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Hispanic Media Group Takes a Different Tack Regarding Talk Radio
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The
National Hispanic Media Coalition, a group critical of what it considers hate
speech, is publicizing a study called “Using Biological Markers to Measure
Stress in Listeners of Commercial Talk Radio.”
The
study, performed by the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center, involved 13 men
who listened to a 23-minute segment of Michael Savage’s syndicated “The Savage
Nation” radio show. The subjects, 11 of whom described themselves as
politically liberal, experienced an increase of cortisol (i.e., hydrocortisone)
in their saliva. This the research center indicated could “potentially” lead to
“stress-related” cancer or chronic inflammatory diseases over a long-period of
time.
This was part of a series of studies by the Chicano
Studies Research Center at the University of California, Los Angeles, aiming
to use “scientific methodologies to investigate the characteristics and impact
of hate speech that is broadcast on commercial talk radio.” NHMC President and CEO Alex Nogales
drew this conclusion from the study: “Hate speech can be harmful to the people
that listen to it. While the impact of hate speech against targeted groups,
such as Latinos, has always been easy to imagine, this study demonstrates that
the harm is not isolated to targeted groups and that it could, in fact, even
harm the physical health of those that are ideologically aligned with the
haters.”
He added: “For years people have told us to just turn the channel if we
don’t like what we’re hearing, but today we are reminded why that measure is
wholly inadequate.”
These findings though are unlikely to
impress those who would dispute the characterization of Savage as “hate speech”
in the first place. The report is described as a pilot study; it apparently
used no control group nor subjected the men to talk hosts they presumably might
have found more politically palatable. Nor did it present material such as news
or sports programming which might have also produced reactions to which these
results might be compared.
The authors did include caveats. They wrote: “Lack of significant statistical correlations between the
demographic characteristics of the studied population and the experimental
variables examined suggests that the correlations and trends that were observed
in the data may represent a general effect that is not specific to
race/ethnicity, nativity or ideological alignment with talk radio programs. If further study confirms these findings, the implications
are significant with respect to the physiological impact of hate speech on both
vulnerable groups and those targeting them. The pilot study established that
the methodology described in this report can be useful in future research on
the effects of hate speech. More work needs to be undertaken to determine the
correlation between hate speech and the biomarkers studied.”
Here is the report in PDF format.
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