Spocko makes it USA Today

By:
Nicole Belle

Let
no one doubt that the blogosphere–even just a lone
blogger–has the power to frame and shape the national
debate. This story still has legs in the traditional media
because the blogosphere has continued to push back after ABC/Disney’s
strong-arm tactics. Go Spocko.

USA Today:

In a dispute between the “new media” of the Internet
and the “old media” of broadcasting, liberal bloggers and conservative
talk-radio hosts are accusing each other of trampling the First
Amendment’s guarantees of free speech.

[..]Some advertisers, including Bank of America and MasterCard,
have deserted KSFO since an anonymous media critic identifying himself
online as Spocko began posting recordings of the station’s “Hot Talk”
hosts. Spocko and some of his readers have been e-mailing the audio to
KSFO advertisers since 2005, asking the companies whether they want to
be associated with the controversial rhetoric.

The First Amendment flap was debated Sunday on CNN’s
Reliable Sources. Dan Riehl, a blogger critical of Spocko, said some of
the radio hosts’ comments “were blown out of proportion or
misrepresented” in the complaints to sponsors. Mike Stark, another
blogger and a Spocko ally, said: “The way to fight free speech that you
disagree with is to engage in more free speech. And that’s exactly what
Spocko did.”

[..]”Yes, this is a freedom of speech issue, and this individual
is entitled to say what he wants to,” Morgan told the San Francisco
Chronicle. “But he’s trying to take away my livelihood, and I’m not
trying to take away his.”

(EFF attorney Matt) Zimmerman says Spocko’s rights are in more
peril than the station’s. “ABC/Disney tried to use the legal process to
silence a critic who was actually amplifying their speech,” he says. “Spocko was doing exactly what the First Amendment is designed to do – promote this marketplace of ideas.”