Despite her claims, 'Dr. Laura' is no media victim

story by Baltimore Sun
written by David Zurewik

In announcing an end to her radio show Tuesday night, Laura Schlessinger tried to paint herself as a victim of the contentious media and political times in which we live.

"When I first started out in radio, people would disagree — they disagreed, they didn't hate. They didn't try to censor, they didn't try to destroy an opposing point of view," she said.

In today's media world, however, Schlessinger says that "self-appointed activist types breed hate, breed anger, breed destruction should anyone hold up a mirror or dare to disagree."

The media climate today is indeed contentious, rude and often even ugly, but don't buy Schlessinger's "poor me" nonsense for one second. She is the mainstream media, and she embodied some of its worst impulses for decades -- and made piles of money off it. For her to try and paint herself as a victim of today's media and political climate is outrageous.

The end of her radio career (in January when her contract concludes) is the result of her own ugliness on-air with a caller last week who asked "Dr. Laura" about the use of racially charged language. Schlessinger used the N-word repeatedly in her answer, and listening to the tape, I was shocked by the aggression that I could hear building in Schlessinger's voice. She was using the word as a weapon.

Some of my colleagues have used the glib phrase "she lost it" to describe Schlessinger's comments in that exchange, but I think it was almost the opposite: I think perhaps she was letting her speech connect to some deep seated feelings she had, and that is what made her words all the more troubling to me.

Schlessinger is spinning a mile a minute as her career in the mainstream media ends and she moves into a more marginalized terrain. And she is good at constructing phony narratives after all her years as a talk radio star.

"I want my First Amendment rights back, which I can't have on radio without the threat of attack on my advertisers and stations," Schlessinger says, stressing that she is not retiring when she leaves the radio airwaves in January.

"I will be stronger and freer to say my mind through my books, my YouTube Channel, my blog and my website," she says.

Whatever, Dr. Laura. But don't blame the media for what you did to yourself.