top
Education
Education
Indybay
Indybay
Indybay
Regions
Indybay Regions North Coast Central Valley North Bay East Bay South Bay San Francisco Peninsula Santa Cruz IMC - Independent Media Center for the Monterey Bay Area North Coast Central Valley North Bay East Bay South Bay San Francisco Peninsula Santa Cruz IMC - Independent Media Center for the Monterey Bay Area California United States International Americas Haiti Iraq Palestine Afghanistan
Topics
Newswire
Features
From the Open-Publishing Calendar
From the Open-Publishing Newswire
Indybay Feature

The Next Armstrong Williams: Caplis accepted “payola” to attack Ward Churchill

by brubaker
An anonymous tipster working with, what was referred to as, a “faith-based think tank”, claims that KHOW/Clear Channel’s Dan Caplis accepted a “gift” from the unnamed group to spread the biased Ward Churchill story in an attempt to “frame the left”, the anti-war movement, and the 9-11 truth movement into “one package”. The person also stated this was a ploy to set-up an “Ideological Enemy” on “American Soil” and to re-invent Ward Churchill as a “sacrificial lamb”.
Details are sketchy.
The claims made by the tipster, if true in whole or in part, would suggest that the neo-conservatives are digging in their heels for another cointelpro-style battle in the homeland. Ward Churchill could be an ideal candidate for the neo-cons because of the fissure created in so many camps such as free speech, 9-11, racism, Native American rights, and the growing anti-Iraq War sentiment. Others have noted that this may be an attempt to push America back toward the right by evoking the emotions of 9-11. With the administrations campaigns to wage wars abroad waning on the world stage, a war at home may be up the neo-cons sleeves to eradicate or minimize their political enemies, which neatly falls into all of the above mentioned issues.
The fervor, credited with originating with Caplis, does follow the pattern of “talking points” that are handed down from producers to talent in both radio and television newsrooms (see “Outfoxed” for reference.)
It is also interesting to note that Ward Churchill has been at the forefront of ousting the governments CoIntelPro (Counter Intelligence Program) and has been critical of the lefts failure to react to repressive government tyranny, making him a very visible and controversial target of many groups.

The tipster also claimed to have tried to break the story elsewhere but is afraid for his/her life.
The FCC is currently investigating another DJ, Armstrong Williams, for accepting $150K to push Bush administration propaganda.
Caplis may have also violated ethics laws as well because both he and his co-host, Craig Silverman, are licensed attorneys.

The IMC has received this information second hand from a supposed corporate newspaper source who is being barred from running the story and has no further information regarding the whistleblowers or if any of the claims can be verifiable.
Add Your Comments
Listed below are the latest comments about this post.
These comments are submitted anonymously by website visitors.
TITLE
AUTHOR
DATE
Is
Wed, May 11, 2005 11:46AM
Caren
Sat, Feb 12, 2005 10:35PM
Jim Lippard
Sat, Feb 12, 2005 7:37AM
cop
Fri, Feb 11, 2005 2:35PM
military fella
Fri, Feb 11, 2005 11:09AM
B.J
Thu, Feb 10, 2005 9:25AM
karl roenfanz (rosey )
Thu, Feb 10, 2005 6:33AM
We are 100% volunteer and depend on your participation to sustain our efforts!

Donate

$110.00 donated
in the past month

Get Involved

If you'd like to help with maintaining or developing the website, contact us.

Publish

Publish your stories and upcoming events on Indybay.

IMC Network