Timothy Egan, a Seattle resident and a New York Times reporter, spoke at the League of Women Voters fall luncheon Wednesday about the effects of media consolidation.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer political columnist and Whidbey Island resident Joel Connelly was on hand to introduce Egan and to participate with him in a question-and-answer session following Egan’s discussion.

Travelling 50,000 miles a year for his job and listening to local radio stations along the way, Egan said the consolidation of small stations has left radio listeners out in the cold, listening to previously recorded and prefabricated segments.

Egan discussed a Federal Communications Commission mandate that could allow newspaper and television stations in the same markets to be owned by the same company. If more newspapers and television stations in the same city are joined, the message could be the same wherever you turn for news.

“What does this mean for us?” Egan asked.

He said because listeners are not going to get a lot of variety or local news.

“The news is not good,” he said.

Fearing the U.S. has lost its local diversity, Egan worries the country is entering a stage of political misinformation.

“Did the press fail or are the people too stupid to figure it out?” he said. “What do we do when the majority is misinformed?”

One of the most common beliefs by a majority of citizens in the U.S., is a belief that Saddam Hussein was involved with the attacks on Sept. 11, Egan said.

He said in a recent statement by President Bush, there is no evidence that Hussein was linked with Sept. 11 attacks. Did the media fail by letting people believe Hussein was involved in the attacks?

“What happens when the majority is wrong?” asked Egan.

Where print media and television have a responsibility to correct their mistakes or curb their opinions, Egan said talk radio stations are not filtered, and could therefor be misleading. The talk radio station can blatantly state their opinions whether they are right or not, but do have an effect on many people.

Egan said he wasn’t against talk radio stations, but erroneous statements that are never corrected.

“I’m against things that haven’t been checked out,” said Egan.