Buying Your Way Into Airline "Radio News" [1]
Submitted by John Stauber [2] on
"The caller to Joanne Doroshow's office last month described
himself as working for Sky Radio Network, a company that
produces programming for Forbes Radio, one of the audio
channels available to passengers on American Airlines. As the executive director of the Center for Justice and
Democracy, a nonprofit organization that casts itself as a
champion of consumer rights, Ms. Doroshow was asked if she
would be interviewed for a talk show examining the issue of
tort reform. When Ms. Doroshow agreed, she said, the caller
informed her that it would cost her organization $5,900 to
have its point of view heard. When Ms. Doroshow balked, she
said, the caller offered to see if it could be reduced to
$3,500. 'I was furious,' Ms. Doroshow said. 'I thought this was
another way corporations are dominating what people hear,
and are getting only their side presented because they're
willing to pay for it.' "