What's the Frequency, Paul

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What's the Frequency, Paul This is the page for more information about "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?"... my "newsicals" consisting of narration music and soundbites .

Each program is 59 minutes long and sets the week's news to music. . Episodes air and stream on various Pacifica stations, The Public Radio Exchange (prx.org) and other non commercial outlets. This program is produced/hosted by Paul Fischer... former writer (24 years) for Dan Rather on the CBS Evening News and former News Director of 2 Pacifica Radio stations (WBAI NY and KPFA Berkeley). After retiring from CBS News, I have returned to my roots in public
radio.

18/09/2025

And then...they came for Jimmy Kimmel.

Who will be next. There will be a next.

There's hypocrisy. And then, there's shameless hypocrisy.

Shameless hypocrisy is claiming Merrick Garland "weaponized" DOJ against you...and then "weaponizing" it in ways more aggressive than anyone imagined.

Shameless Hypocrisy is claiming cancel culture came for you...and canceling whole networks, universities and law firms with bogus billion dollar lawsuits, funding cuts and pending business mergers that need your approval.

Shameless hypocrisy is claiming you are free speech advocates, and then bullying critics to silence them.

Shameless hypocrisy is an FCC chair who previously spoke of the need for unfettered satire and then fettered a satirist on CBS and a satirist on ABC by threatening broadcast licenses.

And what was the Kimmel straw that broke MAGA camel's back? He had the temerity to question whether Charlie Kirk's assassin was a radical leftist....or a leftist at all. Good question. Especially, when Trumpworld is using this assertion to justify a crackdown on "leftists".

Unless i missed something, the assassin said he hated Kirk and called him a fascist...apparently for his views on trans people.

Trump is on record saying he hates his opponents and calls them fascists.

And then, they came for....

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08/09/2025

n principle, there's nothing wrong with a news organization hiring an "ombudsman" to ensure its own internal standards are being upheld.

But no matter how pure the motives of Mr. Weinstein, and the assurances given by the company, ... the position itself...and Mr. Weinstein in it..result from the settlement of a multi billion dollar defamation case brought by President Trump... widely perceived as an attempt to intimidate a free press...at a time when Trump appointees had the power to hold up the Paramount merger with SkyDance.

That doesn't sound like an ombudsman.

That sounds like a cave to ideologically motivated MAGA
pressure... on a lawsuit based on a bias claim concerning a 60 Minutes Interview of Kamala Harris that abided by CBS News standards...the same standards used by most major news organizations.

Namely...in editing an interview...the question and the portion of an answer you use must come from the same question and answer. Check. In editing an interview, the question and answer must not alter the meaning of that exchange. Check.

The fact that CBS News did not apologize as part of the settlement should make it clear that there was nothing to apologize for....even if the company paid 15 million dollars to make him go away.

But just you wait and see. He will not go away. He will be back.

Because, the guy who said you were biased and that you tried to make Kamala look good...is the same guy who cancelled Kamala's Secret Service detail on 3 days' notice...just before she begins a book tour of The US, UK and Canada.

And BTW.. Trumpworld is so arrogant, they didn't even bother to wait a respectable amount of time between the settlement and the approval of the Paramount merger to avoid an appearance of quid pro quo.

The CBS News I worked for and at for 31 years went through a few things, but nothing quite like this.

Most of the time...the folks in the front office had our backs....even when corporate might not.

I hope that is still the case.

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06/09/2025

During my decades in journalism, the guiding thought transformed from " the medium is the message" to... what's the next delivery system and how to use it...from cable ...to streaming...to you tube channel,etc...and apparently, less and less thought to the content.
How else to explain it? There was story after story rightly pointing out how Ghislaine Maxwell got herself a transfer to a club fed after her "interview" with Trump lawyer turned top DOJ official Todd Blanche..in which she exonerates Trump of any wrongdoing...not even a lack of chivalry.
And yet. No journalist has zeroed in on the question that needs answering. Who approved the Maxwell prison transfer. And why.
(crickets)
The Trump team is so arrogant they didn't even bother to come up with an excuse for it, let alone a cover story. And no reporter seems interested enough to pursue it..or even publicly note the lack of an answer.
Likewise, lots of reporters have noted Speaker Johnson's recent "revelation" that Trump feels deeply for the women survivors of Epstein...and...wait for it..Trump was " an FBI informant" on Epstein?
Lots of raised eyebrows on that one.
And yet. Where are the raised questions? Where is the question to Trump: Is it true, Mr. President? were you an FBI informant in the Epstein case?
Where is the question to DOJ:
Trump was an FBI informant in the Epstein case? Please explain. After all, a good number of FBI informants are people who turn states' evidence in return for not being charged..if they help reel in a bigger fish.
So what do you mean Trump was an FBI informant in the Epstein case?
A good question asked in the right place will attract attention on any platform. Unless i missed something, it's still the content that matters in journalism, not the delivery system.

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01/09/2025

It was such a pleasant surprise to see today's New York Times article on Dan Rather, that i ran out and bought a print copy of the paper....except the article wasn't in the print edition i got of today's paper.

I knew Dan was still writing regularly for his substack page...and i'm always happy to mention how many young followers Dan has now...it makes me smile because of how many times i heard execs say Dan needed to retire so the evening news could attract a younger demo ( how's that working out for you?)

I didn't know Dan was still working with Wayne Nelson and Alice Maggin. Good for him. And Good for them. Wayne was always a steady and standup fishbowl producer on evening news.

Dan's relevance and courage in 2025 are immeasurable... if you can remember how much flack he took for his early and often warnings of the danger Donald Trump poses to democracy.

If i were half the writer i think i was, i still couldn't explain what it meant to start writing for the CBS Evening News under Cronkite and then spending so much of my adult life writing for The CBS Evening News with Dan Rather.

And suffice it to say that would not have been possible without my prior service on The Hunter Arrow, WBAI fm, KPFA fm and freelancing for CBC's "As It Happens"

I look forward to reading Dan Rather's columns for a long while to come.

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Each program is 59 minutes and devoted to the news of the week mixed with music. Episodes air and stream on various Pacifica stations, The Public Radio Exchange (prx.org) and other non commercial outlets. This program is produced/hosted by Paul Fischer... former writer (24 years) for Dan Rather on the CBS Evening News and former News Director of 2 Pacifica Radio stations (WBAI NY and KPFA Berkeley). After retiring from CBS News, I have returned to my roots in public radio.