After being born on March 28, 1967 in Heidelberg, West Germany, John grew up in Bucks County Pennsylvania in the little town of Washington Crossing. Graduating from Holy Ghost Prep (Bensalem, PA) in 1985, Ziegler was known for being captain of the golf team (he was Bucks County Courier Times' "1984 Golfer of the Year"). John went on to Georgetown University where he graduated 1989 with a degree in Government and a minor in Theology and Philosophy (which, all together, prepared John for almost no gainful employment).
John's career choice coming out of college was as a television sportscaster. While searching for his first on-air position, Ziegler tried his hand at several jobs in New Jersey (including a teacher/freshman football coach job in Ocean City), Virginia, and Florida. His first full-time, on-air job as a TV sportscaster was at the NBC affiliate in Steubenville, Ohio.
Ziegler left that job after two years in order to author a book about spending an entire year with a high school football team in Steubenville called, Dynasty at the Crossroads. He then went back into TV sportscasting by taking a job at the Fox affiliate in Raleigh, North Carolina. Ziegler's irreverent brand of humor didn't go over too well with the TV news management there, however, and hr was fired for making a rather tame joke about O.J. Simpson's lack of innocence.
After that disappointment, Ziegler decided to try to benefit from his controversial nature by going into talk radio. He quickly moved up the ranks from a tiny town in North Carolina, back to Raleigh, then to WWTN-FM in Nashville, TN. His career has brought him back home to Philadelphia and he did a daily overnight show on Philadelphia's WWDB-FM, then briefly to WPHT and sports-talker WIP where he was a full-time fill-in host..
Ziegler then worked in television on the prime-time program, "Its Your Call," seen weeknights in over four million homes in the Northeast via Comcast's CN8 Television Network out of Philadelphia. Ziegler won a regional Emmy for his work as a producer and commentator on that program.
In his spare time, Ziegler is also a scratch/tournament golfer. In fact, he created the world-famous website The First Church of Tiger Woods and has qualified for two USGA Mid-Amateur championships.
In 2002, Ziegler returned to radio as the host of the mid-morning show on the legendary 84WHAS in Louisville, Ky. His show was heard weekdays from 9am to noon and quickly became the highest rated program in its time slot. John also co-hosted a successful prime-time TV show called "Yarmuth & Ziegler" on the NBC affiliate in Louisville. John Yarmuth is now the Congressman from Louisville, while, thanks to an extremely high-profile firing, John Ziegler is only allowed back in the city on special occasions.
After being fired in late August of 2003 for answering questions during an "Ask John Anything" segment about a former Louisville TV host whom John briefly dated, he was hired by KFI 640-AM in Los Angeles to do a late evening show. Ironically, KFI is owned by the same company (Clear Channel) as WHAS. That show on KFI began on January 12th, 2004.
After starting at the 10pm time slot (where he replaced George Noory and was called out on national radio by Art Bell before he even began), John's rating success earned him a promotion to the 7 pm shift in February of 2005.
There, John replaced local legend Phil Hendrie (Phil soon retired from radio after his last show at KFI where his final character was John Ziegler) and immediately surpassed his ratings.
In 2005, John authored the book The Death of Free Speech and helped disrupt (for a second time) an O.J. Simpson autograph session in Los Angeles that served as a major domino in the saga that would lead to Simpson finally going to jail. Ziegler was also featured in a bizarre, 23-page cover story for Atlantic Magazine by acclaimed author David Foster Wallace, a piece that would end up being the final chapter in Wallace's last book before he committed suicide.
In 2006, John was given national credit for "breaking" the John Kerry "Stuck in Iraq" story that ended his 2008 Presidential hopes.
In 2007, John was named the 54th most important talk host in the country by Talkers Magazine. At the end of that year, KFI and John Ziegler mutually decided to not renew his contract.
In 2008, John Ziegler wrote, directed, and produced the documentary "Blocking the Path to 9/11." He created HowObamaGotElected.com as a precursor to his next film, "Media Malpractice... How Obama Got Elected.” A teaser video for that documentary has already been viewed by at least 1.8 million people on YouTube.
John Ziegler
Limbaugh Needs to Keep Fighting
by John ZieglerUPDATE: ESPN Reports Limbaugh To Be Dropped By Bidding Group to Buy Rams
Even in these times when the once unthinkable is becoming increasingly unremarkable, the current controversy over whether Rush Limbaugh is potentially worthy to be an NFL owner crosses over from the simply outrageous to the utterly infuriating. I strongly believe that it also represents a seminal moment in our cultural history as well as the sad state of free speech in this country.
There are so many levels of insanity with this story that it is difficult to know where to begin.
First, the facts: Limbaugh is a part of a group that wants to buy the lowly St. Louis Rams so that the team will stay in Rush’s native Missouri. The group has not even made an official bid as of yet, is one of several potential buyers, and Rush would not even be the primary owner of the team.
Despite all of this, just the mere mention of his name has caused a literal hysteria in the public dialogue. Nearly everyone even remotely associated with the NFL (as well as many who have no direct connection at all) have expressed their, often completely ignorant, opinions on whether Rush is worthy to join the highly exclusive club of NFL owners. (more…)
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So, Now You Tell Us?!
by John ZieglerI have always been fascinated and frustrated by the phenomenon in our public dialogue that when we get new information after a “debate” is deemed to be over, that the original dispute is never “reopened.”
For instance, when Barack Obama threw Rev. Jeremiah Wright “under the bus” a month after he was praised lustily by the media for not having done so in his famous “race” speech, the history of that event was never rewritten. Similarly, the dramatic positive impact of the surge in Iraq never came close to altering the media’s premature conclusion that the war there was a “disaster,” and the most recent data on the global temperature drop has done next to nothing to change the notion that the debate of global warming is “over.”
In the past week we have seen two classic examples of this quirk in the unwritten rules of media history.
The Obama/Oprah led flameout for Chicago’s hopes to host the 2016 Olympics certainly fits in this category. Much has already been said about the disastrous nature of this development from the economic and political perspectives. However, not nearly enough has been stated about how this event seems to prove that one of the basic foundations of the argument for Obama’s election was a complete lie. (more…)
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Why Were the Emmys Not ‘Racist’?
by John ZieglerI am no fan of awards shows. To me, it is one of the strongest proofs of the weakness of our society that the endeavor to which we give the most prominent and glamorous honors is that of movie and television “acting” (or, to paraphrase Jerry Seinfeld, “Saying what someone else told you to say”).
I also abhor false or frivolous claims of racism. Of course, according to the media, the end of this scourge was supposed to be of the many dividends of making Barack Obama President, but those of us on the right certainly know this has so far turned out to be one of many lies we were told during the 2008 campaign. (more…)
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Palin’s Hong Kong Speech: I Can See Insanity From My Newsroom
by John ZieglerYou would think at this point it would be impossible for anyone (especially me) to be stunned or outraged by anything the news media tries to pull when it comes to Sarah Palin. After all, once you have been exposed to a year-long brutal beating, one tends to become numb to a simple low blow. However, the news coverage of her Hong Kong speech still managed to spark the senses on several levels.
First, it must be noted that it is rather incredible that this speech got as much play as it did. Remember, this is a private citizen from Alaska who was a “failed” vice-presidential candidate, who has given no official indication she is ever going to run for anything ever again. The speech was a private affair in a foreign country and contained no real “news” whatsoever. The news media was barred and were forced to cobble together bits and pieces of what was said from the paying customers who attended. And yet, nearly every major publication gave the event heavy play and links to FOUR of those articles were displayed prominently on the Drudge Report all day long. (more…)
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Media Malpractice in the Extreme
by John ZieglerAs anyone familiar with my book or either of my two documentary films would already guess, it is really hard for me to be shocked by anything that happens today in the once noble profession of “journalism.” However, when I simply tried to tell the story of the most recent saga of my rollercoaster broadcasting career, even I was truly stunned by the utterly dysfunctional and decrepit state of the formerly esteemed fourth estate.
This narrative is not primarily about why I am no longer doing a talk show at KGIL in Los Angeles (though that tale itself is fascinating and infuriating and necessary for proper context). Instead, I wish to focus on what transpired after I was told (at least partially inaccurately) by KGIL that they would be flipping the station to all music and that my contract would be paid out. (more…)
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Sarah Palin: One Year Later
by John ZieglerOn August 29th, 2008, I woke up and, like almost every other American, was stunned by the news that Sarah Palin had been chosen as John McCain’s running mate. It was not that I had never heard of her or didn’t want her to be the pick (I had publicly called for her consideration numerous times), but because it was so clearly a very bold and risky maneuver and a true surprise in an era when we seemingly know everything well before it happens.
Moments after I heard the news I did a radio interview and predicted that the news media would destroy her in their transparent quest to pave the way for Barack Obama’s historic election. I had no idea just how right that “blink” calculation would be and I certainly never would have guessed that I would become a small part of that story by dedicating my life and fortune to documenting just how unbelievably bad it would get.
The last twelve months of Sarah Palin’s life truly bring new meaning to the phrase “what a difference a year makes.” I strongly believe that no public figure in modern America has ever endured more stress, pressure and unfair scrutiny in a more dignified fashion than she has over the past year (though what George W. Bush tolerated over the last three years of his presidency probably comes in a close second).
On August 28th of last year Sarah Palin was a largely unknown governor considered to be a rising star largely because of her willingness to take on Republicans in a way that had endeared her to Democrats. Today she is an ex-governor wrongly perceived by most of the country and virtually all of the news media as an erratic, unqualified, lightweight and ultra-partisan Republican who can’t even mange her own family. (more…)
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The Truth About Sarah Palin’s Resignation
by John ZieglerWith all that’s been said about Governor Sarah Palin’s supposedly “shocking” announcement that she was resigning from office, you might think that everything that needs to be said about this has already been reported. However, as I proved in my documentary which “stars” Palin, when it comes to the most unfairly vilified personality of our time, it is more the rule than the exception that the true story about her gets totally lost in the media translation.
Her resignation has been a classic example.
First, let’s make it clear that, despite what MSNBC has implied on numerous occasions, I am NOT Governor Palin’s spokesperson, and I was not in on any official discussions about her decision to leave office (or any other of her decisions for that matter). However, I was not at all stunned by her decision.
In fact, I had been predicting on my radio show and off (more boldly off the air because I didn’t have any direct inside knowledge and was concerned that someone “connected” to Palin making such a prediction might spark news coverage of the possibility) that something like this was going to happen. In retrospect, the only thing that should really be “shocking” about her decision is that the very same news media that’s targeted her reputation for assassination for most of the last year, was also so completely incompetent that they didn’t see the incredibly obvious signs that Palin was about to make a dramatic change in her career direction. (more…)
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Troopathon 2009: Beyond My Comprehension
by John ZieglerI lost the biggest job I ever had as talk show host on KFI in Los Angeles largely because I called out another host on the station for flip flopping on the Iraq war in a move that I was sure was designed to pander to the audience who at the time had been duped by the media into thinking the effort was a failure.
While I have suffered greatly because of this stance I took, I have tried hard to not complain too much about what happened because I know to do so would be embarrassingly selfish and shortsighted. After all, the tiny risk I took and the price I paid is absolutely nothing in comparison the risk that every single member of our military takes on a regular basis and the real price that far too many are forced to pay every single day. (more…)
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Inside the Letterman/Palin Flap
by John ZieglerThe fact that I’ve needed to correct the record every time I’m involved in some sort of media firestorm (about once a month since the election, it seems), probably says at least as much about the pathetic nature of our news media as anything I put in my documentary “Media Malpractice,” a film whose truth I’ve dedicated almost all of the last year of my life to. The most recent episode involving the controversy over David Letterman’s comments about Governor Sarah Palin and her family is certainly no exception.
First, let me tell you what really happened, and then I can explain what we should all learn from this. Here’s the timeline…
Monday, June 8th: Letterman uses Palin’s trip to New York to unleash a torrent of ”comic” attacks on her and her family. The entire “Top Ten” list is devoted to the Governor and includes cracks about her updating her “slutty” wardrobe and possessing illegal drugs. The monologue includes a “joke” about Palin’s “daughter” getting “knocked up” at a Yankees game by Alex Rodriquez during the 7th inning stretch while her mother and a stadium full of spectators presumably watched. (more…)
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The Truth About My Arrest at USC
by John ZieglerI have had a rather bizarre career in media, but what happened last week on the campus of USC here in Los Angeles may end up marking one of the strangest and most disturbing episodes yet. I went to USC intending to simply let as many people as possible know that the award for “journalism excellence” they were giving Katie Couric for her Sarah Palin interview was a complete farce. To prove my point, I wanted to give away copies of my film “Media Malpractice,” which has my own Sarah Palin interview as a special feature. Instead, I ended up getting handcuffed, “arrested,” roughed up, detained, threatened, and forced off the premises.
For those that may have missed the incredible video of the incident, here is how the episode was played on Fox News Channel:
While that report provided a good overview of what happened, there is a lot more to say about this situation, largely because there has been so much misinformation, so many irresponsible accusations, and so much blatant hypocrisy in the general reaction to the remarkable videotape. (more…)
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Cronkite Award for Couric Represents Journalism’s Rotting Corpse
by John ZieglerOn April 15th, the “prestigious” (and apparently now openly liberal) USC Annenberg School for Communication will be presenting CBS Evening News Anchor Katie Couric with the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Television Journalism.
Now, for there to even be such a thing as an prize for “Excellence in Television Journalism” in an age where a desperate thirst for ratings has caused most TV “news” to become little more than glorified infotainment, is a bit like passing out awards for fiscal responsibility to members of Congress. But for Katie Couric, the poster child of this “infotainmentification” of news, to be the recipient of such an oxymoronic honor is much like if that aforementioned trophy for frugal spending in Congress went to John Murtha or Barney Frank.
But what makes this situation so particularly galling is the specific reason why Couric is being honored for her “excellence in journalism.” Couric is being presented with the award for “Special Achievement for National Impact on the 2008 Campaign.”
What was it that Couric did that was so “special?” The judges singled her out solely for “her extraordinary, persistent and detailed multi-part interviews with Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin.” (more…)
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Sarah Palin Proves She’s No George Bush
by John ZieglerBack in January, when the media firestorm over my “Media Malpractice” interview with Governor Sarah Palin erupted, I wrote on this website that it was my belief that she was no George W. Bush. I can now say with even greater certainty that I was absolutely correct in that assertion.
The reason I felt that way initially, was that after several days of the news media cherry picking snippets from my interview with her in an out of context way that appeared designed to make Palin seem whiny and weak (the exact opposite of what she actually was during the interview), she had a couple of choices. Basically she could try to pretend the interview and the issue of how the media lied to destroy her candidacy didn’t really exist, lick her wounds, mitigate whatever perceived political damage there might have been (though with her base the interview was CLEARLY a huge hit) and never speak of the topic again, or she could continue the fight for the truth regardless of the potential consequences. (more…)
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Obama’s Remarkable 9/11 Blindspot
by John ZieglerAs a guy who has just made a film about how the news media paved the way for President Obama’s election, it won’t surprise you to hear that I have some critical things to say about his most recent appearance on “60 Minutes.” But what might shock you (because it stunned even me) was the incredibly tepid response that his most incredible remarks elicited even from the right (and no, they had nothing to do with laughter, or the economy).
Whether anyone chooses to notice or not, President Obama put himself out on the very edge of a very long and fragile limb on the issue of how to handle terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay. For a guy who is a master at not taking any real position at all (or, when he is really at his “best” taking all possible sides to an issue simultaneously) , Obama showed an absolutely unbelievable recklessness in his response to former Vice President Dick Cheney’s criticism of his closing of the prison camp. (more…)
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Inside the ‘Media Malpractice’ Promo Tour
by John ZieglerI am sure that the media tour for any major film is always interesting. However, when that film skewers many of the very same outlets and people who are interviewing you, the possibility for the ride to get particularly odd increases exponentially.
Last week I released my documentary film “Media Malpractice… How Obama Got Elected and Palin Was Targeted“ and appeared on numerous major media outlets to explain and promote the film. You can see most of those, often hilarious, appearances for yourself here.
This is a diary of sorts of my promotional tour. (more…)
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NBC Performs Media Malpractice On ‘Media Malpractice’
by John ZieglerNext week I plan to write more extensively on Big Hollywood about the many bizarre behind the scenes occurrences and things learned during the initial media promotion tour for my new film “Media Malpractice… How Obama Got Elected and Palin Was Targeted.” However, one episode was so strange and important, that I need to briefly touch on it today.
This dealt with the set-up segment to my appearance on the “Today Show” (video below) yesterday. The “Today Show” was given exclusive access to the unreleased portions of my Sarah Palin interview and NBC reporter Norah O’Donnell was given these clips and chosen to do the story on the Palin interview that would air just before and lead into my interview with Matt Lauer.
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What O’Donnell chose to air was striking for two reasons. First, it so badly missed all the best Palin sound bites I can only conclude (despite any logic to this theory) that NBC did so on purpose. No one could be so incompetent as to take 43 minutes of great stuff and literally use the very first answer in the interview (which was hardly noteworthy) and none of the best clips. Second, O’Donnell’s editorial choices went out of their way to diminish and ignore Governor Palin’s very credible objections to very specific episodes of media malpractice. But the news media, especially NBC, trying to make Palin look bad is hardly new. (more…)
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Reaction To My Palin Interview Proves The Point
by John ZieglerUnless you were hanging out with Joe the Plumber in Gaza this past week, you probably heard that I did an exclusive interview with Governor Sarah Palin for my forthcoming documentary, “Media Malpractice… How Obama Got Elected and Palin Was Smeared.”
The reaction to the interview excerpts has been far more intense and far more deranged than I expected. Quite simply, the media response has done more to prove the basic point of the documentary than just about anything I could have produced in the film.
Here are just a few ways in which this episode felt like I had suddenly become Alice in Wonderland (without the dress or blond hair).
Governor Palin’s comments about being taken out of context were clearly taken out of context and her statements that they were being taken out of context were themselves taken out of context in a blatant, though thus far, unsuccessful attempt to turn the Governor and I against each other.
The Governor’s measured, rational and accurate attempts to correct the historical record about the basis for which a Presidential election was decided were “reported” by the left as being “whiny,” “catty” and “delusional.” Folks, there’s a reason why there’s such a thing as a war crimes tribunal; some things you just have to get to the bottom of.
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Video Exclusive: A Revealing Morning With Sarah Palin
by John ZieglerIf someone told me five months ago that in early January I would pay over $1,400 for an incredibly inconvenient plane ticket and $120 for a 3 a.m. cab fare to get from sunny Los Angeles to Wasilla, Alaska, I would have told them there was a better chance the Dow Jones would be below 9,000 and a gallon of gas less than two dollars.
If they would have told me I’d be glad to have made the journey (even with a seven-hour, weather-aided stop in Seattle), I would have told them Sarah Palin had a better chance to be John McCain’s running-mate. Of course, as we all now know this turned out to be true. And even though I still have the flu I got just before the trip, I’m thrilled to have experienced minus-eleven degrees in Alaska.
Obviously, I was there to interview Governor Palin for my forthcoming documentary about the media coverage of election 2008. My understanding is that the only reason Governor Palin did this interview (while rejecting hundreds of other requests) is because of her sincere devotion to setting the record straight on what really happened during the campaign and to determine why the news coverage was as dangerously slanted as it so clearly was.
Largely because of absurd claims by Democrats that she was violating ethics rules by answering campaign questions on state grounds (one of several ways in which the Democrats in Alaska, who used to love her, are now fully invested in the “take Sarah Palin down” industry), we did the interview at the Palin home. At 9 a.m., without a security guard or handler in sight, Bristol Palin, eight days removed from giving birth, politely answered the door and Governor Palin, not yet fully put together, rushed out to tell myself and my crew to make ourselves at home.
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We Must Hang Together, Or We Will All Hang Separately
by John ZieglerBig Hollywood will likely contain plenty of stories dealing with and (hopefully) overcoming the hardships associated with being a “conservative” in and around Hollywood. I want to commend those who have been able to hold on to their principles and have had the courage to share their true convictions in the face of obvious and insidious prejudice.
However, coming from an area of the “entertainment” world (talk radio and documentary films) where expressing a strong opinion is not only allowed, it is mandatory; I come at this challenge from a different perspective than many of the writers for this site. I believe that a complementary relationship between those who are just now slowly “coming out” and those of us who are already battle scarred and hardened is absolutely vital to our side having any chance in the message/information war which is currently raging, and in which we have been getting creamed, for far too long.
And make no mistake this is a war we are in. One of the many reasons we are losing so badly is that their side gets this, our side does not.
When you are in a battle like this (even one that usually doesn’t involve real bullets, but rather only the verbal variety) you need generals, infantry and diplomats all working in coordination and in the best interest of the team. In my experience, our forces are largely disorganized, discouraged and in disarray. Consequently, our soldiers, through little fault of their own, are forced to act out of their own survival instincts rather than out of what might be good for the cause.
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