Some Issues Too Tough for Air America Minnesota

Part 2 of 2: Janet Robert Responds
Part 1 is here.

An article in CityPages this week has quotes from three former employees accusing Air America Minnesota station owner Janet Robert of censorship. Last summer she sent a memo to bloggers countering the one leaked to Centrisity, stating it was only a draft and the real policy was just to help guest and weekend hosts deal with controversial issues:

Because certain hot button social issues such as gun control, abortion, or gay marriage tend to arouse strong emotions among our listening audience, JR Broadcasting wishes to be respectful in discussing these issues. It is the position of JR Broadcasting that persons often hold positions on these issues as deeply held moral beliefs that therefore deserve respect, and focus on these issues can undermine the very opportunities we seek to advance.

Robert also responds to claims of censorship in the CityPages article:

Robert insists that there's no prohibition on flashpoint topics such as abortion and gun control. "It's not that we don't talk about them," she notes. "That's just false. Anybody who listens regularly knows we do." She says that the only guideline is not to continuously dwell on these controversial topics and to treat all opinions with respect. "I don't want to hear people ridiculing people at Planned Parenthood," she says. "I don't want people ridiculing the pro-life movement. That's our policy."

Robert's disputes the claims that she censors hot button issues on-air, but her public stance on these 'controversial topics' was made clear in her run for Congress in 2002:

[T]he logic behind [Janet Robert's] candidacy was that she is a social conservative. She and [Mark] Kennedy have the same views on abortion (they oppose it) and on gun control (they oppose further restrictions). Democrats argued that by neutralizing those issues, the Republican advantage in the district goes away and that Democratic positions on taxes, education, corporate responsibility, health care and Social Security will prevail." Eric Black, Star Tribune, November 2, 2002

Robert's doesn't seem to have a public stance on same-sex marriage, but supported Elwyn Tinklenberg who ran for the 6th District on support of the Federal Marriage Amendment over fellow DFL candidate Scott Mortensen who opposes such legislation.

Her history of social conservatism certainly jives with the accusations of former employees. The big question: does Janet Robert run Air America without letting her political views color the programming?