My letter to Hudson:

As a frequent traveller for business, via NYC area airports and trains, I have noticed that your newstands play "Fox News" continuously in public spaces. I have been told by store managers that this is due to contract you have to do so. As you know, "Fox News" is both partisan, one-sided and biased. Not only do independent surveys show that people who watch "Fox News" know more things that are objectively not true then people who watch other news outlets, but Fox News has also been actively promoting violence against government employees. As an American citizen who happens to be a low-level career (non-policial) government employee with a wife and kids, and on this the anniversary of the right-wing hate-media inspired domestic terrorism of Oklahoma City, I am asking you to change the channel. American is a free country. People have the choice to play any channel they wish. But a corporate choice to play Fox News in public spaces also has consequences. If you choose to play Fox News, at your stores, in public spaces, then you are choosing to associate your company with them. Your products of newspapers, magazines, candy, drinks and incidentals are commoditities. They are available from many outlets. And people also have a right to freely choose which company they buy them from.

I sent the letter before 9:00 AM eastern time, and was hoping for something back by 5:00 PM eastern time, but so far nothing.





Look folks, this is how the corporate interconnectedness works against any real left populism:

On the one hand, while they certainly had some other problems, let us not forget the role that an organized corporate advertising boycott was part of the weakness and demise of Air Amerca.

By contrast, at least since the Powell Memorandum was operationalized by William Simon, the nastiest elements of corporate America have known exactly what they need to do, to work together to get their word out.

Writ large, it is the interlocking combination of rich right wing individuals, many coporations, their lobbyists and assorted beltway bandits, 99% of the Republican Party and 50% of the Democratic Party, and of course the right wind noise machine.

And writ small, it is the exclusive contract of Hudson to sell newspapers in many airports and railway stations, coupled with their exclusive contract to blast Fox "News" in these busy commuter public-private spaces.

So far there is no adequate counter-balance to the right wing noise machine of which Fox "News" is the most important. The mainstream corporate media is blandly even-handed with false equivalence most of the time. The so-called liberal station MSNBC has two hours of liberal programming per day, and is not seen in malls, airports and train stations nationwide.

Meanwhile one small thing we can do is ask them to change the channel and turn off Fox "News."

Or boycott their goods and services.