The fact of the matter is that it is not John Ziegler’s job to be responsible, or nuanced, or to think about whether his on-air comments are productive or dangerous, or cogent, or even defensible. That is not to say that the host would not defend his “we’re better”—strenuously—or that he does not believe it’s true. It is to say that he has exactly one on-air job, and that is to be stimulating.
-David Foster Wallace
I find it disconcerting that being stimulating for the mere sake of attracting attention and making money is the primary goal of a radio station. These hosts do whatever they can to provoke their listeners, despite the implications their words may have.
Hosts do not seem to be too concerned with being factual or careful about what they are saying. I understand that they are in a slightly different industry from journalism, but not all listeners differentiate these two fields in their minds. People often believe the information they hear without being too critical, and as a result I think that many people are being misinformed.
I know that these radio stations are largely designed to be entertaining, but I think that the line becomes blurry when entertaining commentary is being passed off as factual news. As I mentioned earlier, my mom and brother are both frequent listeners of KFI. What I did not mention is that they are both very much liberal, and I still don’t understand fully why they listen to Dr. Laura and John Ziegler. It must be because these programs are “stimulating”, but what good is this actually doing for the public?
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