Posted on 01/30/2012 1:15:35 PM PST by STARWISE
Activists are expressing serious concerns that Mitt Romney’s private equity firm Bain Capital owns one of America’s largest media conglomerates, Clear Channel Communications, Inc., which broadcasts numerous popular talk-show hosts with incalculable influence in the 2012 GOP primary.
Among the radio personalities syndicated by Clear Channel or aired on hundreds of stations it owns nationwide are Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, Glenn Beck, Michael Savage, and many others.
Because of the San Antonio-based media giant’s enormous influence — it is the largest owner of radio stations in the United States, and experts point out that it essentially owns what has come to be known as the conservative talk-radio industry — Romney critics, supporters of Ron Paul and Newt Gingrich, Tea Party groups, and elections commentators are all raising the alarm.
Some analysts are even calling for the firm to disclose the fact that Romney’s Bain Capital owns a station or syndicates a show whenever a media personality is reporting on the Republican presidential campaign.
Former Politico.com reporter Ben Smith, now the editor-in-chief of BuzzFeed, called out Rush Limbaugh on Thursday for defending Romney and Bain Capital without disclosing that his employer is owned by the candidate’s firm. “Talk radio king Rush Limbaugh has emerged as a key defender of Mitt Romney’s tenure at Bain Capital, where — his Republican and Democratic critics charge — layoffs at companies Bain owned should be blamed on Romney,” noted Smith. “But Limbaugh hasn’t mentioned his own tie to the venture capital firm: Bain owns Clear Channel Communications, whose subsidiary inked a $400 million, eight-year syndication deal with Limbaugh in 2008.”
It turns out the talk-radio titan had actually revealed the connection later on in the show, and Smith updated his article to include that fact when he was made aware of it by readers. But the explosive story attracted more media interest in the subject nonetheless.
Bain Capital joined with private-equity firm Thomas H. Lee Partners to buy Clear Channel in 2008, with the announcement made shortly before Romney’s 2008 run for the GOP nomination. The $25-billion deal included around 1,000 AM and FM stations, as well as dozens of televisions stations that were later sold off.
Clear Channel subsidiary Premiere Radio Networks — the largest radio syndication service in America with talk-show hosts including Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and Sean Hannity — was also part of the package. According to the company’s website, its radio programs reach nearly two-thirds of the American people each week through some 5,000 radio affiliations.
“Think about that the next time you're flipping channels on the radio and realize that Rush Limbaugh calls the candidates ‘Romney,’ ‘Non-Romney,’ and ‘Loony,’” noted Delaware elections examiner Angel Clark in a piece detailing the connections. “Why do these other candidates get called ‘Non-Romney’?”
Today, of course, Romney no longer leads the firm he co-founded, though Bain Capital and Bain & Co. are shoveling gargantuan sums of money into his campaign. But Romney still owns a huge stake in the company and profits handsomely from it, according to his financial disclosure report. And analysts say he undoubtedly still wields at least some degree of influence.
“If you have been wondering why so many conservative talk show hosts are being so incredibly kind to Mitt Romney, this just might be the answer,” explained a popular blogger commenting on the Bain Capital-Clear Channel connection, saying it was improper for one of the Republican front-runners to have such an overwhelming financial stake in talk radio. “In the media world, there is a clear understanding that you simply do not bite the hand that feeds you…. If you were making tens of millions of dollars a year, wouldn't you be very careful to avoid offending your boss?”
It remains unclear how much influence Bain Capital actually exerts over the day-to-day operations of its employees at Clear Channel. However, even the perception of a potential conflict of interest has led to severe and growing criticism of both the media behemoth and Romney.
Clear Channel and its subsidiaries have been criticized on several other fronts in recent times, too. Last year, for example, its Premiere Radio Networks syndication service was exposed using paid actors to call into talk shows and read scripts. Some cynics have even suggested that pro-Romney callers on conservative shows may have actually been well-paid propagandists reading from a prepared script.
What is clear is that very little serious scrutiny and criticism of Romney or Bain Capital has been broadcasted by Clear Channel radio stations and talk-show hosts in recent years. More than a few, however, have been very vocal in their support for Romney.
I seriously doubt it.
SO WHAT?
Anyway, Rush don’t pick candidates. He picks on them all, equally.
Holy crap. No wonder the media is so far up Romneys wazoo.
I heard Rush make a reference to Bain Capital and Clear Channel, but, no way are any of the conservative talk show hosts in the tank for Romney. Consider the source.
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Romney is essentially Limbaugh’s business partner, that is the source of the outrage when he is attacked by conservative candidates.
Limbaugh’s business partner is more important that his supposed principles. Same with the rest of them. There is a lesson here for conservatives about their media ‘heros’.
Whats it like to be a romroid?Have a real nice day now.
Reality politics, reality TV, reality books, reality radio ... reality media?
Follower$ duped??? Drudge, Coulter, Limbaugh, Ingrahams, Hannity, etc., reality media?!
IMHO, we’ve been FReepin’ played for pay!!
(no link)
$400-MILLION MOUTH - CLEAR CHANNEL GIVES LIMBAUGH RECORD-SETTING DEAL
New York Post (NY) - Thursday, July 3, 2008
Author: BRIAN GARRITY
Clear Channel ‘s Premiere Radio Networks is giving talk radio powerhouse Rush Limbaugh mega-dollars in a new multi-year contract extension worth a reported $400 million.
The pact, a record setter for terrestrial radio, is said to be an eight-year agreement for $38 million a year, plus a signing bonus of a whopping $100 million.
Premiere declined to comment on the numbers.
The new deal replaces an existing pact signed in 2001 worth $285 million that was set to expire next year.
For the broadcast business, which is facing a tough advertising environment and mounting competition from iPods, the Internet and satellite radio, the Limbaugh agreement answers the five-year, $500 million monster pact that Howard Stern signed to go to Sirius Satellite Radio in 2004.
Limbaugh , who will be on the air 20 years next month, attracts one of the most formidable audiences in the industry, with almost 20 million listeners.
Clear Channel CEO John Hogan called Limbaugh , whose conservative talk show is syndicated on 600 radio stations nationwide, a “once in a lifetime” broadcaster.
“He has an unmatched platform of station affiliates,” Premiere President Charlie Rahilly told The Post. “From an audience standpoint, no national talent reaches the kind of numbers he reaches, and over the last few years, in terms of sponsors, Rush has really figured out a way to sell people’s products like crazy.”
Rahilly likened the deal to a so-called “360”-style agreement, due to the multi-rights aspect of the agreement. The company will share in the profits from Limbaugh ‘s daily radio show; from “The Rush Limbaugh Morning Update,” a syndicated 90-second commentary that airs weekdays; “The Limbaugh Letter,” a monthly newsletter with over 300,000 subscribers; and rushlimbaugh.com, which includes Rush247.com, a subscription service.
(snip)
Romney no longer works for Bain Capital. He may own stock, but he doesn’t run the company any longer.
As the poster said, consider the source.
“He who eats my bread, sings my song.” Harry Cohn, Columbia Pictures
Absolutely, sir. Cui prodest, and more.
The Tea party and its fellow travelers, being the new age silent majority, is about to shake the entrenched establishment’s world as they know it, and they’re running scared. They are prepared to go to any length to prevent reform, and it is time to shine light on these roaches and force a reckoning, before no reckoning is possible - a point we rapidly approach.
This election is for all the marbles. This election is for the heart and soul of the representative republic our founders, through Providence, gifted us with.
We are at the end game, and we the people, the sovereigns, for our sake, the sake of our progeny, and that of the modern civilized world, must cherish, must defend, and must ensure the very existence of our republic, to our last breath.
Failure is not an option. This republic must prevail, or a darkness we cannot imagine will envelop us, the likes of which and from which we will not awaken for a thousand years, if then.
“Romney no longer works for Bain Capital. He may own stock, but he doesn’t run the company any longer.”
Link please.
See also voting stock, common stock, limited liability, etc.
Well said.
For the record, none of these are my “heroes.” Having said that, I call bs on your posts. Sounds like you are a troll.
These folks are talking into a microphone for their paychecks. It’s what they do. They are entertainers looking for an audience. Some of them are rich, some of them are accurate... but all of them talk into a microphone for money.
For the record, none of these are my “heroes.” Having said that, I call bs on your posts. Sounds like you are a troll.
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Well newbie I have been here a 11 years longer than you romneybot.
Limbaugh is getting 400M from Bain capital are you stupid enough to think that Bain capital doesn’t see an advantage to having the company founder as President of the US?
Really?
Think Limbaugh wants to P*ss off his business partners are Bain Capital who fund his lifestyle?
What conservative accomplishment has Romney ever had in public office?
Name one?
He is MORE LIBERAL THAN MCPAIN.
Limbaigh should be ripping him every day on his record. He isn’t.
Now try 2+2 newbie.
I've been "feeling", "sensing" a darkness...for awhile now. This is TRULY a spiritual war we are up against.
Without your permission, I'm putting your post on the prayer thread....
Please and thank you.
Well, and my dyslexic grammar and tense in my post?
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