Young Turks in the News
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Arianne Schrodel arianne@station26la.com Phone: (310) 584-1207 MAJOR MEDIA APPEARANCES for The Young Turks 
MSNBC Talking about Obama and Gitmo on September 25, 2009. MSNBC (1600 Pennsylvania Ave) February 20, 2009 and February 24, 2009 (or here.) CNN Headline News, November 5, 2008 CNN Headline News, October 6, 2008 CNN Headline News, October 3, 2008 CNN (Paula Zahn Now!) 6/25/07, 6/21/07, 5/8/07, 1/4/07, 1/5/07, 3/30/07. CNN-HN (Primetime with Erica Hill) May 3, 2007. MSNBC (Countdown with Keith Olbermann), March 13, 2007. CBS Evening News with Katie Couric Scarborough Country (MSNBC), Febuary 9, 2006. The O'Reilly Factor (Fox News Channel), October 25, 2004. At Large with Geraldo Rivera (FNC) on February 19, 2005. The Abrams Report (MSNBC). Fox News Live with David Asman. Dennis Miller Show (CNBC): November 18, 2004, January 11 and April 15, 2005. WHYY-FM, Philadelphia NPR: April 11, 2007. READ WHAT THE PRINT MEDIA ARE SAYING ABOUT THE YOUNG TURKS  Los Angeles Times, February 19, 2006: MSNBC Viewers Lobby for a Liberal Host. New York Daily News quoted Cenk in an article about Glenn Beck, September 12, 2009. Mother Jones MoJo blog, November 20, 2008. FishbowlLA, November 5, 2009. Kern Valley Sun October 27, 2009 Media Bistro October, 2009 New York Post quotes Cenk Uygur (8/6/2008). Associated Press covers a Young Turks video clip, January 13, 2008. FoxNews, 9/20/2007 France 24, October 2008 New York Times, September 19, 2007: Radio Show Claims Colbert Stole His Joke. September 19, 2007: US News & World Report - Washington Whispers. September 19, 2007: Radio Person Suing TV Star For Stealing Klingon Joke. September 19, 2007: Publicity Shy Air America Host Wants to Sue Colbert Over Ownership of Fairly Obvious Klingon Joke. Associated Press - September 19, 2007: NEW YORK(AP) - A talk-radio host is claiming Stephen Colbert stole his joke. Cenk Uygur of Air America 's morning show "The Young Turks" insisted on his program Wednesday that Colbert used his joke on Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report." Uygur posted a video on YouTube comparing his joke _ which he claims he first told on his Sept. 7 radio program _ with a segment that aired on "The Colbert Report" four days later. In both jokes, Uygur and Colbert suggest that the Republican presidential candidates sounded like Klingons from "Star Trek" while speaking about the value of honor. Renata Luczak, a spokeswoman for Colbert, said the comedian had no immediate comment but will most likely address it on the show. As a mock conservative pundit, Colbert has often engaged in mock feuds. An e-mail sent to Uygur's spokesman seeking further comment was not immediately returned. ______________________________ Los Angeles Times, March 19, 2006: Can't get on the Network? Get on the Net. Also featured in The China Post; Vatan; Canal 8; Orlando Sentinel, KTLA (The WB); Free Press; The Daily Press of Hampton Roads, VA; Huffington Post; After Downing Street; Talk Entertainment. ______________________________ MEDIA QUOTATIONS ABOUT THE YOUNG TURKS “From little-known talkers to big shots in radio and on the Internet. Love Air America or not, The Young Turks will soon be that network’s headliners.” Paul Bedard, US News & World Report “The Turks, all under 40 and with an infectious zeal for lampooning the right-wing Establishment, are fun to watch and listen to… More than just entertaining.” Ron Grover, Business Week “(The Young Turks have) helped pioneer the rapidly developing field of online programming.” Matea Gold, Los Angeles Times “Part Howard Stern, Part Howard Dean… The Young Turks offer a host of innovative programs with a political edge.” Kathy Newman, Pittsburgh City Paper “Maybe (the Democrats) could tune in (to The Young Turks) for some ideas.” The Detroit News “(The Young Turks are) changing the face of radio.” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid “The role and impact of new media on the electoral process grows every year. The Young Turks get it. Their live webcast reaches and engages people where they live and work. It has become a part of the national conversation on the air and over the Internet.” General Wesley Clark ___________________________________  CENK UYGUR at Huffington Post has an interesting roundup of clerics with controversial views and close ties to political figures, most of whom, it turns out, do not provoke media feeding frenzies or demands that respectable politicians utterly dissociate themselves from the religious leaders in question: Jerry Falwell said America had 9/11 coming because we tolerated gays, feminists and liberals. It was our fault. Our chickens had come home to roost, if you will. John McCain proudly received his support and even spoke at his university's commencement. Reverend John Hagee has called the Catholic Church the "Great Whore." He has said that the Anti-Christ will rise out of the European Union (of course, the Anti-Christ will also be Jewish). He has said all Muslims are trained to kill and will be part of the devil's army when Armageddon comes (which he hopes is soon). John McCain continues to say he is proud of Reverend Hagee's endorsement. Reverend Rod Parsley believes America was founded to destroy Islam. Since this is such an outlandish claim, I have to add for the record, that he is not kidding. Reverend Parsley says Islam is an "anti-Christ religion" brought down from a "demon spirit." Of course, we are in a war against all Muslims, including presumably Muslim-Americans. Buts since Parsley believes this is a Christian nation and that it should be run as a theocracy, he is not very concerned what Muslim-Americans think. John McCain says Reverend Rod Parsley is his "spiritual guide." Mr Uygur attributes the apparent double standard to racism, but I think a better explanation is the one he offers a bit later: The views espoused by Mr McCain's friends in the clergy are easily as offensive as anything Jeremiah Wright has said, but they all fall within a broad sphere of issues we generally recognize as religion's territory, where we tend to tread lightly even when the religious position in question is profoundly repugnant. Mr Wright's controversial comments read as objectionable political views that happened to be delivered in a sermon, and so are not met with the deference normally afforded to views seen as flowing more directly from faith.Also, I desperately, desperately want a "Rod Parsley is my co-pilot" T-shirt. ___________________________________ Interview on BridgesTV.com on August 14, 2007. ___________________________________ 
Air America Radio Host Headlines Rally - by Josh Campbell, November 7 1, 2007. ___________________________________ 
Young Turks Adds Young, Liberal Voice to Local Airwaves - by Heath Harrison, May 1, 2007. HUNTINGTON -- When it comes to politics, people under 30 are often labeled as apathetic and uninterested, but a radio station in the Tri-State hopes its morning show will appeal to a younger audience and help break that stereotype. "The Young Turks," a nationally broadcast talk show on the liberal Air America Radio network taking on politics, news and pop culture, has been building an audience in the 6 to 9 a.m. slot on WCMI-AM 1340 since September. WCMI Assistant Program Director Brandon Millman said the show offers a youthful perspective on politics and was a proven success as Sirius Satellite Radio's first national liberal program. "They're one of the hottest commodities in progressive radio," Millman said recently. Young Turks co-host Ben Mankiewicz said making politics interesting is always tough. "You have to do it in a way that is engaging and truly makes it relevant to people who are watching, listening or reading," he said. Mankiewicz, a weekend presenter on Turner Classic Movies (His grandfather is "Citizen Kane" screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz) and former reporter and anchor, shares duties with Cenk Uygur, an attorney and blogger for The Huffington Post. Mankiewicz said younger voters are more savvy and can tell when the media is not covering politics honestly. "I don't mean that the media is lying, but they so easily buy into the spin," Mankiewicz said. "The 24-hour news cycle has made that worse because it's so rapid that the time to add layers and perspective to your coverage has evaporated." Mankiewicz said politics is too often covered as a horse race. He also said the media tends to reduce issues to a "he said/she said" format. He cites global warming as the biggest example of this practice. "I'm not an active environmentalist in any way shape or form, but I believe in science and 928 peer-reviewed studies on one side and none on the other," Mankiewicz said. "Talk shows on the right say the jury's out. The jury is in. You want to find 10 guys that claim global warming is not manmade -- they're wrong. Nobody gets talk show hosts and reporters to point that out." Uygur said many commentators on cable news do not connect with younger viewers and that their approach feels like it comes from another generation. "I think Tucker Carlson grew up in 1912 or something," Uygur said. "Where did they find a guy who's young and apparently did not grow up with the rest of us?" Uygur cites MSNBC's Keith Olbermann as one of the few who breaks this pattern. "It's not just because he's liberal. He does the pop culture stories and has sports references," Uygur said. "He has references I can relate to." Uygur said that the only candidate running from either party making a successful attempt at luring younger voters is Barack Obama. "He's talking about the need to change the whole system," Uygur said. "They're tired of this pro-life/pro-choice thing and all the old arguments. It's not their argument and Barrack Obama gets that." Mankiewicz said the show's goal is to make news something the audience can relate to. "We're not trying to reinvent the wheel, but we're trying to make things more relevant and honest," Mankiewicz said. ______________________________ 
The New York Times blogtalk, February 6, 2007. _____________________________  Profile of Cenk Uygur on politico.com, July 25, 2007. ______________________________ 
The Right Stuff from a Lefty Trio (2/7/06) ______________________________ 
By DAVID HINCKLEY, DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER The progressive network Air America unveils a new lineup Monday, with Jerry Springer disappearing from local flagship WWRL (1600 AM) and former morning host Rachel Maddow reappearing in the early evening. The network has also signed a new morning show, "The Young Turks," which combines political commentary with entertainment. That show will not be heard on WWRL, however, because WWRL has kept its own morning show of Sam Greenfield and Armstrong Williams. "The Young Turks," who are Cenk Uygur, Ben Mankiewicz and Jill Pike, has been on Sirius Satellite since 2002 and been streamed as video on the Internet since last year. "It's a movement toward being more entertaining without losing our progressive edge," says a spokeswoman. ______________________________ 
Howard Kurtz column in Washington Post, February 27, 2006: Cafferty's cutting remarks have made him a hero to some on the left. Liberal radio host Cenk Uygur called for Cafferty to get his own prime-time show, saying on Huffington Post.com that "he is a rare truth-teller on cable news." Howard Kurtz column in Washington Post, June 29, 2006. Howard Kurtz column in Washington Post, June 9, 2005. Howard Kurtz again in Washington Post, June 23, 2005. ______________________________
The gossip column by Jeannette Walls on MSNBC.com ______________________________ Interview with Ben Mankiewicz on FilmStew.com. Voice of America News (April 13, 2006.) Vocie of America news (December 5, 2005). ______________________________  July 11, 2007: Democrats Vote to Defund Cheney According to the AP, a Senate appropriations committee chaired by Sen. Richard Durbin "moved...to cut off funding for Vice President Dick Cheney's office in a continuing battle over whether he must comply with national security disclosure rules." The Panel "refused to fund $4.8 million in the vice president's budget until Cheney's office complies with parts of an executive order governing its handling of classified information." The AP notes that Cheney's office "argues that the offices of the president and vice president are exempt from the order because they are not executive branch 'agencies.' ... But Durbin insisted that Cheney's office is explicitly covered because the order applies to 'any other entity within the executive branch that comes into the possession of classified information.'" In a piece for The Politico illustrating the left's dwindling patience, Cenk Uygur, co-host of 'The Young Turks' on Air America Radio, notes that a new poll "indicates for the first time that a majority of Americans want Vice President Cheney impeached. ... Meanwhile, the so-called opposition party has promised that they will not even consider this option. That's beyond weird." September 19, 2006: Even Liberals Know Sex Sells If all those bankruptcy rumors about liberal Air America Radio are true, then maybe its new morning-drive-time feature show, The Young Turks, can help in more ways than just spicing up the airways. As in sharing profits from its hugely popular $6.99 girlie calendar that features curvy young cohost Jill Pike. "We've made more money off those calendars than Cheney has from Halliburton," says Cenk Uygur, another cohost of the show that debuts on Air America September 18-and also switches from Sirius to XM on satellite radio. The third cohost,Ben Mankiewicz, adds: "Guys want Jill's calendar so much that we're thinking about giving out her phone number so they can just call her and ask her what the date is." May 30, 2005: Are Turks Taking Their Talk to TV? Sirius Satellite Radio's homegrown liberal commentators, the Young Turks, may have a future in TV, thanks to an E-mail campaign targeting MSNBC and pushed by St. Louis blogger Wendy Dickson , who runs commonsensemom.com. Enough E-mails have arrived on President Rick Kaplan 's computer that "we're going to take a look at their pitch," said a spokesman. Why TV? Turk Ben Mankiewicz said there are too many righties there. "The time has come for regime change in American television." September 13, 2006: Air America's young turks Starting Monday, I'm going to have to seriously consider getting XM Satellite Radio. That's because The Young Turks, the loudly liberal counter to the right-leaning presets on my Sirius Satellite Radio, are jumping ship to XM and taking their politics and entertainment show to Air America Radio where they'll own the very important morning drive time. It was just a few years ago when their spokeswoman called to promote the trio–Cenk Uygur, Ben Mankiewicz, and Jill Pike–to us as the first talk show on Sirius. (Jill's the calendar babe.) Of course, at the time I'd never heard of satellite radio so Sirius had to send me one, and I've been renewing my subscription ever since. Anyway, the trio has gone from little-known talkers to big shots in radio and on the Internet. Love Air America or not, The Young Turks will soon be that network's headliners. On his recent Huffingtonpost blog, Uygur conceded that no matter how good the trio is, "our show will not save the world." But they'll sure shake it up. Check them out Monday. December 20, 2004: Siriusly Weird It isn't exactly Watergate, but a similar third-rate burglary of a Democratic target is drawing comparisons to the notorious Nixon-era bungle. Recently, the Los Angeles offices of Sirius Satellite Radio's chatty liberal show, The Young Turks, was vandalized. Clipped: equipment that hosts Cenk Uygur and Ben Mankiewicz needed to broadcast. At the same time, Uygur's car was stolen. The scheme worked. Deprived of a ride to work, or a way to get on the air, The Young Turks hosts were knocked off Sirius for a day. Uygur picked his favorite target to jokingly blame. "We knew it was Tom DeLay, " he says of the House majority leader. ______________________________ Wharton School of Business Journal (Winter 2004). Pittsburgh City Paper (Oct. 28 - Nov. 3, 2004) What: The Young Turks When: 2-6 p.m. (Saturday); 4-6 p.m. (Sunday) What you'll need: A radio, 1550 "The Edge" AM, the Internet , or a subscription to Sirius Satellite Radio. This quirky radio outfit is part Howard Stern, part Howard Dean, and comes to us from Los Angeles. Their mantra? "We don't make the news, we make the news sexy." The Young Turks include their founder, Cenk (pronounced "Jenk") Uygar, an East Coaster of Turkish origin (hence the name of the show) who kicked around law firms and mainstream TV/radio stations until he moved to L.A. He started the Young Turks with his friend and former co-worker in TV, Ben Mankiewicz. They have been joined by a twenty-something woman, Jill Pike, who is a cross between the show's sex-kitten mascot and the poster child for their demographic: Pike is a former non-voter who now chastises her audience for being apathetic. The Young Turks offer a host of innovative programs with a political edge, and a few that are just plain silly. They provided a real-time "play-by-play" of the presidential debates as if the debates were a sporting event. This format, claims Uygar, has since been copied by Michael Savage (on the right) and Janeane Garafalo (on the left). Another segment, called "You're Going Straight to Hell by Pat Robertson" offers "quotes from Pat Robertson's book that in essence tell you why you're going to hell no matter what you do." Another segment, called "Kickin' with Kerry," is a "totally political segment" in which the Young Turks talk to high-level Kerry advisers. This is mostly serious, they claim, except when they ask "what it's like to drink or party with John Kerry." Today the Young Turks are comfortably left-of-center, but they didn't start out that way. Uygar used to be a Republican. One of his favorite presidents is George Herbert Walker Bush. And he supported Bush Jr. during the war in Afghanistan. But the invasion of Iraq pushed the Young Turks to the left. In the early days of the war they lamented what they call the twisted doctrine of "pre-emptive strike," and the difficulty U.S. troops would face in an urban war zone. They decried the Bush tax cuts. They railed against the "Fake News Channel" (FOX) and what they call the "copycat" networks, CNN and MSNBC. When Uygar and Mankiewicz started peddling their show they met with a lot of resistance from L.A. radio stations. "Station managers," Uygar tells me, "are cowards." "Then again," he adds, "they have to be. If they try a new format, and it doesn't work, they are fired instantly." One company, however, was willing to take a chance on the Young Turks: Sirius Satellite Radio. Sirius broadcasts the Young Turks and Air America Radio on the line-up they call the "Sirius Left." Sirius spokesman Ron Rodrigues says he sees "a pent-up demand by people who want a liberal viewpoint. Radio stations, including Sirius, are identifying entertaining and liberal talk-show hosts to engage their audience." Rodrigues argues that it took the left awhile to figure out what it was that made Rush Limbaugh successful: "The left got too caught up in Rush Limbaugh's ideology and not his personality. It was both. Finally, radio is getting it." ______________________________ Story in Internet News (December 13, 2005). F5, the Alternative Paper in Wichita KS (Sept. 9, 2004) ______________________________ Article on progressive radio in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on September 27, 2004 US News and World Report (October 18, 2004) Siriusly talk radio Schlock-jock Howard Stern 's move to Sirius, announced last week, awoke us to this whole new satellite radio thing where pundits from both sides have been toiling in this year's political vineyards. But, says Ben Mankiewicz, a cohost of Sirius's left-leaning Young Turks show, "Stern brings us credibility." For the uninitiated, Sirius has a politically left channel featuring the Turks and others and a politically right channel hosting Tony Snow and other conservatives. US News & World Report - White House Bulletin, October 20, 2004 Kerry's Daughter Rebukes Critics Of Mary Cheney Reference Alexandra Kerry is lashing out at the Bush-Cheney team for criticizing her father's reference to Mary Cheney as a lesbian when he answered a question on gays at the third and final presidential debate. She called the attacks from Lynne Cheney and the Bush White House an attempt at "character assassination" on her father. She first aired the charges on satellite radio in an interview on Sirius with the liberal "Young Turks" program this week. A transcript was sent to the Bulletin and U.S. News today. Sirius made headlines recently by signing shock jock Howard Stern to join in 2006 and getting Ford to add the radio system to more models. Asked about Lynne Cheney's claim after the debate that Kerry was a "bad man" for mentioning her daughter's sexual preference, Kerry's daughter said Republicans "do not have issues to run on. This is really about that they are scared and they have nothing to say. (This is) frankly a character assassination on my father." She noted that after Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. John Edwards made a similar reference in his debate with the vice president, Dick Cheney thanked him. "This is really about that they are scared and they have nothing to say. Instead of going back onto issues, they go on the personal attack." -- Bulletin exclusive from U.S. News ______________________________ 
Los Angeles Business Journal, October 18-24, 2004 Excerpts below: Howard Stern will have plenty of company in the world of satellite radio--and much of it is home grown. Nearly a dozen satellite hosts originate programs from Los Angeles-area studios, and some of the names make up a motley list of radio personalities, celebrities and pop culture icons. Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. boasts the largest stable of L.A. talent. "If they happen to be located in Los Angeles, we make it easy for them to broadcast there," said Sirius spokeswoman Elise Brown. "It really depends on the talent we find. If it's a program not available anywhere else, and it sits with our programming strategy, we go with it." Satellite radio works in much the way traditional radio does. Some shows, like Blackwood's, are prerecorded, while others are live and take callers. The main differences: satellite radio is commercial-free and hosts are unfettered by Federal Communications Commission regulations. On the talk circuit, producer and host Doria Biddle broadcasts from a Wilshire Boulevard studio where she dissects entertainment and pop culture happenings on Sirius' gay and lesbian channel. "Out Q," which launched in February, also features New York-based co-host Frank DeCaro, who appears on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" and writes a column for The New York Times. On Sirius Left, Ben Mankiewicz co-hosts the left-leaning "Young Turks," an irreverent three-hour program oriented toward young adults in their 20s and 30s. From their studio on Wilshire Boulevard, the three hosts, Mankiewicz, Cenk Uygur and Jill Pike, aim to counter conservative talk radio hosts. At first, the hosts questioned the legitimacy of doing satellite radio because, among other things, they had no idea how many people were listening. As Sirius' subscriber base has grown, Mankiewicz said he and his hosts have become bullish on the industry's future. "As with cable TV, it's what everyone will have," he said. "I've never been on the ground floor of anything successful before. It's fantastic." ______________________________ The Detroit News Weblog (January 29, 2006). ______________________________ Boston.com (Boston Globe online) from January 2006. Internetnews.com from December 13, 2005. Minneapolis Star Tribune - February 3, 2007. |
