Obama Declares war on Fox

We are all familiar with Obama's distaste for dissenting opinion when it comes to the media. Back in his 2008 campaign for President, the Obama campaign left reporters from The New York Post, The Dallas Morning News, and The Washington Times on an airport tarmac. The Post and Times are noted for their conservative bent and all three were guilty of endorsing John McCain. Once those endorsements were announced, reporters from each of these newspapers were left out in the cold.

ABC News reported at the time that "The campaign says that a limited number of seats forced it to make the tough decision of which journalists would be permitted to follow the Democratic presidential candidate in the last four days of the campaign, but the papers are calling foul, claiming they were targeted for their editorial-page positions and kicked off while nonpolitical publications like Glamour and Jet magazines remained on board." It would seem any news publication would have a stronger case to stay on board than Glamour.

Even before Obama was elected there was talk of restoring the "Fairness Doctrine" that had silenced conservative voices for decades until Ronald Reagan reversed the policy in the 1980s, leading to the rise of Rush Limbaugh and others. Obama says he favors consensus, the kind of consensus that only comes from controlling the media.

The Obama Administration is at it again and is now declaring war on the Fox News Channel and many in the media are weighing in.

The "war" against Fox came from pretty high sources in the Administration with White House communications director Anita Dunn describing a new, aggressive, press strategy regarding the network. PRNewser reports on, and has video of White House communications director Anita Dunn's strategy which "she explained in a straightforward slam of Fox News Channel during an appearance on CNN's 'Reliable Sources,'" stating "Fox News often operates almost as either the research arm or the communications arm of the Republican Party," said Dunn. "Let's not pretend they're a news network the way CNN is." The senior aide added, "What I think is fair to say about Fox, and certainly the way we view it, is that it really is more a wing of the Republican Party."

Reports of the White House attack is drawing comments from around the news industry. Time Magazine's James Poniewozik discusses what the Administration has to gain from such an approach, "Of course, it's possible that the Administration is simply making the case because it believes that it's right and Fox News is wrong. But politically, you would think that the White House seeks to gain something from a fight, since Fox News probably is." There is little doubt that Fox loves the attention, and many of my friends with the network have brought Obama's attack to my attention and the personalities themselves discuss it on the air. With Obama's rapidly shrinking numbers, why would not Fox want to be the place to go if you are unhappy with the Administration?

There is certainly a concern that the White House is going too far in its stance. The Orlando Sentinel's Hal Boedeker writes that "Maybe the White House should get out of the press-critiquing business. It's never been a wise move for any White House. The complaints come off as whining. The White House certainly should stop condescending to Fox News, which is a slap against that channel's fans. The smarter move would be for Obama to engage. Why doesn't he put his smooth, unflappable style to the test on Fox News?"

Even liberal publications have echoed a similar concern. The Nation's John Nichols thinks the strategy is weak from both a political and historical perspective: "Whether the grumbling is about Republicans on Fox or bloggers in pajamas, there's a word for what the president and his aides are doing. That word is 'whining.' And nothing -- no attack by Glenn Beck, no blogger busting about Guantanamo -- does more damage to Obama's credibility or authority than the sense that a popular president is becoming the whiner-in-chief."

With the other major news media being little more than a microphone for an increasingly unpopular Administration, voters are going to look for an alternative. Obama and his staff have made it easy to identify where to go to for that.

Kevin Price is Host of the Price of Business, the longest running show on AM 650 (M-F at 11 am) in Houston, Texas and on AOL Radio. His articles often appear in Chicago Sun Times, Reuters, USA Today, and other national media. Steve Moore of the Wall Street Journal calls Price the “best business talk show host in the country.” Find out why and visit his blog at www.BizPlusBlog.com and his show site at www.PriceofBusiness.com. You can also find Price on Strategy Room at FoxNews.com.

Dancing with Democracy

Recently I was reading Glenn Beck's Common Sense and found it an excellent read. The book is full of sound reasoning as he made a case for liberty and limited government. In it, however, he discusses the virtues of democracy and how that force will restore our government.

Rush Limbaugh, the conservative radio host who saved the AM dial and made that radio band the hot property it is today has a section of his website and a recurring feature on his program in which he refers to himself as "The Doctor of Democracy."

The late Jack Kemp wrote in his excellent book, An American Renaissance that "bad mouthing democracy" was becoming an occupational hazard of Republicans and that they should embrace that form of government rather than distance them from it. The book was excellent, but like all other things I have read and enjoyed, I certainly do not agree with everything in it. Democracy is an extreme form of government that inevitably we lead to totalitarianism. The US has democratic institutions that are checked by the restraints of republican form of government. In these confusing times, "democrat" and "republican" have nothing to do with parties, but philosophies in this article.

The Founders warned of the excesses of democracy and spoke passionately about limited government:

John Adams: "Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself."

Benjamin Franklin: "Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote!"

Fisher Aimes: "The known propensity of a democracy is to licentiousness which the ambitious call, and ignorant believe to be liberty."

Even Thomas Jefferson, considered by most of his contemporaries to be the most sympathetic of democracy, was quoted as saying: “A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine.”

When I traveled to Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union following the fall of Communism, there were often protests because the people were seeking a quicker pace of reforms. You would find signs, in English to get the message to the United States via TV, that would say "Democracy equals Freedom" and similar themes. Ironically, the first free elections in Germany’s history were in 1932 and led to the rise of Adolph Hitler, whose party enjoyed a mandate. Democracy leads to mob rule and mobs behave in a most destructive fashion riddled with socialism and financial ruin.

We need writers, radio hosts, TV personalities and more to discuss the virtues of republican government, which is found in rule by law. Government should only do those things the people cannot do for themselves. It must be based on law and confined, in our country’s place, to the 17 powers listed in the Constitution. This is why I say that the term "conservative" is a misnomer. There is little liberty left to conserve. The proper term is restore. We must restore liberty, limited government, private property, and free market economics. It needs to become "cool" again to point out the virtues of republican government and to dismiss and to discredit the extremes of pure democracy.

Kevin Price is Host of the Price of Business, the longest running show on AM 650 (M-F at 11 am) in Houston, Texas and on AOL Radio. His articles often appear in Chicago Sun Times, Reuters, USA Today, and other national media. Steve Moore of the Wall Street Journal calls Price the “best business talk show host in the country.” Find out why and visit his blog at www.BizPlusBlog.com and his show site at www.PriceofBusiness.com. You can also find Price on Strategy Room at FoxNews.com.

Sizing up the Glenn Beck, Katie Couric Interview

Part of the brilliance of the man known as Glenn Beck is his capacity to stay in the headlines. With that, it was not a surprise that the first interview that CBS aired of Katie Couric's new online series was with the controversial talk show personality. At the opening of the show you see a visual of Couric with photos of many personalities that we can expect on future shows behind her. I believe that many, if not most, of those interviews have already taken place. She chose Beck in order to attract viewers and she knew from that interview that he brought something that would catch viewers attention: his controversial remarks about Sen. John McCain. During the program he said he preferred Hillary Clinton over Obama (no surprise) and Barack Obama over John McCain. This raised more than a few eyebrows.

Republican Presidential candidate John McCain was never a conservative darling. The Arizona Senator has long been a rogue and has his name on more bills with liberal darlings like Kennedy and Feingold, than of Republican standard bearers. Be it his controversial views on immigration or his opposition to free speech in an effort to curtail the ability of individuals to support candidates, McCain was always more loved by the media than by the rank and file of the party. He won his party's nomination because of the huge number of independent voters and a media continuously singing his praises.

I'm among the many who has criticized Senator McCain, although I greatly admire his service to his country, I was always troubled by the radical directions he was willing to take this nation. Fundamentally, McCain was no more willing to defend the principles of the Constitution than Obama, he just had different priorities in regards to his desire for change. In spite of this, I would find it very difficult to say I supported Obama over McCain.

Radio host Mark Levin has immediately gone on the attack and John McCain has treated the remark as a compliment. I wanted to make a couple of observations of my own on the subject:

• Electing John McCain would mean more "wilderness wanderings" for the GOP. The Republican Party is in desperate need of reform. A candidate like McCain would only slow down that goal.


• Remember Jimmy Carter? There were two people that made me leave my family's strong liberal and Democrat roots. The most obvious one was Ronald Reagan, who is one of my favorite modern presidents. The second, was Jimmy Carter who could not have demonstrated more clearly how great the need was for our nation to go in another direction. Obama is going to likely have the exact same effect, except he is Jimmy Carter on Steroids.

The problem many observers are having is can we survive Obama's term? Worse still, could we survive an Obama reelection? The damage he has done, the numerous battle fronts he pursues, and his desire to create a paradigm shift in the way we govern are making us all concerned about the nation's future. On the other hand, many feel as though we are on the eve of a second American Revolution. This stage was set by the radical policies of the Obama Administration.

Kevin Price is Host of the Price of Business, the longest running show on AM 650 (M-F at 11 am) in Houston, Texas and on AOL Radio. His articles often appear in Chicago Sun Times, Reuters, USA Today, and other national media. Steve Moore of the Wall Street Journal calls Price the “best business talk show host in the country.” Find out why and visit his blog at www.BizPlusBlog.com and his show site at www.PriceofBusiness.com. You can also find Price on Strategy Room at FoxNews.com.

The Plight of the Protesters

The Tea Party and its many allies are leaving their mark on the political landscape. Approximately two million subdued the nation's Capitol on the weekend of September 11th and tens of thousands have attended events nationwide. Their list of grievances are long, ranging from excessive spending, pork barrel programs, high and counterproductive taxes, bureaucracy, abandonment of common sense when it comes to the environment, and more. Underneath all of these issues, there is the fundamental belief that it is time for the government to do what it is suppose to do. Nothing more or less.

I believe that this group, however, is more sophisticated than those activists of 1994 that led to the US House and Senate being ruled by Republicans for the first time in decades. Millions of Americans were mad at a liberal President (Bill Clinton) and an irresponsible Congress, and found the answer in electing a large number of Republicans. Many of those Republicans went back to work on a slower road to serfdom than their colleagues across the aisle. One in which there was more "thought" in the process, a frequency of detours, but definitely on course towards a command economy.

In 2009 it appears that voters have truly had "enough" and their anger transcends parties. After years of being abused by Democrats and neglected by Republicans, those who consider themselves friends of liberty have grown tired of the "lesser of two evils" and have concluded they are merely the "evil of two lessers." This leads to a serious problem in 2010 because of the temptation to do nothing, since there seems to be very few candidates who are serious about their Constitutional mandate or equally impotent to vote for pure principle candidates outside of the poor choices provided by the "Republicrats." The argument is simple: voting for someone other than the Republicans or Democrats is an investment into a new, viable, third option. Maybe, but our entire political system makes it very difficult for viable third parties. Furthermore, how much time do we have to spare in light of the current regime and members of Congress? The options for those who believe in limited government, free enterprise, a strong defense, and traditional values are fairly limited:

• Not participate and attempt to blame the left for the direction this country is going. “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing" quote by Edmund Burke rings true here. Criticism alone is not an option.


• Vote for the most conservative among the two main parties. Again, this tends to feel futile since the vast majorities of these "lesser of two evils" fail to fulfill their constitutional obligations. There has to be a better way.


• I think we should aggressively support the best (AKA constitutionally sound) candidates in primaries and if they fail to get the nomination than support candidates outside of our district monetarily and/or voluntarily if they are close enough geographically.

This approach would have a profound impact on the best candidates, would attract better candidates to run, would provide desperately needed discipline to the GOP, and would have more immediate gain then the approaches above. Unfortunately, in the short run, we may be a political minority, but we will be a minority that matters and one much more politically pure. Instead of trying to make a third party that hasn't work, constitutionally minded people could profoundly impact the GOP and make it relevant again to the majority of voters by simply forcing candidates to obey the constitution they swear to defend. It will be interesting to see what happens in 2010, but those who are concerned about our future do not have the luxury of doing anything that amounts to nothing.

Kevin Price is Host of the Price of Business, the longest running show on AM 650 (M-F at 11 am) in Houston, Texas and on AOL Radio. His articles often appear in Chicago Sun Times, Reuters, USA Today, and other national media. Steve Moore of the Wall Street Journal calls Price the “best business talk show host in the country.” Find out why and visit his blog at www.BizPlusBlog.com and his show site at www.PriceofBusiness.com. You can also find Price on Strategy Room at FoxNews.com.

"A Republic, if you can keep It"

Benjamin Franklin, shortly after the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787, was asked by a Mrs. Powel, "Well Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?" Franklin was quick to reply, "A republic, if you can keep it." Well, if you haven't received the memo before now, we have not "kept it." The US has wandered from the powerful and sound document that unleashed human freedom and kept government at bay.

Recently, on the Price of Business show, I interviewed Renee Herath, who is one of the millions of people who have simply become tired of seeing her government grow out of control. She has gotten involved with the local Tea Parties (both Katy and Houston, Texas) and in Glenn Beck's 9-12 Project and was on my program to discuss some up coming events that may be of interest to my audience. I innocently asked "what got you inspired to be involved in these organizations?" She listed many things, but when we got to the question of the type of government taught in schools today (democracy) versus the one the Founders intended for us (republic), both of us lit up. Very few these days even care about the subject and it has long left the curriculum of government run schools. Those schools have concluded that our country is a democracy, regardless of what our Constitution or the Founders have stated.


So that leads to the question, "does it matter?" This, in turn, makes you ask "what is a republican form of government?" Let me begin by stating that these names have nothing to do with partisan politics, but political freedom. Republic is actually a small "r" and Article IV of the Constitution defines and guarantees this form of government by the federal government for the states. At section four it states "the United States shall guarantee to every state in this union a republican form of government, and shall protect each of them against invasion; and on application of the legislature, or of the executive (when the legislature cannot be convened) against domestic violence. " This form of government is characterized by the idea of rule by law (the constitution). Although such a government can have democratic institutions, a republic is designed to check all tyrants, be it a federal government out of control or a mob with a destructive agenda. The constitution was designed to protect minorities, not just majorities. If the majority wants to oppress a minority, people still feel oppressed. Under a republic, the government limits itself to a "referee" and not a parental role.



The Founding Fathers believed in checks and balances. It should not surprise us that there were no state departments of education for the first 50 years of our republic. They believed that things like what government can and cannot do are too important to be taught by the government. It would be considered a conflict of interst. We have a generation that largely can't identify the differences between a republic and a democracy, because the vast majority of those people were taught by individuals with a political agenda. We have lost our schools and, as a result, the minds of most Americans. This battle isn't merely about advocating economic freedom, but restoring personal freedom found in the Constitution.

Kevin Price is Host of the Price of Business, the longest running show on AM 650 (M-F at 11 am) in Houston, Texas and on AOL Radio. His articles often appear in Chicago Sun Times, Reuters, USA Today, and other national media. Steve Moore of the Wall Street Journal calls Price the “best business talk show host in the country.” Find out why and visit his blog at www.BizPlusBlog.com and his show site at www.PriceofBusiness.com. You can also find Price on Strategy Room at FoxNews.com.

What will Fox News do with Glenn Beck?

Back in 2007 Don Imus set off a bomb when he called the women basketball team at Rutgers University "nappy headed hoes" during his daily broadcast on CBS Radio and MSNBC TV and was dismissed from both networks. Within no time Imus was back on the air on a different radio (Citadel) and TV (RFD-TV) network. Imus is about to upgrade his TV affiliation by joining the Fox Business Network. Imus rebuilt a significant amount of audience in no time and is bringing that crowd to Rupert Murdoch's business TV network.

Rupert Murdoch is one of the savviest people in media today, but his Fox News network is in a similar dilemma that MSNBC was in with Imus. Glenn Beck, host of the ever popular "Glenn Beck Show" told the Fox viewing public back in July (on the network's morning show, "Fox and Friends") that President Obama has a "deep-seated hatred of white people and white culture." It was really an off the cuff statement spoken in passing upon observing some of the President's choices, that led Beck coming to such a conclusion. Off the cuff? Maybe, but it has created a stir and has the network buckling down as it faces an onslaught of attack. An organization called the Color of Change has waged a boycott on the network and it has been effective in the financial arena. The Atlantic points out that "Lots of big companies who advertise on Fox have signed onto the boycott, orchestrated by Color of Change to protest Beck's proposition that President Obama is a racist, reportedly including Wal-Mart, Sprint, Travelers Insurance, General Mills, DirecTV, Geico, Progressive, Procter & Gamble, Radio Shack, Men's Wearhouse, GMAC Financial Services--at least 36 companies in all. (UPDATE: as commenter Mike Cee points out, Color of Change put the total at 46 after announcing 10 more yesterday.)" An hour long program would typically not have more than 40 sponsors, so this is a huge number by any standard.

I think that many advertisers who are currently on the Glenn Beck Show are not actual sponsors of his program, but of the network in general and are being placed in the "best times available" (BTA) which is one of the cheapest media buys. Many of these ad buyers are getting multiples of the exposure they are use to receiving at BTA. If this is the case, Fox News is probably losing money compared to what they normally enjoy for Glenn Beck's hour. However, I think everyone, even Beck and Fox News, are crying all the way to the bank. The LA Times points out in an article titled "UPDATED: As boycott continues, Glenn Beck's audience swells" that the TV host and Fox network "attracted 2.81 million viewers Monday, his third-largest audience since his show launched on Fox News in January, according to Nielsen Media Research data provided by the network. On Tuesday, nearly 2.7 million viewers tuned in, his fifth-largest viewership to date. And the conservative host got a plug from former vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, who urged people to watch his program in a post on her Facebook page." The Times went on to quote Palin, saying “"FOX News' Glenn Beck is doing an extraordinary job this week walking America behind the scenes of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and outlining who is actually running the White House,' she wrote Wednesday to her 800,000-plus supporters."

In light of the audience Beck is receiving and the "ink" the networking is enjoying in the media, this temporary lost in revenue is little more than a high priced advertising campaign that should pay the network off significantly over time. As long as Murdoch and his team take a strategic approach and stay with the host, the network should be all the better when the dust finally settles.

If Fox can't handle the heat, I think the ratings hungry MSNBC would be delighted to get Glenn Beck in what they might call "Don Imus Revenge."

Kevin Price is Host of the Price of Business, the longest running show on AM 650 (M-F at 11 am) in Houston, Texas and on AOL Radio. His articles often appear in Chicago Sun Times, Reuters, USA Today, and other national media. Steve Moore of the Wall Street Journal calls Price the “best business talk show host in the country.” Find out why and visit his blog at www.BizPlusBlog.com and his show site at www.PriceofBusiness.com. You can also find Price on Strategy Room at FoxNews.com.

A Lesson in Modern Journalism

Recently I wrote my column for RenewAmerica.com on "Barack Obama and the Racism Charge." Often my column gets picked up by other publications, which I am always delighted to see happen. The more sites it is found, the bigger the reach. With that, I should be thrilled about how well this most recent article was received in light of the many sites it was found. This time I was on the Discovery Channel, USA Today, the Boston Globe, and even the Wall Street Journal. The quotes they chose to highlight, on the other hand, has weakened my enthusiasm. The article was several hundred hundred words, but the syndicate only showcased three quotes:

"Moderation, contemplation, reasoned discourse and a bipartisanship spirit have been banished from the GOP. The birthers, tea baggers, Palin nuts and demented pundits like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Beck are now in control of the Republican Party."

"Beck's claims are so crazy that I feel silly refuting them. Obama with his multi-cultural background, and his inclusive and open administration, is the very symbol of racial harmony."

"Glenn Beck's inability to hide the fact that he is an utter moron explodes into the open once more on Fox News when he, without bringing forward a single example, decides that Barack Obama is a racist."

To read these above quotes, the only ones out of the entire article that were displayed in large print, you would have to conclude I hate Beck and love Obama. If you read the article in its entirety, something that the page does, at least, encourages you to do, you will see a different picture:

• I am critical of these quotes above and those of other left wing bloggers.



• I actually cite evidence that supports Beck's claims, including Obama's appointment of Sotomayor, his treatment of the white side of his family in his biography and other sources, and the President's rush to judgement when it came to the incident with his friend Professor Gates in Boston.

The distribution of this article demonstrates one of the many problems going on in journalism today. The quotes from were likely pulled by a writer who doesn't know what journalistic integrity means. On the one hand, I'm delighted to get exposure on several major news websites. On the other hand, being projected as a liberal extremist is more than a little disconcerting.

Kevin Price is Host of the Price of Business, the longest running show on AM 650 (M-F at 11 am) in Houston, Texas and on AOL Radio. His articles often appear in Chicago Sun Times, Reuters, USA Today, and other national media. Steve Moore of the Wall Street Journal calls Price the “best business talk show host in the country.” Find out why and visit his blog at www.BizPlusBlog.com and his show site at www.PriceofBusiness.com. You can also find Price on Strategy Room at FoxNews.com.

Is Barack Obama a Racist?

Radio and TV Host Glenn Beck has created quite a stir this past week in stating that Barack Obama "is a racist." It has been interesting reviewing the news headlines and seeing stories of deaths due to the war on terror, political scandals that are bringing down governments and international tensions caused by rogue regimes that we find Glenn Beck right there with all of them, because of his statement on an early morning cable show.

The political left, predictably, has come out in full force dismissing the claim:

The Osterly Times declares that "Glenn Beck's inability to hide the fact that he is an utter moron explodes into the open once more on Fox News when he, without bringing forward a single example, decides that Barack Obama is a racist."

Rose Conley of the Examiner simply declares that "Glenn Beck is stupid."

Comedienne Whoopi Goldberg proclaimed that Beck is a "Lying Sack of Dog Mess" in the Huffington Post.

Robert Paul Reyes, at Newsblaze.com, says: "Beck's claims are so crazy that I feel silly refuting them. Obama with his multi-cultural background, and his inclusive and open administration, is the very symbol of racial harmony." He goes on to say that "Moderation, contemplation, reasoned discourse and a bipartisanship spirit have been banished from the GOP. The birthers, tea baggers, Palin nuts and demented pundits like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Beck are now in control of the Republican Party. "

That last quote is worth further review. It is time to simply look at the facts.

• Obama nominated a person for the Supreme Court who is, without question, a racist. Sotomayor has demonstrated such in many speeches as she discussed the superiority of "Latina women" over white males in the courtroom on the lecture circuit and was demonstrated in how she discriminated against white firefighters in a court case that was later overturned by the Supreme Court.


• When a well respected police officer (who actually teaches racial sensitivity training) arrests a black man for disorderly conduct (when a person yells they will not show a police officer his ID because it is "racist," that is disorderly), Obama calls the officer and the police department "stupid." Comedian Bill Cosby, when asked about it, simply said "I wasn't there." He went on to suggest a sensible approach would be to ask both sides. That does seem more Presidential.


• In his biography and speeches, you would never know that Obama was raised by white family members and that the black side of his family lineage virtually did not exist in his life. He had only a brief encounter that is measured in days with his African father. He seems to love a culture that abandoned him and is embarrassed by one that embraced him.

So, is Obama a racist? I think it is safe to say that he is certainly predisposed to such. Furthermore, he is an elitist of epic proportions as demonstrated in his treatment of individuals who didn't enjoy the education background afforded to him, be it the rural white people who "cling to their guns and religion" or the police officer trying to make tough decisions in the rough streets that surround Boston. The bottom line is Obama does not have the temperament necessary to represent the needs and interests of all Americans.

Kevin Price is Host of the Price of Business, the longest running show on AM 650 (M-F at 11 am) in Houston, Texas and on AOL Radio. His articles often appear in Chicago Sun Times, Reuters, USA Today, and other national media. Steve Moore of the Wall Street Journal calls Price the “best business talk show host in the country.” Find out why and visit his blog at www.BizPlusBlog.com and his show site at www.PriceofBusiness.com. You can also find Price on Strategy Room at FoxNews.com.

That Sucking Sound: The Disappearing Newspaper

A few decades ago, most major cities had at least two major newspapers and many of them had morning and evening delivery. Today, newspapers are undergoing rapid decline and, for most of them, their futures are either digital or they will have no future at all. Those newspapers that will survive, will be free. Newspapers with a community focus that discusses the local boy or girl who has graduated from school or served the country with honor in the military and ones with a lifestyle or classified focus (jobs, homes, etc.) that are free will continue to continue to survive and maybe even thrive. The paid ones will quickly become history.

In the last few months we have seen the Rocky Mountain News fold in Denver, Colorado, the curtailing of days of delivery for the Detroit Free Press, and the move from a daily Christian Science Monitor to a weekly edition. This decline of newspapers is attributed to several factors:

The Internet has made the majority of content free. One of the strange answers by the industry, to the newspaper crises, is to raise the price on newspapers. This has only chased customers away to the vast array of sources available at not cost to the reader. The only newspapers that charge and may survive will have to fulfill a very specific function. The jury is out on that.

Information spreads best in a viral way, which lends very well to the Internet, but not newspapers. For years I use to clip articles, some times make copies to send to others, but usually lost them and tried to remember what the article I loved so much actually said. With the Internet, people can easily spread the word about the great article they have seen, pass it via email, and make the source a household name. With the Internet, organizing information is a breeze and it stands as far superior to the old methodology.

Archiving for future reference is very easy. I wanted to find out if the Internet is better than newspapers, so I did a Google search and I received millions of links. Remember going to the library, looking through periodical indices, and thumbing through countless newspapers or magazines to find an article? The Internet has changed all of that.

Many want to attribute the decline to the ideology that is pervasive among newspapers today. The liberal bias in newspapers is obvious and I think it is clear that this has hurt the credibility of the media in general. On TV, Fox News (which is described by the left as conservative, but in my opinion, strives for some level of objectivity) has more viewers than MSNBC and CNN combined. I believe this is attributable to the liberal bent among Fox News competitors.

In spite of these realities, if paid newspapers had Glenn Beck types as their publishers, they would still be in decline because that form of print news would still be in decline. The Internet (and the rise of smart phones that brings Web information everywhere) is just a far superior technology. Conservatives need to stop merely complaining about the newspapers and their liberal bias and take advantage of the new battlefield which is online. Currently, the left is dominating the blogosphere. It is still relatively early in the game, but conservatives need to shelve their pass loses and focus on the future that is the Internet.

This article originally appeared at CNN650.com, part of the CBS Radio Network.

Kevin Price is Host of the Price of Business, the longest running show on CNN 650 (M-F at 11 am). Eric Bolling of Fox News and Fox Business and says that Price’s Blog “is very influential and moves the blogosphere.” Steve Moore of the Wall Street Journal calls Price the “best business talk show host in the country.” Find out why and visit his blog at www.BizPlusBlog.com and his show site at www.PriceofBusiness.com.

The Rising Star of Glenn Beck

Glenn Beck is nothing short of a media phenomenon. In his own words, a mere five years ago, he was just a DJ on the radio. Today he has the third highest rated show on cable news (this, after being on the Fox News network for only a month), a rapidly expanding radio audience, a very popular magazine, and an excellent career as a successful author. So how did Beck go from "no one" (as he likes to describe himself ) to one of the hottest properties in media today? The following are just a few of the reasons:

• Beck knows his limitations. He has no problem making fun of himself, reminding people of his humble roots (including a long time sufferer of alcohol addiction), and simply telling guests that he "doesn't understand." When he says that, he's sincere. He wants to assume the person on the program who is trying to destroy jobs through excessive taxation on capital formation or whatever terrible policy, is doing it with the best of intentions. "Help me understand what you are doing?" This is disarming and I think he asks questions in the same way many other Americans would if they had the opportunity to visit with these decision makers.


• Beck is about philosophy and not party. Beck could care less about party affiliation. Many radio hosts lost credibility in the last election cycle by making it a war between McCain and Obama. The real battle is between socialistic worldviews and those who support freedom. To support McCain was to support different forms of socialism, not economic freedom. Sure, Beck reluctantly supported McCain as the lessor of two evils, but never became a cheerleader, which was a common practice of many radio hosts.


• Beck doesn't take himself too seriously, but he does take his issues seriously. New viewers of Beck might disagree, in light of the very serious tone he has taken since Obama's inauguration, but the host is also a noted comedian in his own right and uses humor as a powerful tool to get his message out. Even today with his sober tone, he may take the issues seriously, but he doesn't over play his own importance.


• Beck does his homework. He doesn't merely depend upon others to be informed and he provides original perspectives. He is actually a "thinking" radio host and not a mere talker. Unlike many pundits who have good "gut instincts," Beck is different. Many of the major names in talk radio tend to be more "feelers" about major issues than thinkers. This is seen in their often inconsistent take on policy issues and their lack of understanding of the Constitution. These are not the kind of issues facing Beck.
  

There is no doubt that Beck is articulate and charismatic, but those are not the main reasons for Beck's success. It is his thoughtfulness and convictions that makes him a rising star.

Kevin Price is Host of the Price of Business, the longest running show on CNN 650 (M-F at 11 am). Eric Bolling of Fox News and Fox Business and says that Price’s Blog “is very influential and moves the blogosphere.” Steve Moore of the Wall Street Journal calls Price the “best business talk show host in the country.” Find out why and visit his blog at www.BizPlusBlog.com and his show site at www.PriceofBusiness.com.