Who owns what
“In this day and age when the broadcasting and print media are controlled by huge and often left-wing conglomerates…,” writes Kim Umstadter of Free Union [Mailbag, June 24]. Kim, I know where you get that idea. But it’s simply not true. A brief rundown:
Right-winger Rupert Murdoch owns Fox and 22 TV stations, a movie studio, 132 newspapers, HarperCollins book publishers and 25 magazines. Fox CEO Roger Ailes is a Republican veteran of the Nixon, Reagan and Bush Sr. campaigns.
Right wing, pro-war Clear Channel owns more than 1,200 radio stations, and is the nation’s largest owner of such. Right winger John Malone owns Tele-Communications, Inc., the nation’s largest cable system. Right wing Canadian mogul Conrad Black owns more than 100 daily U.S. newspapers, including the Chicago Sun Times. And the Washington Times is owned by right wing cult leader Reverend Sun Myung Moon.
NBC and CNBC are owned by General Electric, a weapons contractor and sponsor of the “McLaughlin Group,” hosted by right-wing ideologues Bob Novak and Pat Buchanan. NBC dropped liberal host Phil Donahue in favor of vicious neo-conservative Michael Savage.
AOL Time Warner CEO Dick Parsons, an ardent Republican considered for a post in George W. Bush’s administration, runs the conglomerate of: Warner Brothers Pictures, New Line Cinema, Morgan Creek, Fine Line Cinema, Castle Rock Productions, Savoy Pictures, Little & Brown publishers, Time-Life Books, the Book of the Month Club, Atlantic Records, Columbia House, Time Magazine, Fortune, Life, Sports Illustrated, People, Money, Parenting, HBO, Cinemax, E!, Black Entertainment Television, Court TV, the Home Shopping Network, CNN (Ted Turner sold it seven years ago), Turner Broadcasting, Turner Classic Movies, TNT and WTBS.
On the liberal side: Disney owns ABC, plus 10 television and 21 radio stations. CEO Michael D. Eisner is a Democrat (although ABC hosts conservatives George Will, John Stossel and Cokie Roberts). Viacom owns CBS. Sumner Redstone owns Viacom. He’s a liberal Democrat.
The New York Times and Washington Post, albeit not conservative, are arguably centrist in their reporting. What liberal inclinations they may have are balanced by the inclusion of conservatives like William Safire, George Will, Ann Coulter (yikes!), Robert Novalk, Charles Krauthammer, Bill Keller and Michael Kelly.
Oh, and to say that Boortz, Hannity and Savage (or O’Reilly and Limbaugh) are non-partisan is simple folly. Their tirades do not necessarily mirror popular opinion. In polls, most people favor environmentalism, worker rights and civil rights—all progressive ideologies.
Brian Wimer
Charlottesville
Masochist no more
This letter is to commend Jeffrey Fracher for his letter to the editor [Mailbag, June 17] regarding WINA’s fall from broadcasting grace. Putting aside the question of whether or not the station’s owner, Brad Eure, is a hypocrite, WINA is now—and has been for far too long—a haven for those addicted to vicious, hate-filled, right wing rhetoric.
Fracher is boycotting the station; I’ve stopped listening to it on the grounds that masochism has an extremely limited appeal. But if hypocrisy is brought into the equation, one might focus on the station’s local “personalities,” who wax fondly nostalgic about its former owner, Larry Richardson.
While I don’t subscribe to the belief that those who’ve died are watching every move we make (hey, that’s what we have John Ashcroft for!) the wholly admirable Richardson would be pained and disappointed were he aware of what’s happened to his beloved WINA. Listening to NPR is the remedy I have chosen, and I recommend it to all who are repulsed by AM 1070’s demeaning menu.
Barbara Rich
Charlottesville
Big Mac attack
I am writing in reference to the letter by Jeffrey Fracher regarding Brad Eure, the owner of WINA. Fracher thought WINA’s “nine hours of prime time right-wing radio” indicated “hypocrisy on the issue of ‘being involved in the community’ and ‘reflecting the mores of the community,’” two quotes attributed to Eure.
Following the publication of this letter, WINA’s Mac McDonald ranted in defense of his boss during the radio station’s morning show. Ironically, this sportscaster’s excoriation perfectly exemplified Fracher’s objection to WINA’s afternoon programming.
When some people are exposed to the undignified hatefulness so often exhibited by these right wing radio show hosts, they themselves (unfortunately) begin to behave in that same undignified manner that tears people apart instead of bringing them together.
By insulting NPR (and by extension all the folks who listen to NPR) and Fracher by saying he used a dictionary to write his letter, Mac McDonald—in addition to behaving childishly and unprofessionally—was being a needlessly nasty person. He could have disagreed with the letter writer by presenting facts rather than insults of an extraneous nature.
Instead, MacDonald praised Eure’s contributions to local agencies while asking Fracher what he has done for the community. In essence, McDonald inferred that unless a person publicly announces his good deeds from rooftops (or WINA), that person must not do anything for the community. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, there can be no question that those who toil anonymously to help others are doing so out of the goodness of their hearts. The motivation behind those who do not miss an opportunity to publicly notify everyone of their kindness is questionable. It often appears that such people are doing virtuous things simply for self-glorification.
Additionally, the WINA sportscaster challenged Fracher to call the station with a terse statement implying that Fracher would not have the nerve to do so, as if these two grown men should “duke it out” verbally on the air. McDonald’s inability to allow for a difference of opinion and to show respect for that difference of opinion illustrates, in a nutshell, why there will never be peace in this world. If we cannot even try to be decent to each other as individuals on a local scale, how on Earth does anyone expect whole communities to get along on a global scale?
Marlene A. Condon
Crozet
Brash in pocket
Per your fine “Brawl on the Mall” piece [June 17]: The two geese that laid the golden eggs on the Downtown Mall (both friends of mine) have flown away. However, it needs to be remembered that most of the folks who tried to kill the geese are still around, and, very likely, not thinking any clearer.
Lee Danielson did become brash, as you say, but it was months after a less genial fellow would have washed his hands of the entire matter.
Hugh Wilson
Charlottesville
Repeat offender
Tear down the Ice Park, and board up the Regal Cinemas. After all, that “brash,” irritating, ill-mannered, “Californicating” visionary developer Lee Danielson built those things, and “we don’t like his manner.” Patronizing the Ice Park and the Cinemas only honors and validates his vision for Charlottesville’s Downtown. Lee thought it was worth saving, but Lee didn’t like “small talk,” and, because of that, we don’t like Lee. So, let’s revert to the deserted, brick-paved, crime-plagued, ghetto-slum that we so proudly referred to as “our Downtown Mall.” Forget what Lee Danielson did for Charlottesville, because we just don’t like his manner.
I preferred the Downtown Mall when it was a desolate and deserted dump. I never had to wait for a table at lunch. The area was uncrowded by all “those people.” It was a nice place for a solitary stroll in the afternoon. Night? Nobody would ever go Downtown after dark. It was unsafe.
Years ago, I was told, “Don’t eat my biscuits and call me ‘jerk.’” We “judge a tree by its fruit,” because the two can’t be separated. An apple tree produces apples. When one wants apples, one patronizes an apple tree, regardless of how one may “feel” about apple trees. If one takes the Ice Park and the Regal Cinemas and an active and prosperous Downtown Charlottesville, one must take, and thank, Lee Danielson. Yes, some of us were offended by him. That’s our problem, not Lee’s. Lee Danielson was just being Lee Danielson, a visionary who saw the Downtown Mall not as the failure that it was, but as an opportunity. A source of revenue for the City. But Lee was “brash.”
In your article there was no mention of the impossible demands on Lee by the Board of Architectural Review and City bureaucrats. The saga of the pavers at the Cinema building is a good example of how difficult the “City” made it on this man who had a dream of transforming a “dump” into a “delight.”
I met with Lee Danielson on a few occasions. He was pleasant, courteous and respectful. I found him to be a straight shooter. He did what he said; however, Lee and I never discussed the weather, so I guess I should have been offended.
Thanks to you, Lee Danielson, the Downtown Mall is crowded and I have to wait for a table to eat lunch.
Jerry Clegg
Charlottesville
Barrier grief
I appreciated Aaron Carico’s article about the possibility of Mt. Zion Baptist Church becoming a performance space, and I felt honored to be interviewed for the article [“Artists to Zion: Deliver us,” Fishbowl, June 17]. I only regret that in my zeal to affirm that the Church stay connected to the black community, I may have reinforced the “invisible cultural barrier” of which I spoke.
The barrier does indeed exist in our town—but not just around Live Arts. In fact, Live Arts has worked steadfastly throughout its lifespan, not just to eliminate the barrier, but to delve into its roots and its meaning, using the medium of theater.
I remember being cornered by Karen Silverman at a party many years ago, when Live Arts was still being dreamed up. Her urgent question even then was how could we reach kids from non-white neighborhoods. Today, this question is beginning to be answered, through collaborations with local agencies, schools and neighborhoods.
Over the years, I’ve attended Live Arts plays that specifically addressed race, such as August Wilson’s Seven Guitars, Teresa Dowell-Vest’s Vinegar Hill, and of course The Wiz, which I attended with a lively group of black middle-school students. I couldn’t help but notice that even with an all-black cast on stage, the audience tended to be mostly white (including a patron at The Wiz who suggested our group not return after intermission). Experiences like this eventually prompted me to join the Live Arts Outreach Committee.
I must say that over the years, the unflagging perseverance of Artistic Director John Gibson (and more recently Education Director Jennifer Peart) has clearly paid off. Recent signs include this year’s gloriously diverse Latte House cast, and an enthusiastic reception by the Live Arts Board to a Diversity Training event led by Board member Pynke Gohaner-Lyles and her associates.
As for Mt. Zion Church, yes I can imagine it housing some of Charlottesville’s fine gospel choirs, step teams, African dancers and drummers, and works by black playwrights, as I told Carico. Naturally I would also appreciate more venues for roaming white artists, for our town’s blossoming Latino culture, and many others.
Still and all, with Mt. Zion’s proximity to the traces of Vinegar Hill’s rich cultural legacy, I believe the key decision-making power should be, as much as possible, in the hands of the black community.
Mecca Burns
earthdrama@cstone.net
Radical ideas
Regarding your list of 20 that ran in your paper [“C-VILLE 20,” June 10], there is an important clarification that needs to be made. The casual reader of the article about Aaron Hawkins may come away with the idea that Hawkins was more involved with initiating the skate park than he actually was. The person responsible for the building of the McIntire Skate Park is Duane Brown.
Hawkins is a fine young man and, no doubt, a popular business owner, but Brown has been struggling for the building of this park since the early ‘80s. I know because he worked for us at Freestyle during the many ups and downs in the planning of the park over a period of 15 years. He organized numerous meetings between the City and parents of skateboarders. Very often there were disappointments, but he persevered.
Finally, in 1998, he got the break he had been waiting for, and it came from an unexpected source. The Franklin Graham organization wanted a skate ramp built to help draw young people to their festival in 1998, so they approached Brown for suggestions. He then volunteered to build it. When the event was over, Brown donated the ramp to the City and coordinated the move over to the McIntire tennis courts (he had acquired permission from the City). From that auspicious beginning Brown became part of a larger effort to build more ramps, set the guidelines and make the park become a reality.
Many people were interested in the formation of this park through the years, Hawkins being one of those. But it was Brown who always was the backbone of the project. Without his tireless efforts, it is doubtful that Charlottesville would have a skate park today. And I believe he should get the recognition that he so richly and belatedly deserves.
Sandy Natterer
Free Union
The writer is the former owner of Freestyle, which outfits skateboarders.