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Listening Post
The Lockerbie bombing media circus
The 1988 bombing makes headlines again as the man convicted of the attack is released.
Last Modified: 12 Sep 2009 12:40 GMT



Watch part two

The bombing in 1988 of an American passenger jet over the Scottish town of Lockerbie has once again dominated the headlines this week after Scotland's justice minister released Mohammed Al-Megrahi, the man convicted of the attack, on compassionate grounds.

The media tend to report stories from their own country's perspective and three countries have direct stakes in this one.

The US, where most of the 259 passengers were from, the UK, where the plane crashed, and Libya, which gave Al-Megrahi a hero's welcome on his return.

Political heavyweight

Many regard Rush Limbaugh as the de-facto leader of the Republican party [GALLO/GETTY]
In part two, The Listening Post's Meenakshi Ravi takes a look at the man who has been a political heavyweight in the US for over two decades.

His influence over the Republican party seems unparallelled and he regularly has 20 million Americans hanging on his every word.

But Rush Limbaugh has never been elected. His soapbox is a daily three-hour radio talk show, listened to by a core Republican audience. 

Popular in the Clinton years, Limbaugh has been reborn with the election of Barack Obama.

The advent of the internet and regular television appearances have made him a one-man media powerhouse - to the point that many Americans see the man behind the microphone as the de-facto leader of the Republican party.

Finally, Michael Moore is at it again. The American filmmaker who took on US gun culture in Bowling for Columbine, the Bush Administration in Fahrenheit 911 and the American health care industry in Sicko, has now trained his lens on the corporate giants of Wall Street.

The irony starts with the film's title - Capitalism: A Love Story - and proceeds from there. It is not released until October but the trailer is already attracting a lot of attention online. We have made it our web video of the week and you can watch it here.

This episode of The Listening Post aired from Friday, August 28, 2009.
Source:
Al Jazeera
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