Thursday, August 15, 2013

Journal Broadcast Group's Breath-Taking Hypocrisy

Journal Broadcast Group - - the Journal Communications arm that underwrites and touts hours of daily conservative radio and Internet advocacy for marketplace supremacy, smaller government, less-regulated business and greater free enterprise - - now asks the Wisconsin Department of Justice by letter to intervene on its side in a contract dispute with cable TV carrier Time Warner:

The letter...requests that the Department of Justice "commence an enforcement action to require Time Warner to fulfill its statutory obligations to provide Wisconsin customers with a credit for the service they have been denied and to stop charging for programming it is not providing."
This makes a mockery of the talkers' repetitive claim that mooching special interests like liberals, unions, trial lawyers and environmentalists - - all the right's punching bags - - use government to tilt the scales and pick winners and losers.

Fine to run ads like this one organizing consumers to protest, but hypocritical to enlist tazpayer-paid public sector allies when your own talkers and Right Wisconsin writers tell audiences everyday that businesses shouldn't look to government for leverage.

An earlier post on the issue.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is a surprise? Hypocrisy displayed by a small government corporation. I'm afraid not.

They only want individuals to lose protections from their government.

They always want themselves to have all the protections that the laws allow and then some.

Anonymous said...

IOKIYAR's corollary, IOKIYAC: It's Okay If You're A Corporation

Jake formerly of the LP said...

Well if JournalComm says they have a right to be on time Warner Cable, then liberal talkers have a right to be on AM620 and TMJ-4 TV. Only seems fair.

Between this and Ellis kissing the ring to try to help JournalComm, it's quite clear "Wisconsin's news station" really is earning their nickname of WGOP

Gareth said...

I'm guessing that Time-Warner has more money available for political donations than Journal Communications, so good luck. Sometimes pay-to-play politics and justice backfires. Let the auction begin.

Anonymous said...

I have no love for Time Warner Cable. That being said, I am completely annoyed with TMJ4.
The Journal does give the broadcast away for free. If TWC does have to pay for the broadcast, they should be 1. allowed to insert their own advertising to offset the cost. and 2. TWC should be allowed to shop for the best deal. I have no problem watching a Madison broadcast, or a station from Iowa for that matter. The network broadcast is the same. There are plenty of other choices for local news. TWC should be allowed to negotiate the best deal for the sports such as Packers games.
The problem with the less than a cup of coffee argument is that shortly after the Journal getting a cup of coffee, their would be a line out the door by other stations each wanting their own cup of coffee. In short order TWC (and the other tv providers) would be serving more coffee than George Webb, and the cost to the consumer would skyrocket.

Anonymous said...

If they took the obscene amount of money they are spending to vilify Time Warner Cable and invested it in their newsroom then TMJ4 would not be the tabloid joke they have become.