PEJ Talk Show Index: October 14 - 19, 2007, The Talk Hosts Get Personal

It may have been the biggest Manhattan media mugging mystery since the 1986 attack on Dan Rather, the notorious incident in which his assailant reportedly asked: “Kenneth, what's the frequency?”

This one all began with a violent Oct. 14 incident in which Randi Rhodes—the outspoken liberal talk radio host—suffered facial injuries near her New York City home. The next day, another liberal host, Jon Elliott, told listeners that Rhodes had been assaulted, and, according to an account in the Talking Radio Blog, wondered whether it was “an attempt by the right-wing hate machine to silence one of our own.”

With the prospect of politics playing a role in the attack, the story took off, both in the mainstream media and the blogosphere. Liberal talker Ed Schultz told listeners that Rhodes was a victim of “felonious assault,” adding, “I certainly hope this was not a situation where you were stalked or targeted.”

 Read the full article The Talk Hosts Get Personal at the Project for Excellence in Journalism Web site.