Déjà Vu, The Movie. Déjà Vu, Real Life.

Just watched the move Déjà Vu with Denzel Washington. Very interesting. I might write a longer analysis later, but one interesting thing, they chose a domestic terrorist as the bad guy. White Male. With violent fantasies. Decides he needs to get back at The Government. I of course wonder what he read, watched and listened to that made him think that "sending a message" of violence is the only way that people will listen to him.

Sorry. I promised myself a short post. Two Déjà Vu moments. Buried in yesterday's post was this jewel that Rogers says to Nonie Darwish that his impression of Egyptians and other Arab cultures is that for them:

“Lying is as natural as breathing.” (Audio link)
--Lee Rogers, KSFO (An ABC Radio Disney Station) 11/27/2006

The first part of his quote I was trying to remember where I've heard that line "some of my best friends are" blank, before. It usually comes right before the person insults an entire group of people. Where have I heard that before? Who talks like that?

Second thing that sounded familiar was what happened with the ads sponsoring the WSJ Report. They seem to just switch in mid-week mid-cycle rather abruptly. That kind of thing happened when advertisers pulled their ads from Sussman's show. Hmmm. I wonder what that is about?

But for Disney ABC Radio hosts at KSFO the pattern continues with the new advertiser. They tainted the company's brand RIGHT OFF THE BAT! Way to go! I'm sure that Ben Bridge is very excited with the special messed up attention they got from Rogers. (Audio Link)

What's that line, I don't care what they say, just say my name right?

Maybe BEN BRIDGE would like to know who's messing up their commercials now. I wonder if any Arabs are in their business? Or are customers? Nah. They never buy luxury watches.

Just remember managers and advertisers, be careful when you ask Rogers to be respectful or reasonable,

"Nobody is gonna tell me, what to talk about or not talk about or in what fashion on this radio program. It ain't gonna happen!"

Lee Rogers, ABC Disney Radio station KSFO 11/30/2006 05:09 AM(The Lee Rogers and Melanie Morgan program, KSFO 560 AM)

Wow. I feel like I've written this post before. Hmmm.

Lee Rogers KSFO vs. Advertisers and Management

"Nobody is gonna tell me, what to talk about or not talk about or in what fashion on this radio program. It ain't gonna happen!"

- Lee Rogers, ABC Disney Radio station KSFO 11/30/2006 05:09 AM
(The Lee Rogers and Melanie Morgan program, KSFO 560 AM)

(Audio link, short clip. Longer clip for context here - and if you are the 'numb nut' who wrote him the letter, drop me a line, I'll send you the link.)

UPDATE 12/01/06 It seems that this post was picked by by Mike at Crooks and Liars, (1,297,091 page views this week This Week. Hi Mike and C&L readers! The amazing journalist and scholar David Neiwert at Orcinus, 26,270 page views this week, Hi David and Sara and Orcinus readers! At First Draft, by the brilliant journalist/blogger/writer Allison Hantschel, Hi Athenae, Scout, Tena, Holden and FD readers! 20,802 page views this week. And of course during Thanksgiving I got linked from Media Matters, in which Morgan's "painting a bull's-eye" on Pelosio comments got picked up by MSNBC Keith Olbermann who is on TELEVISION! Wheee! I'm sure that the PR people at Disney are THRILLED by this! Over 2 MILLION people now know about Disney Radio hosts Morgan, Rogers, Sussman and Brenner's violent rhetoric directed at Speaker-elect Nancy Pelosi, Muslims, Arabs, blacks and of course all liberals.)


Note how Rogers positions his comment as a defiant comeback to some rational email from a listener about global warming. Rogers is the "artist" with his "free speech" on political issues being questioned! But what he is really doing is sending a message to his management at Disney and the advertisers who pay his salary on commercially supported broadcast radio. (So when they tell him not to say the F-word does he ignore that too?)

Why use this method? Because it wouldn't sound decent for Rogers to say what he really meant, "Nobody can tell me to stop talking about torturing and killing people by attaching electrodes to their testicles. Or cutting off fingers and penises like Brian Sussman!" And if, like Morgan, your talk of painting a bulls-eye on Nancy Pelosi even makes the national news (As it did on MSNBC) you don't even have to give a real apology! Just make a joke of it! Heck Rogers will even SET YOU UP for the joke.

So if you are an advertiser, say FedEx , AT&T, or Philips Norelco who was told by management that since Rogers reads your commercials "We have Rogers under control. Lee won't talk about burning people alive, stomping them to death, torturing them with one of your products like the Sears Brand Diehard battery." please understand that NOBODY TELLS HIM what NOT SAY to TALK about on THIS RADIO program! So their assurances don't really mean much. (And your other choices? With the traffic guy who calls products shitty? The other hosts who talks about hanging journalists and painting a bulls-eye on Speaker-elect Pelosi? Who mock your product and programs like Sussman? I really feel sorry for the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. Listen as Sussman and Brenner mock their Spare the Air advertiser. BAAQMD paid good money to be mocked relentlessly on a Audio Link, audio link Audio link. Can you image how embarrassing it was for the ad agency that placed THOSE ads? They do the same to PG&E, but I guess they don't care that their energy program ads are mocked.)

And management? Rogers probably thinks you are weak because you send him memos and use your silly, reasonable words. Words like,

"Stop the killing Muslim talk. Stop the castrating Bernie Ward "jokes". Stop
reading an advertiser's commercial right after you talk about blowing a black
man's bleeping brains out. Stop talking about 'doing something
unpleasant to someone's cojones' right before Morgan reads the commercial for Bright Smile."

(Audio link to cojones comment followed by Bright Smile ad)

(Did you notice that Lee seems obsessed with testicles? Maybe he feels his manhood is threatened by suggestions that he follow some guidelines? ) To him reasonable suggestions become "ass kissing" and a management that finally says "that's enough" and lets someone go are "gutless nothings" (audio link)

I guess to Rogers those advertisers and management are just so UNREASONABLE and don't care about his "right" to spew violent rhetoric using the publicly licensed broadcast radio station and advertising dollars!

Maybe Rogers, like he said just Monday about Arabs and Egyptians, only responds to force. Maybe he thinks ABC Disney management are like his soon to be new boss, Farid Suleman, "a lying Egyptian or Arab" (audio link) Rogers knows that your memos and phone calls mean NOTHING to him. He, like Brian Sussman and Melanie Morgan have COMPLETE management support (audio)! Morgan is married to the General Manager, Rogers said he has photos of top-level management "coming out of the No-Tel Motel at 2 o'clock in the morning with a slut", I don't know what Sussman's leverage is- his machine guns?)

Rogers KNOWS he is a CASH COW. He is Irreplaceable! All thanks to him, KSFO is fat and sassy (audio link) . Who are they going to bring up? Anti-Muslim, pro-torture, "global warming-isn't-caused-by-humans" believing former weatherman, Brian Sussman? "The Babe in the Bunker" Barbara Simpson? Of course if Rogers quits due to hearing problems they will still have to replace him so I guess maybe he IS replaceable.

But Media placement agencies, if anyone gives you any assurances that KSFO radio hosts have changed or will calm down, or they will not mock your brand (like they do HP, British Airways, USAir) or tell you that they will stop talking about cutting off someone's testicles right before your ad, remember. NOBODY TELLS HIM WHAT TO SAY on this RADIO PROGRAM.

He will of course position this as an EPIC battle. You know, like the kind that he wants the Government to carry out in Indonesia. Where he is the brave Muslim killer and you are the corrupt evil wearing UN blue helmets. And when some UN soldiers dies on a mission to prevent violence, it is a opportunity for a good laugh by Morgan, "Officer Vic" and Ann Coulter.

Of course I'm just a "dip bleep goo goo" with a tiny blog unread by Disney or ABC Radio or BBDO or GSD&M. I don't have as much reach as someone on a Disney Radio station like KSFO which has a publicly granted license allowing voices to be broadcast all over the Bay Area. I'm not making a "ton of money" though the support of advertisers. Actually it would be nice if the advertisers did notice me. I'm really trying to help them protect their brands. That should be worth something. Their agencies should thank me.

But I guess I'm just a liberal cockroach who should have his head cut off. Or be hanged. Or castrated. Or stomped to death. And I really shouldn't be pointing out to advertisers how much KSFO Hot Talk hosts sound like the radio hosts at RTLM, Hutu Power Radio, in Rwanda. They even use the same terminology! (KSFO cockroach Audio Link) (RTLM cockroach Audio link).

I'm sure someone will point out how different they are. It's not as if listeners to Hot Talk Radio ACT on these violent suggestions (Chad Castagana) or that people tell their followers where to find the cockroaches er em liberals, (Michelle Malkin). Yes things are VERY different in America! I wonder if Disney will make a movie about all this? I hope I live to see it.

Morgan and KSFO host show no Respect to Pelosi and Parent Company Disney

It must be great to be a talk radio host at KSFO. It has been established that you can say pretty much ANY violent or disgusting thing on the air with full management support from:

- The Walt DISNEY Company, specifically, Zenia Mucha, Senior
Vice President, Corporate Communications
- ABC Radio (owned by Disney), specifically John Hare, the President of ABC Radio Inc.
- ABC, Inc, specifically, Heather Rim, Vice President, Communications, ABC, Inc.

They are all just FINE with it. They all know what is being said. What am I talking about? At KSFO, radio 560 AM in San Francisco an ABC Radio station owned by The Walt Disney Company:

• You can talk about torturing and cutting off an Iraqi’s finger and penis. (audio-Brian Sussman) Management supports you.
• You can demand a caller “Say Allah is a whore” (audio - Sussman) and management supports you.
• You can talk about shooting and torturing a black man with electrodes attached to his testicles before you “blow his bleeping brains out” (audio-Lee Rogers, Melanie Morgan). Management supports you.
• You can imitate the editor of the New York Times being electrocuted complete with gruesome sound effects (audio -Tom Brenner "Officer Vic", Sussman, Morgan) and management supports you.
• You can talk about attacking the New York Times (audio-Morgan, Rogers, Brenner)
• You can suggest that someone be:
  -- hog-tied and burned alive (audio Morgan, Rogers, Brenner)
  -- stomped to death (audio Rogers, Morgan) (entire burn and stomp clip here)
  -- castrated and the testicle sack be used as a tobacco pouch (audio Rogers, Brenner)
  and Disney management supports you. ABC Radio management supports you. And of course Jack Swanson, KSFO’s GM, and Morgan’s husband, supports you.

You can lose major advertisers and management supports you.

And then Melanie Morgan gets national attention and is written up by Media Matters and earns her second “Worst Person in the World” award on MSNBC. She gets caught NOT once but TWICE talking about putting a bull’s eye on Speaker-Elect Nancy Pelosi. Morgan incites violence toward the Bay Area’s own Congressional representative. And still management supports her.

At this point even the notoriously lax Disney and ABC Radio management (who seem to care nothing about their brand image) must have told her, “Okay, do one of those fake apologies where you don’t really apologize for what you just said.”

Because that MUST have been what happened after Melanie Morgan said this about Speaker-Elect Nancy Pelosi “We've got a bull's-eye painted on her big, wide laughing eyes.” (audio Morgan, )

Morgan’s “apology” is an opportunity for another joke. This time about getting invited to Speaker-Elect Pelosi’s “fabulous parties” at her swearing in ceremonies.

“I should just suck up and tell Nancy I’m really sorry that I made fun of her “laughing eyes” and get back on her good side because you know there’s there’s (sic) something about a democratic wingding that really gets me going guys.” (laughter) (audio -Morgan, Rogers)

- Melanie Morgan on Disney ABC Radio station KSFO, 560 AM 11/27/2006

Like her President, who can’t bring himself to say the word mistake, in her insincere, joking apology Morgan pretends she was just making fun of Speaker-Elect Pelosi’s eyes.
No. No she wasn’t. Morgan used the terminology of an assassin with a scope on a rifle when referring to the Speaker-Elect of the House.

Please don’t pretend Morgan doesn’t know what the words implied. I don’t think she is stupid. And if it wasn’t part of a pattern of violent talk and slander maybe her management or others could forgive her this one “mistake”. Ms. Morgan knew EXACTLY what she was saying. It wasn’t a slip. She said it twice.

• She knew what it meant when she said “Hang ‘em” about Bill Keller and nine reporters
  
• She knew what she was saying when she falsely accused the LA Times of doctoring their photos
  
• She knew what she was saying when she falsely accused the Chronicle of manipulating photos of Richard Pombo to make him look LIKE A BLACK MAN. (Link)

Being coy and pretending she doesn’t know WHAT she is talking about doesn’t fly when time and time again she insists she DOES know EXACTLY what she is saying. (audio Morgan) Maybe because Lee Rogers gets away with talking about killing millions of Muslims in Indonesia and Brian Sussman can suggest we kill millions of Muslims anywhere we find them; she thought it was okay to talk about putting a bull's-eye on Nancy Pelosi’s eyes, and then give a non-apology? IT. IS. NOT.

I would think that this constitutes inciting violence and might trigger FCC notice. But I guess not. (But hey if anyone cares to write the FCC and complain be my guest.)

So I guess that’s it. Case closed. For Morgan it’s a fake apology and she’s off the hook. Way to buck up the Disney Brand in the closing days of their “official” ownership (we won’t talk about the 52 percent controlling interest you will still have in Citadel.)

I’ve written before about DJ and talk radio hosts being fired for lesser things. Recently Pete Wilson of KGO SINCERELY apologized for an offensive remark that didn’t even BEGIN to reach the levels of violence and offensiveness that Sussman and Rogers regularly spew. KSFO radio hosts Rogers, Morgan and Sussman have a PATTERN of violent talk and anti-“any religion but right-wing Christianity” (By the way, Roger’s “joke” on Nov. 27th about a Buddhist monk cutting off his “woody” was just the latest in a series of comments that combined BOTH elements. (audio Rogers, Morgan, Brenner)

Sometimes I play the audio clips of Morgan, Rogers, Sussman and Brenner to colleagues in the office. They are always flabbergasted. “They ACTUALLY say that on the RADIO? And this is a DISNEY station?” Yep. “How is that even Allowed?”

Because the management knows about it and approves. Disney and ABC Radio station management John Hare knows what is said. He hears it. Nothing happens. People in charge of protecting the Disney brand know about it. Obviously they think Disney is too far away from the name KSFO to care. Nothing happens. I guess you can “Mess with the Mouse” brand as long as you are on commercially supported broadcast radio.

Nice trick hiding behind YOUR parent KSFO radio hosts! Must I point out to you AGAIN that broadcast radio is different from blathering on the sidewalk in front of the federal building? There are agreed upon rules (try saying the f-word see what happens), not only at the federal level, but at the corporate level. But you have really shown the world just how little Disney cares about its image, haven’t you? They must really enjoy being in the mud with you. Way to ignore their memos! That’ll show ‘em!

It would be nice if after a few advertisers heard these clips they were so disgusted by this talk that they pulled their ads. But if the Brian Sussman case is any indication, they would have to lose MORE than a dozen advertisers. Or maybe a few big ones on a national level from the big morning show would make them notice. When it happens I’ll be sure to alert the press. They probably will attribute it to something else like ‘declining revenue due to the Internet’ or ignore it all together. Or they will find some Chronicle reporter like poor Joe Garofoli who is charmed by Morgan and does a nice piece. Garofoli clearly learned not to piss her off and get yelled at like Todd Milbourn did who wrote a real story about her group, MAF, and got called a liar for his trouble.

Why all the tip-toeing around Morgan, Rogers and KSFO? A couple of possibilities.

First, because the 2.7 billion dollar deal to sell ABC Radio to Citadel must go through. Nothing will stop it. What nobody in the press wants to mention is that Citadel needs to divest themselves of 11 of the 122 stations in the new combined network.

And maybe ABC Radio is hoping that KSFO is one of those stations. I mean they have the jewel, KGO. KSFO must make them feel dirty. And KSFO radio hosts have mentioned time and time again that they think the ABC Radio News people are dopes and idiots and their newscasts are crap. I’m thinking KSFO is angling to become a Fox affiliate.

But of course if that happened KSFO wouldn’t be able to sucker all the advertisers and media buyers that they get riding on the Disney coat tails. All the advertisers that assumed that since KSFO is a Disney affiliate they are “innocuous” (as one advertiser wrote me) might not get in the door.

For KSFO morning host Rogers I just hope that his new boss, the Egyptian born Farid Suleman, is a forgiving man. Of course Rogers won’t trust him in his negotiations. Why? Because as Rogers says about Egyptians and other Arab cultures,

“Lying [to Egyptians and Arabs] is as natural as breathing.” (Audio link)
--Lee Rogers, KSFO (An ABC Radio Disney Station) 11/27/2006

Good luck Farid, and watch your back! (Rogers is probably counting on going around Farid to one of the Forstmann’s. Good luck with that, I’m sure Farid won’t notice your end-run.)

But maybe Rogers has photos of Mr. Suleman like he does of his current bosses (audio). But if he doesn’t, Rogers is already lining up his exit strategy. Look for the “health related reasons” card to be played. It’s probably true. I know he makes me sick.

UPDATE 12/01/06:

It seems that this post was picked by by Mike at Crooks and Liars, (1,297,091 page views this week. Hi Mike and C&L readers! The amazing journalist and scholar David Neiwert at Orcinus, 26,270 page views this week, Hi David and Sara and Orcinus readers! At First Draft, by the brilliant journalist/blogger/writer Allison Hantschel, Hi Athenae, Scout, Tena, Holden and FD readers! 20,802 page views this week. And of course during Thanksgiving I got linked from Media Matters, in which Morgan's "painting a bull's-eye" on Pelosio comments got picked up by MSNBC Keith Olbermann who is on TELEVISION! Wheee! I'm sure that the PR people at Disney are THRILLED by this! Over 2 MILLION people now know about Disney Radio hosts Morgan, Rogers, Sussman and Brenner's violent rhetoric directed at Speaker-elect Nancy Pelosi, Muslims, Arabs, blacks and of course all liberals.)

Update II 12/01/2006

I've added who the audio clips are from thanks to the suggestion of Eric J. Visiting from Crooks and Liars. Thanks Eric!
I've inserted [] around the Lee Roger's quote about Egyptians and Arbabs for clarity.

“Lying [to Egyptians and Arabs] is as natural as breathing.” (Audio link) --Lee Rogers, KSFO (An ABC Radio Disney Station) 11/27/2006

Update III 1/6/2007 Reposting because I have to clean up links. Corrected a few typos and spelling errors and a technical relationship number between ABC and Citadel

Who incites right wing bloggers to violence?

TV? Newspapers? I think it is talk radio hosts. They regularly call for journalists to be killed. Can someone at the FBI please connect the dots?

On November 12, Reuters reported that Chad Castagana had been arrested in California for "mailing threatening letters containing a suspicious white powder to celebrities and U.S. politicians," including House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (CA), Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY), talk show host David Letterman, Comedy Central's Daily Show host Jon Stewart, and MSNBC's Countdown host Keith Olbermann. -- Media Matters

What if in an interview with Castagana he says he got the idea from listening to Ann Coulter or Melanie Morgan? What happens to the radio hosts who are calling for the death of people on the radio? Do they bear any responsibility? Are they part of inciting this violence?

Think I'm over reacting?

Just yesterday Melanie Morgan said this about Nancy Pelosi. "We've got a bulls-eye painted on her big laughing eyes." ( audio link)
Given the fact that Speaker Pelosi is now one heart beat away from the President and that they just arrested a Freeper for sending Nancy Pelosi white powder, does that count? Who should I contact? Or should I just shrug it off because Melanie Morgan is a republican and she can say anything she wants on broadcast radio?

Those are some fine instincts you got there Denise

"While trying to stop the paparazzi, Denise Richards was involved in an altercation," Bornstein said. "To protect her safety she instinctively knocked the paparazzo's laptops off a ledge. Royal Canadian Mounted Police were called to the scene as a precaution and the case was soon closed. No charges were filed against Ms. Richards."

CNN

Radio host canned for calling candidate a 'fat lesbian'

BOSTON, Massachusetts (AP) -- A radio talk show host was fired Friday after he made a derogatory comment about the weight and sexuality of the Green-Rainbow party candidate running for Massachusetts governor.

WRKO-AM pulled host John DePetro from the air after he made the comments Thursday. It announced Friday that he had been fired.

"In the context of what he said and the tone with which he said it, the comments were completely inappropriate, derogatory and will not be tolerated," said Jason Wolfe, the vice president of AM programming and operations for station owner Entercom Boston.

DePetro did not immediately return an e-mailed request for comment Friday. However, he told The Boston Globe in a story posted Friday on its Web site that he was "stunned" that he had been fired.

He said he had called the candidate, Grace Ross, to apologize for calling her a "fat lesbian."
The host, who calls himself the "Independent Man," said he made the remark because he was exasperated that Ross and independent candidate Christy Mihos were eating up time during a debate earlier in the week that included Republican candidate Kerry Healey and Democrat Deval Patrick.

He said it was then that he told listeners he wished someone would "tell the fat lesbian to shut up."

More here

Hmmm. Well I guess some radio stations have different standards than others. Insult a woman because of her weight and sexual orientation. Fired.

Suggest that we hog-tie someone to a post and burn 'em alive. Not Fired. (Rogers & Morgan)

Suggest that nine journalists and an editor be hanged. Not Fired. (Morgan)

Demand that a caller, "Say Allah is a whore." Not Fired (Sussman)

Imitate New York Times editor Bill Keller dying in the electric chair. Not Fired. (Brenner)

Heck, I don't even bother to note the name calling these people do. If ABC Radio Disney won't reprimand or fire any of these people for those comments, I don't think that it would do any good to point out all the names that they call people. But believe me they do.

SF Chronicle caves. Will they stand up for their photojournalists?

Jim Romenesko
Poynter Online

Dear Jim:

I'm kind of sick of standing up for journalists and photojournalists when their own management won't back them up when they are being accused of journalism malpractice. I wrote you last week that Melanie Morgan of ABC Disney radio station KSFO accused the SF Chronicle of purposely manipulating a photo of California Congressman Richard Pombo to make him look "like a black man." I wrote the Chronicle as well. Want to know what happened?

It appears that instead of standing up for their photographer and demanding a retraction of the accusation, they just CHANGED THE PHOTO with no explanation. Luckily I saved the BEFORE photo.

BEFORE PHOTO
Pombo "before" photo


AFTER PHOTO (from this SF Gate link as of Oct. 31)
Pombo "AFTER" photo


Most likely the first photo was a simple mistake in image processing judgment. The entire photo might have been fine on a Mac or in Firefox but dark in IE on a PC. I could understand that, it happens. It's been over 20 years since the Chronicle started printing color photos and they still have color photo registration errors in their print versions. Those errors make some people look like they have 6 sets of eyes. I don't assume malicious intent or that they want Republicans to look like aliens so they will lose an election.

Morgan accused the SF Chronicle of one of the big sins of modern journalism, and the Chronicle acted like an abused child hoping to avoid being hit for something they didn't even do. But without explaining WHAT HAPPENED and WHY, the accuser can now think, "AH HA! See, I was RIGHT! They DID manipulate the photo on purpose! The liberal media tried to help a Democrat and I caught them!"

I'm not privy to the inside emails at the Chronicle. For all I know they demanded a personal apology from Morgan and got it. Maybe they are preparing a defamation lawsuit since she has a pattern of wrongly accusing newspapers of photo manipulation. But by not explaining, people are left to wonder, "Was she right? Did the Chronicle try and make Pombo look sinister ala the extra dark OJ Simpson image on the cover of Time?" and THAT is why publishers MUST stand up for their journalists and photojournalists to those who would defame them and accuse them of biased motives for things that have an innocent explanation.

I think it's bad enough that Morgan has accused the Chronicle of violating its photojournalist standards, but what is especially illuminating, is the underlying attitude Morgan portrays in her comment. Listen again and tell me, who's the one with a race problem here?

I guess this shouldn't surprise me especially when in the past Melanie Morgan broadcast on public airwaves that nine journalists and one editor should be hanged and that didn't warrant an official request for an apology. What are you waiting for, more of her listeners to see journalists as the enemy and photojournalists as liars?
Sincerely,