Righting the wrongs of radio rhetoric

RADIO REVIEW:GEORGE HOOK IS no one's idea of a bleeding-heart liberal.

As the host of

The Right Hook

(Newstalk, weekdays) he has long honed his growling curmudgeon shtick, combining exasperation at transgressions against common sense with a grumpy indifference to much contemporary culture.

It says something about the politics of Michael Graham, his regular contributor on US affairs, that Hook can pitch himself as his guest’s ideological polar opposite whenever he appears on the show.

So right wing are the views of the Boston-based talk-radio host that a gruff rugby-loving former businessman like Hook sounds as offended by his opinions as the most politically correct yogurt-knitter. Graham’s robust conservative ethos and disdain for effete European mores are real enough, but an element of panto also underpins the jousting.

After the shooting of the congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in Arizona, however, Hook sounded more sombre during last Monday’s slot. The rhetoric of the right-wing media in America, he said, had raised the political temperature so much that such a crime was inevitable.

A raucous exchange of views ensued, but Hook had a serious point about the milieu in which his guest operates. When Graham later derided environmental concerns – “I’m trying to understand how global warming is causing freezing weather” – Hook gave a more nuanced take on the matter before landing his punch.

“The problem is that you’re the most intelligent nutjob on right-wing radio,” he said, “and you can twist the facts suitably to fit your case.” Amid the banter Hook stuck to his underlying point: selective evidence and political demagoguery are the stock in trade of the likes of Rush Limbaugh and Fox News. When Hook spoke about the “power of language” it sounded like a sermon on the broadcaster’s duty not to inflame on false grounds. Despite his bluster Hook is more fair and balanced than he appears.

Pat Kenny has flirted with more contentious issues than his sober image suggests, in the past inviting environmental sceptics on to his radio show ( Today, RTÉ Radio 1, weekdays). But Wednesday's interview with Green Party Minister Eamon Ryan was a model of considered debate. In the light of the proposed climate-change bill, Kenny probed Ryan on problematic issues, such as the uncompetitiveness of wind power and the wisdom of setting tough targets during a recession.

Danny McCoy of the employers’ group Ibec and John Bryan, president of the Irish Farmers’ Association, also voiced concerns, but this was no climate-change denial. McCoy and Bryan instead worried that the legislation would be rushed, hampering growth. It was an illuminating and reasoned discussion. But it was also a bit worthy and dull, a reminder that reasoned broadcasting has a downside.

There were no such constraints when Jim Corr appeared on Moncrieff(Newstalk, weekdays). The least glamorous and most male sibling in The Corrs has reinvented himself as a conspiracy theorist, not that he would characterise himself thus. Rather, Corr is on a mission to reveal the "new world order", which sees 13 families from royal and banking elites using fake terrorism and environmental fears to cow the populace of Europe, America and Asia into a one-world government.

Seán Moncrieff sounded doubtful, though he allowed his guest to expound his views without antagonism or, indeed, laughter. But Corr’s ideas inhabited a looking-glass world, where the facts could be fitted to support his theory.

This plot had been going on for centuries, he said. The reason for the first World War was the establishment of the League of Nations; similarly, the second World War led to the UN. John F Kennedy was assassinated because “he didn’t toe the line”. The events of 9/11 were questioned. And the bailout of Ireland was proof that plans for a single world government continues apace.

For all his bizarre views Corr cut a genial and engaging figure, oblivious to some of the more unsavoury aspects of his confrères. He sounded genuinely shocked when told that the climate sceptic Sir Christopher Monckton, with whom Corr was on a speaking tour, had in the 1980s advocated drastically curbing the civil liberties of Aids sufferers.

That said, Corr’s appearance provided more entertainment value than his entire musical output. But one does not have to be part of a vast worldwide conspiracy to dismiss his singular worldview. In politics, if not in radio, a sense of perspective is necessary.

Radio moment of the week

Wednesday's Liveline(RTÉ Radio 1, weekdays) featured predictable wailing about the profane language of Mrs Brown's Boys, starring Brendan O'Carroll, and The Savage Eye, with David McSavage. Joe Duffy dissected the merits of the two TV comedies. Duffy said McSavage was a good actor but was sniffy about his fans in the press. "All the TV critics and The Irish Timeslove David McSavage and his right-on humour," said Duffy, "but they don't like Brendan O'Carroll because he's too mainstream."

Duffy then delivered the coup de grace: Mrs Brown's Boysgot 760,000 viewers, The Savage Eyeonly 130,000. The public's verdict is the only one that matters to a mainstream figure such as Duffy.

radioreview@irishtimes.com