US 'Arab American News' newspaper said that US hard-line radio stations are some of the main platforms to attack Muslims in the US. It also affirmed that US Muslims are almost every day exposed to racial discrimination in radio programs, most of which are presented by intransigent conservatives.
To prove that Muslims are targeted in US radios, the newspaper, which is the Arab community's mouthpiece in the US, reported the dialogue in which US hard-line presenter, Michael Savage, whose program is the third most-listened-to in the US, while talking about the last attacks in Britain, described a woman wearing the 'Burqa' (Complete Veil) as a 'hateful Nazi' who wants to kill Americans and their children.
In his radio talk-show which was broadcast all over the US every Monday and was discussing the arrests carried out on the background of the latest attacks in Britain, Savage said: "When I see a woman walking around in a 'Burqa', I see a Nazi". He then added: "That's what I see - how do you like that? - a hateful Nazi who would like to cut your throat and kill your children."
Later on he said that when a Muslim woman wears a 'Burqa', "she's doing it to spit in your face. She's saying, 'You white moron, you, I'm going to kill you if I can'. "
The newspaper pointed out that Savage's program is followed by more than eight million listeners every week, according to the US Talkers Magazine. This makes it the third most-listened-to talk show in the US after The Rush Limbaugh Show and The Sean Hannity Show.
The newspaper also reported that Savage discussed the arrests of Muslims in Britain saying: "Why are they calling one of the Muslim doctors - one of the terrorists - a brilliant neurologist? What has he done that makes him brilliant? Dr. Mohamed Asha came in (to Britain) on asylum. Oh please, can we come to England? We're oppressed in our home country. Oh sure, come in. Bring your entire brood with you. Bring your, bring your - I'd like to use the word I'd use in a bar - bring your wife with you in a 'Burqa'."
Commenting on women wearing this kind of garment, he said: "Don't give me this crap that they're doing it out of a sacred ritual or rite. It's not required by the Koran that a woman walks around in a seventh-century drape. She's doing it to spit in your face."
Savage criticized the US immigration system, believing that this is what brought what he called 'Muslim terrorists' to the US. He said: "You saw what they almost did to us with illegal immigration. They're not protecting us properly from the Muslim terrorists amongst us - the same way they didn't protect us from the illegal immigration assault."
Savage expected the immigration system to cause another blow to the US. He said: "We're going to get hit again, as sure as I'm sitting here, because they won't do what needs to be done."
The newspaper affirmed that the US famous commentator Cal Thomas had accused Muslims in the West to disseminate the culture of hatred and compared them to a 'slow-spreading cancer', which, despite its slowness, must not be tolerated but indeed removed.
Speaking in a talk show on the FM station WTOP, he called for Muslims to be prevented from migrating to the US. He said: "How much longer should we allow people from certain lands with certain beliefs to come to Britain and America and build their mosques, teach hate and plot to kill us?"
Tomas criticized President Bush's visit last week to the Islamic Center in Washington on the 50th anniversary of its foundation. He believed that this was a sign of weakness of the administration in front of Muslims.
The conservative commentator said: "Each time something like this happens, President Bush apparently feels the need to take off his shoes and go to the Islamic Center, where he frankly grovels. If I were plotting America's destruction I would see this as weakness. Does the administration really think it will convert killers to non-killers simply by saying nice things? If so, they are dangerously naïve."
According to the newspaper, Tomas is renowned for his strong criticism of Islam and his bias toward the Israeli occupation. He takes part in a program criticizing the media on the hard-line Fox News channel. He also presents a daily radio news analysis broadcast on more than 300 radio stations nationwide, according to what he says on his website.
The newspaper also warned that intransigent and conservative orientations control US radio stations, quoting a report issued at the end of June by US organizations concerned with monitoring US media. This report unveiled that conservative orientations largely dominate political talk shows in US radio stations.
The report, which covered 257 news and talk show radio stations possessed by five of the main owners of trade stations, revealed that 91% of all radio talk shows broadcast on working days are conservative, while 9% are progressive. The report also showed that conservative radio talk shows are broadcast every working day on these stations for a total amount of 2,570 hours and 15 minutes, compared to 254 hours of progressive talk shows. In other words, the former are ten times the latter.
The newspaper quoted a statistic carried out by Arbitron, a company measuring radio ratings. There the company said that more than 90% of at least 12-year-old Americans listen to the radio every week. This means that radio in the US can break into American lives more than television, magazines, newspapers and the Internet.
