Clear Channel owns the Prez
Or is it the other way around? Paul Krugman kicks ass. Again. Is no-one listening?
Most of the pro-war
demonstrations around the country have, however, been
organized by stations owned by Clear Channel
Communications, a behemoth based in San Antonio that
controls more than 1,200 stations and increasingly
dominates the airwaves.
…
Experienced Bushologists let out a collective “Aha!” when
Clear Channel was revealed to be behind the pro-war
rallies, because the company’s top management has a history
with George W. Bush. The vice chairman of Clear Channel is
Tom Hicks, whose name may be familiar to readers of this
column. When Mr. Bush was governor of Texas, Mr. Hicks was
chairman of the University of Texas Investment Management
Company, called Utimco, and Clear Channel’s chairman, Lowry
Mays, was on its board. Under Mr. Hicks, Utimco placed much
of the university’s endowment under the management of
companies with strong Republican Party or Bush family ties.
In 1998 Mr. Hicks purchased the Texas Rangers in a deal
that made Mr. Bush a multimillionaire.
…
What makes it all possible, of course, is the absence of
effective watchdogs. In the Clinton years the merest hint
of impropriety quickly blew up into a huge scandal; these
days, the scandalmongers are more likely to go after
journalists who raise questions. Anyway, don’t you know
there’s a war on?
