is not a petty topic. Democrats will not win elections as long as the Republicans control the media. While this is a very special part of the media, never the less an important one. It wouldn't hurt if the votes were counted correctly too. 
From Media Matters:
http://mediamatters.org/items/200510180001
Last year, with your help, Media Matters for America drew attention to right-wing radio host Rush Limbaugh's presence as the sole political commentator on American Forces Radio and Television Service (AFRTS), a taxpayer-funded service that provides radio programming to American armed forces around the world. In the wake of Limbaugh's reckless and harmful endorsement of the prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib, Media Matters called for AFRTS to remove Limbaugh from its broadcast schedule.
As a result of the attention Media Matters drew to AFRTS' broadcast of Limbaugh, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed an amendment calling on AFRTS to provide political balance in its public affairs programming, as mandated by Defense Department guidelines.
Now we need your help again.
There is no way to truly provide "balance" to Limbaugh's hateful rhetoric, which ranges from calling people "feminazis" to saying "A Chavez is a Chavez. These people have always been a problem" to claiming that women "actually wish" to be sexually harassed. But AFRTS was set to take a step in the right direction by adding progressive radio host Ed Schultz to its broadcast schedule, beginning yesterday.
However, AFRTS put those plans on hold at the last minute -- and now claims it never decided to add Schultz in the first place. Defense Department official Allison Barber personally announced the cancellation just three days after Schultz drew attention to Barber's role in a controversial scripted event President Bush held last week. The Defense Department's apparent decision to cancel Schultz means that Rush Limbaugh will continue as the only political commentator on American Forces Radio and Television Service.
Take action! Click here to contact AFRTS and request that it stop violating Defense Department guidelines by making Rush Limbaugh the only political commentator on its schedule.
Our servicemen and women stationed around the world deserve to hear a voice other than that of Rush Limbaugh. Take action today!
More information
Read more about Rush Limbaugh here.
Read more about Media Matters' efforts relating to Limbaugh and American Forces Radio and Television Service here.
Read more about Schultz, Barber, and AFRTS here, here, and here.
Read more about Barber's role in the scripted Bush event here.
Read about Barber's tacit approval of Limbaugh's Abu Ghraib comments here.
Easy, one click access to send am email to AFRTS. Read the links provided if you need help writing! I wrote yesterday. Please everyone write!!
http://mediamatters.org/items/200510180001
Once in a while you get shown the light, In the strangest of places if you look at it right. -Hunter/Garcia
If indeed Rush Limbaugh is the only political commentator you have (I heard you cancelled Ed Schultz before he even went on the air-- shortly after he ‘outed’ Allison Barber) you are doing a terrible disservice to our Armed Forces.
Rush Limbaugh is personally less than ethical and professionally a master of hype and distortion. He shouldn’t even be on your schedule; much less should he be your sole political commentator.
Why don’t you replace him with someone (or, really, with several someones’s, bridging from right to center to left) who eschew hype and rabid partisanship and embrace both rational thought and rational discourse?
People who risk their lives for our country deserve better: they deserve commentary they can trust.
Dear ,
Many of you probably already know Ed Schultz, a prominent progressive radio talk show host who is syndicated nationwide. You may not know what happened this week though.
After being told that the first hour of Ed Schultz's daily radio show would air live on Armed Forces Radio every day, the Pentagon suddenly reversed the decision and refused to air Ed's program Monday morning, only hours before the first show would have been broadcast. The explanation for this sudden reversal seems weak.
Last year, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) introduced a resolution that was unanimously passed by the Senate, urging Secretary Rumsfeld and Armed Forces Radio to ensure more political balance in programming. Then, at the end of September, Manny Levy, Chief of the Radio Division of the American Forces Network Broadcast Center, advised Schultz's distributor, Jones Radio, that: "AFN Radio has squared away everything on our end to begin carrying the first hour of 'The Ed Schultz Show' each day, beginning Monday, October 17, 2005."
But suddenly, at 7 am on Monday the 17th, Allison Barber, the Pentagon's deputy assistant secretary for internal communications -- the same person who was responsible for staging last week's ill-fated video conference between President Bush and American troops in Iraq -- called Schultz's producer. Without any further explanation, she simply said that the deal was off.
We must let our voices be heard and exercise leadership to help ensure that the spirit of Senator Harkin's resolution -- and the spirit of fairness -- are at play on taxpayer financed programming.
Send an email to your Members of Congress now -- urge them to enforce fair play on Armed Forces Radio!
It was just 11 years ago when 70 Republican Members of Congress, led by then Congressman Robert Dornan (R-CA), demanded that President Clinton's Secretary of Defense Les Aspin broadcast Rush Limbaugh's radio and television programs to the military.
Well if Armed Services Radio is good enough for Rush Limbaugh, it's certainly good enough for Ed Schultz.
Tell your Members of Congress to urge the Pentagon to honor their promise and air the Ed Schultz Show on Armed Forces Radio!
Sincerely,
Wes Clark
P.S. After you contact your Members of Congress, please forward this email to everyone you know, and invite them to join us in the fight to restore political balance on the airwaves of Armed Forces Radio.
Visit SecuringAmerica.com | Contribute Today
George Bush has had his day and he's bollixed it up.
Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism. ~George Washington