College radio exists to give a voice to eager young students who have fresh and radical ideas about what the medium can accomplish. To that end, one of Bearcast’s finest (and newest) shows, Explore Cincinnati, is bringing local activism to the station in a big way. The natural result of activism is that someone will have their toes stepped on.
This, too, has happened in a big way, manifesting itself in this article posted at the Cincinnati Beacon.
The short version of the whole fracas goes as follows: Explore Cincinnati recorded a debate about bringing street cars to Cincinnati, and presented the audio during their show on February 13. Travis, the host of the show, and his guest, are both pro-streetcar, and as such they criticized the argument of the man who was against the street car, Jason Happ (who goes by the charmingly self-agrandizing handle of “The Dean of Cincinnati”). Happ, who writes for the Cincinnati Beacon, decided to make a point-by-point counter-rebuttal to Explore’s points.
Suffice it to say, the whole rebuttal was quite hilarious (at least to me), but also quite aggravating. He casts aspersions on the station as a whole, and generally dismisses us as meddling kids who should stay out of the way of grown-up affairs. I decided to post a comment on his article, calling him out on some fundamental issues with his attitude. The full text of the comment can be found below. I am posting it here in case he doesn’t approve it. To have legitimate proof that he is trying to “handle” criticism of his criticism would be a sweet, sweet thing.
Those are my thoughts on the matter. See the full quote below.
Beacon Bias! The Streetcar Debate
Your claims of bias on the part of Bearcast illustrate not only your lack of understanding of how media and opinion operate, but also your misunderstanding of how to foster a healthy dialogue between two opposing viewpoints.
At every step, you defer to a sentiment resembling “YOU MEDDLING KIDS!!!,” which not only debases your position, but strengthens the position of Travis, Jake, and others who support the streetcar movement.
You may have valid points. Anyone who supports anything besides Holocaust Denial has valid points. However, the fact that you have to rework and rephrase your talking points based on even the lightest criticism indicates that you didn’t state them clearly or properly to begin with. You are responding to criticism of your debate by revising your argument, which invalidates what you were trying to say in the first place.
Moreover, I resent your implications (and the implications made in the comments) that Bearcast is poorly run, or some kind of sham. College radio, at its finest, should put forth honest criticism and do things that can’t be done in the big world of professional airwaves. Explore Cincinnati, as a show, exemplifies this by EDUCATING and AGITATING. Effective activism angers the right people. It’s proof that there are people at UC who know and care about what happens to our town. Their criticism of YOU only inconveniences YOU, and the existence of an audible counterpoint to the anti-streetcar side of the argument is nothing but healthy for the debate as a whole.
Bias in the media is not unethical. It exists all over, and is an acknowledged fact of life. To bandy the term about is a redundant act of self serving attention grabbing. If there was a show dedicated to patting you on the back and performing all kind of lurid favors for your argument, we wouldn’t hear a peep from you, but that would be just as “biased” as the opposite. The audience for a radio show is self selecting, just like the audience for this article is. You give listeners no credit for being able to discern the angle of a show. Instead, your implying that listeners need to have the record set straight is insulting at best.
In the interest of full disclosure, I must admit that I too am a DJ on Bearcast, and as the assistant to the programming director, I have a great deal invested in what gets on the air. Explore Cincinnati is a tremendous asset to our station, and I’ve got to thank you for bringing controversy to the show. Bearcast can only benefit from being considered active participators in the Cincinnati community.
I am posting this comment as an article on my own show’s site, just in case you see it fit to not approve its addition to the list. It can be seen at http://www.donttreeriddle.com. Healthy debate is never silenced, it just gets quieter in one location and louder in another.
Cincinnati Beacon responds to Explore Cincinnati [Via Explore Cincinnati]
People will disagree on the issues, I understand that. The thing that’s bothering me so much right now is the fact that at least 3 UC radio alumni are bashing Bearcast. These comments are counterproductive, ad hominem attacks, and only lower the Cincinnati Beacon’s credibility in the community. I can’t understand why 3 alums who claim to have had successful careers in broadcasting are wasting their time bashing college students on the Internet. If you want to criticize my content, I will listen, but stop the stupid personal attacks.