Armed Resistance

8 December 2003


NRA May Buy TV, Radio Outlet

The National Rifle Association announced last week that it was thinking of buying a TV or radio station so it could freely express its opinions just prior to elections. There was the usual whinging from those who hate the NRA, but their complaints are misplaced. This move just might make American politics a little more honest.

The current election laws are a mess, to the point where Mr. Bush and some of his challengers are declining public financing because they can raise and spend more privately raised cash. The current idiotic rules do not permit the NRA, a lobby of 4 million pro-gun (and some say anti-responsibility) Americans, to mention federal candidates names who appear on state ballots just before the election.

However, the NRA makes a point that may have even greater implications for American politics and media. "We’re as legitimate a media outlet as Disney or Viacom or Time-Warner," said Wayne LaPierre, executive vice-president of the NRA. He added, "Why should they have an exclusive right to relay information to the public?" And indeed, the organization does publish a dozen or so magazines including American Rifleman and American Hunter. And does not Disney have an agenda? Doesn't it gain from getting people into amusement parks and movie theatres? Surely, it is biased when it comes to media regulation and entertainment related policies of the FCC.

Perhaps this is the greatest contribution the NRA will ever make the American society, breaking the ridiculous belief that the media can or should be unbiased. The claim that there is a liberal or conservative bias in America is a huge complaint among fans of talk radio (depending on the program and outlet). The truth is that America would be better served if the media quit pretending there was no bias, that objectivity were possible. Any editor can explain that the mere selection of the news of the day, let alone how it is presented, reflects one's bias even before a single reporter is assigned anything.

If there is an NRA-TV, and a NOW-TV, and an NAACP radio Network, and a Green Party Newspaper chain, the stories wouldn't be any more slanted than they are now. But the news consumer would certainly be treated to a fairness that is lacking right now. One just wonders if the NRA will be able to buy the rights to the old Chuck Conners series, "The Rifleman." It would be unseemly if it couldn't.

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