View From the Phlipside - Right Network

My name is Jay Phillippi and I've spent my life in and around the media.  TV, Radio, the Movies and more.  I love them and I hate them and I always have an opinion.  Call this the View From the Phlipside.

I’m not quite sure what to make of this next item.  Part of me is all in favor of folks expressing their points of view and using the media to do it.  On the other hand I worry when the idea is to restrict the points of view to just one way of looking at things.

The item under consideration is a new TV network, set to launch this summer, called quite simply “The Right Network”.  It’s slogan is “All that’s right with the world”.  Now that may sound like it’s going to be a happy, why doesn’t somebody report good news for a change kind of thing but I’m pretty sure that’s NOT the version of the word right they mean.  Some of their programming looks interesting if only because it’s not the same old, same old that we’ve seen before.  They’ll be offering a show called “Running” which follows 6 first time candidates for public office (one of whom refers to the seat he’s running for as being “infested” by his opponent.  Not exactly sunshine and puppy dogs).  There’s also one called Politics and Poker where they discuss politics while playing Poker.  It’s novel.

The network is financially supported in part by actor Kelsey Grammar of “Cheers” and “Frazier” fame.  The network claims that it will be “Pro-America, Pro-Business and Pro-Military”


If you go to their website at rightnetwork.com and look under the “About Us” link  you’ll find the following statement:

“Our mission is clear: to entertain, engage, and enlighten Americans who are looking for content that reflects and reinforces their perspective and worldview.”

In other words programming for people who don’t want to hear what anyone else thinks or has to say.  And yes, that bothers me.  Not I will be quick to add because it’s conservative in orientation.  I’d be just as bothered if it were liberal in orientation.  Note the words that are not used here - words like inform, expand, explain or question.  This is all about not challenging pre-conceived notions.  It’s about the sureness that you are are correct in all particulars and don’t need to hear anything else.  It is at the same time intellectually arrogant and intellectually lazy.

So I guess I sure of one thing.  The Right Network is Wrong.

Call that The View From the Phlipside.

"The View From the Phlipside" airs on WRFA-LP Jamestown NY.  You can listen to WRFA online HERE
Copyright - Jay Phillippi 2010