Black Talk Radio Down on Dems and GOP: Study Finds Criticism of Parties and Black Voters
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Sphere: Related ContentWASHINGTON, (AScribe Newswire) — Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential candidacy illustrates the importance of talk radio among black Americans. To help predict how this medium may influence the upcoming presidential elections, the Center for Media and Public Affairs examined the political content of black talk radio shows during the 2006 national elections.Throughout the final week of the 2006 election campaign, CMPA analyzed 62 hours of programming from four shows that address politics and public policy issues for a national audience: The Bev Smith Show, Al Sharpton Show, Lincoln Ware Show, and The Black Eagle, hosted by Joe Madison.
MAJOR FINDINGS:
- Minority Focus: Fewer than half of all issue discussions (46 percent) focused on their relevance for African Americans. The majority dealt with the issues without reference to the black community. The top five issues were:
1. The economy (44 discussions); 2. Iraq War (27); 3. Affirmative action (29); 4. Crime and drugs (15); 5. Education (13). EDUCATION SHOULD BE #1!
- Bashing Both Parties: The two major political parties were evaluated over 700 times by hosts, callers, and guests. Four out of five comments (81 percent) were critical of Republicans. But so were three out of five comments (60 percent) about Democrats. In addition, two out of three discussions (68 percent) concluded that Democrats take black voters for granted.
- Bashing Black Voters: Every evaluation of the black community (100 percent) was negative. African Americans were criticized for not participating in elections, for blindly accepting the views of black clergy, and for making bad choices at the polls.
- The Host Factor: Program hosts criticized Democrats nearly as much as Republicans (69 percent v. 73 percent negative evaluations.) However, this mainly reflected Lincoln Ware’s support for Ken Blackwell, the Republican candidate for governor of Ohio. The other three hosts combined for almost unanimous criticism of Republicans - 98 percent negative comments, compared to 66 percent negative comments about Democrats.
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