KFI Put Ratings Ahead of Responsibility
Re: “Germany Deports 2 Neo-Nazi KFI-Radio Guests” (Calendar, April 15):
KFI program director David Hall professed surprise that the German government would bar John Metzger, a notorious American neo-Nazi, from accompanying one of his talk-show hosts to Germany. “We don’t know Mr. Metzger,” he said. “Except for this one project we really don’t have anything to do with him. I guess there’s a lot about him that we really don’t know.”
Such faux naivete speaks volumes about radio’s elevation of ratings over responsibility. Did KFI really not know who it was dealing with when it underwrote Metzger’s air fare to Germany and Poland? John Metzger and his father, Tom, have long been active in a variety of white supremacist organizations, including the White Aryan Resistance, the Ku Klux Klan and the White Student Union. Both Metzgers were found legally liable for inciting neo-Nazi skinheads to beat to death an Ethiopian immigrant in Portland in 1991.
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Did the station think it was appropriate to mark Holocaust remembrance week by providing an avowed anti-Semite with an opportunity to broadcast his incendiary ravings from Dachau and Auschwitz?
Propriety and responsibility seem to mean little in a world in which hate produces maximum market share. During ratings sweeps periods, many television and radio talk-show hosts feign self-righteousness as they interview bigots of every stripe. Rare is the Warren Olney or Joel Roberts, hosts who have clearly done their homework and who examine issues of race and religion with care and thought. Too many hosts simply offer couches and platforms for media-savvy extremists who promote divisiveness. Media and bigot feed off each other and each is satisfied: The bigot magnifies his significance, and the radio station manufactures controversy. The result is pollution on the airwaves.
No one denies that radio stations have every right to offer alternative and even noxious views. However, surely a modicum of preparation is called for before giving air time to an extremist. If KFI was unaware of Metzger’s views and propensities, what purpose was there in having him broadcast from concentration camps? If KFI was aware of those views, was the point simply to exploit the Holocaust for ratings?
It is difficult to believe that Bill Handel, the morning personality who was to broadcast with Metzger, imagined Metzger would have an epiphany and abandon his bigotry in Auschwitz. It is a pipe dream to think that Metzger sought anything other than an opportunity to capitalize on his notoriety. In offering Metzger a respectable forum, KFI would have simply provided him the attention and the audience he craves.
And in showcasing a bigot, KFI and Bill Handel would have paid a price. They still may have. Dirt sticks.