Opinion Editorials, September 2010

Al-Jazeerah, CCUN, September 13, 2010

Last year, prior to passage of the federal hate crimes bill, Alex Jones, after years of ignoring my requests to allow me to warn his huge audience of the hate bill threat, finally put me on his June 8th program.

As I was waiting to begin the broadcast, Jones told me off the air that he had heard me the previous morning on Joyce Riley's program criticizing Jewish supremacists as authors of the hate bill. He said what he was about to tell me was "off the record." He said his broadcasting empire has "gotten so big" with many mainline affiliates that he cannot afford to lose those stations by criticizing Jews. "But I've got to mention ADL behind the hate bill!" I objected. "ADL is okay," he said. "Talk about ADL all you want, but we can't talk about Jews specifically." He then told me that, with this understanding, there would be many opportunities for me to be on his program, especially as new legislative threats emerged. Having said that, we were on the air. I did go after ADL and, fortunately, did not encounter any time in which I would have been morally bound to become more specific.

Yet I felt violated. I had experienced raw censorship in action, by a national talk show host who touts himself (and is believed by millions) as delivering only the truth -- whatever the cost or controversy.

Jones put me on again Oct 14th for fifteen minuntes. Yet, he was not true to his promise of future interviews, even as I repeatedly left him messages warning of more ADL legislation, such as ENDA and the cyber-bullying bill. Evidently, Jones was as uneasy about having me on as I was about operating under his gag order.

Now, with ENDA and the cyber-bullying bills most likely defeated, I am relieved I did not compromise myself in order to access Jones' vast audience. It is now so critically important that the populist right know which leaders can and cannot be trusted. The fate of our republic hangs in the balance.

What I learned, beyond any doubt, was that Alex Jones cannot be depended upon to provide the populist right with all the facts necessary to understand geopolitical reality. If he will censor the truth concerning a threat as dominant and well-documented as Jewish supremacism, what else will he manipulate?

Jones is widely regarded as the most effective spokesman for the far right, the "king of alternative talk radio."

It is time that lovers of freedom look for another.

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Rev. Ted Pike is director of the National Prayer Network, a Christian/conservative watchdog organization.

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