Social Networks for Hate Speech: Commercial Talk Radio and New Media

A study released by the National Hispanic Media Coalition (NHMC) and UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center (CSRC) found that the hosts and guests on prominent conservative talk radio shows contribute to "hate speech" against ethnic, racial, religious groups and the LGBT community on social media networks.

The study, entitled "Social Networks for Hate Speech," analyzed the role that five prominent conservative talk radio shows play in spreading hate speech on social websites. It examined the guests, topics and content on The Rush Limbaugh Show, The Sean Hannity Show, The Glenn Beck Program, The Savage Nation, and The John and Ken Show. The study found this social network is dominated by media personalities, Republican political figures and/or Tea Party activists, while routinely ignoring alternative points of view from issue-driven organizations. Other key components of this network include Premiere Radio Networks, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Clear Channel Communications that nationally syndicates three of the five shows examined, and Fox News, whose media personalities appear most frequently on the shows.

The study completed over the last 18 months also determined that:

• The social network of hate speech propagates a narrow set of priorities, such as messaging that often includes anti-immigration and anti-Islamic focuses.
• In this highly insular network, immigrants are routinely referred to as "illegal" and law-breaking, while Islam is portrayed within the context of terrorism.
• An overwhelming proportion of scheduled guests on these shows were white (89 percent) and male (81 percent), matching the race and gender of the hosts.
• Political figures who appeared as guests were largely members of the Republican Party (93 percent) and/or affiliated with the Tea Party movement (89 percent).
• The top five ideological positions of scheduled guests were determined to be anti-federalist (23.6 percent), pro-Republican (19.1 percent), pro-Tea Party Movement (12.1 percent), anti-Islamic (11.1 percent)and anti-immigration (8.5 percent).
• Though 88 topics of interest were identified, immigration emerged as the most discussed topic, dominating nearly one-quarter (23.9 percent) of all topic segments.