NHMC Sound Death Knell for Hate Broadcasting

Posted on January 28, 2009
By Joe Miller |

Back in November, I wrote a post on hate speech in broadcasting and discussed some of the known examples of hate speech being broadcast on The O’Reilly Factor, on Fox News Network, and Clear Channel’s Savage Nation, which is syndicated by Premiere Radio Networks. Today, The National Hispanic Media Coalition held a press conference, along with UCLA’s Chicano Studies Research Center and the Georgetown Law Center’s Institute for Public Representation, at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., announcing that they will be filing a petition for the new FCC to initiate a Notice of Inquiry, to investigate some of the linkages between hate speech and hate crimes.

This election is about the 12 million people living in the shadows, the communities taking immigration enforcement into their own hands…they’re counting on us to stop the hateful rhetoric filling our airwaves, rise above the fear and demagoguery, and finally enact comprehensive immigration reform.

- Barack Obama, September, 2008

Up to now, evidence of the effects of hate speech on hate crime is purely anecdotal. Hard data is desperately needed to demonstrate a causal connection and to persuade Congress to introduce appropriate legislation. The UCLA/Chicano Studies Research Center is spearheading that task and the results of its pilot study are available here. According to the UCLA report:

61.7% of hate offenses in 2007 were based on Anti-Hispanic bias.
64% of Latinos report that the immigration debate has negatively affected their lives.
Hate speech in conservative hate radio manifests itself in four ways: (1) false facts, (2) flawed argumentation, (3) divisive language, and (4) dehumanizing metaphors.

This may be the beginning of the end of the proliferation of hateful broadcasts that masquerade as fact, but which in reality have no redeeming social value whatsoever, serving only to incite violence against members of minority groups.

Here’s the petition.