The Jeff Farias Show

At 3 PM PACIFIC At 4 PM MOUNTAIN and LOCAL AZ At 5 PM CENTRAL At 6 PM EASTERN:

• Broadcasting live here and simulcast on • Roots Up Radio and Jerva Westerort Local Community Radio – 91.1 Stockholm, Sweden

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At 5 PM MST Eric Boehlert returns! Eric is the author of Lapdogs: How the Press Rolled Over for Bush (Free Press, 2006) and Bloggers on the Bus: How the Internet Changed Politics and the Press (Free Press, 2009). He worked for five years as a senior writer for Salon.com, where he wrote extensively about media and politics. Prior to that, he worked as a contributing editor for Rolling Stone. Boehlert has a bachelor’s degree in Near Eastern studies from the University of Massachusetts and is a Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America.

We will discuss his most recent article The Myth of Fox News’ Ratings Spike “Fact: The breathless claim that Fox News’ ratings recently spiked thanks to the White House’s public critique is bogus hype — hype that Fox News and the Beltway press have relentlessly pushed. It’s just not true.”

“… Boehlert’s readable book captures the passion and quirkiness of many of these characters, and charts their role in several game-changing episodes. A senior fellow at Media Matters for America, Boehlert focuses on the liberal blogosphere, dubbed “netroots,” and dismisses conservative bloggers as too attached to yesteryear’s talk radio and largely irrelevant.

Triumphantly and persuasively, though without actual proof, he asserts the blogosphere’s role in John McCain’s “lopsided, Internet-fueled defeat.”

Bloggers, he writes, “helped democratize the process by sapping the mainstream media of some of its previous, oracle-like control over the campaign narratives.” They “vetted Sarah Palin better than the GOP,” “unleashed blog swarms on offensive cable commentators who diminished Democratic candidates” and pushed key issues onto the mainstream media’s agenda.

An army of eyes, ears and memories, bloggers served as a ubiquitous virtual truth squad, different in one vital way from professional journalists: They aggressively took sides.

Who were they? The likes of Robert Greenwald, Hollywood television producer turned viral video maker; Joe Anthony, a paralegal whose Obama MySpace fan page drew 160,000 friends; the “slightly rebellious, unrepentant minister’s daughter” Jane Hamsher; the former professional saxophonist John Amato; ex-mechanic Bruce Wilson; and high school math teacher Stephanie Craig. … “, Jun-Jul.09, “Off the Bus“, book review by Carl Sessions Stepp, American Journalism Review

“If you’re looking for a blog’s eye view of Campaign ‘08, Bloggers on the Bus is a terrifically readable and carefully reported book. Highly recommended.”, – review by Kevin Drum, Tues.5.May.09, Mother Jones

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