The Georgia Gang TV Show (Atlanta, Martin: moving to, authority, bill)

[Beretta]

Caught about 10 minutes today of The Georgia Gang on TV. Interesting group. Demographics and makeup of the panel certainly caught my attention as much as what they were talking about.

I haven’t googled the show yet. Anyone have info on the show.

[lorilove]

I used to watch the program regularly in the old days (over 10 years ago - it has been around since 1982). They have changed panelist over the years but the format has not changed. It is a great way to get an understanding of local issues and politics

[JMatl]

I've been addicted to this show for years, and lorilove's point is correct. It's a great way to keep up with local politics, but it's become slanted to the right in the past few years. Some of the commentators make me want to throw things at the tv pretty often.

[lorilove]

Originally Posted by JMatl

I've been addicted to this show for years, and lorilove's point is correct. It's a great way to keep up with local politics, but it's become slanted to the right in the past few years. Some of the commentators make me want to throw things at the tv pretty often.

It has always had a right lean as I recall

[JMatl]

Originally Posted by lorilove

It has always had a right lean as I recall

You're probably right. It just seems like Alexis & Jeff used to push back a little harder. Maybe they're mellowing with age.

[Iconographer]

Originally Posted by JMatl

You're probably right. It just seems like Alexis & Jeff used to push back a little harder. Maybe they're mellowing with age.

I dunno. I've seen Dickerson putting some muscle into it lately, especially during the election.
I love Alexis Scott, the Grande Dame of the Atlanta political scene. She oozes quiet authority like some ancient pagan goddess.

[atler8]

Originally Posted by JMatl

I've been addicted to this show for years, and lorilove's point is correct. It's a great way to keep up with local politics, but it's become slanted to the right in the past few years. Some of the commentators make me want to throw things at the tv pretty often.

The perrennial host, Dick Williams, wrote a column long ago for the AJC decades ago. Even back then, when I was still a political independent and read his work, I knew that his brand of Republican conservatism rubbed me the wrong way. When he took to the airwaves on channel 5 with The Georgia Gang & I was able to pick up on how pleased he seemed to be with himself, I found that I was totally over him.
Back in the day on the original incarnation of the Gang, there was another AJC columnist on the show by the name of Bill Shipp. In the intervening years, Shipp left the show & through the process of the comings & goings of the panelists, talk radio's Phil Kent came on board.
It wasn't long before I couldn't stomach the combo of Williams & Kent anymore & I dropped the show. It was all too evident that I had better things to do with my time on a Sunday morning.

[AnsleyPark]

It’s still on? Wow. I need to pay more attention.

[Born 2 Roll]

Interesting tidbit about The Georgia Gang is that out of the four panelists, Alexis Scott is the only native-born Atlantan on the show.

Ms. Alexis Scott is a member of one of Atlanta's most prestigious black families that founded the Atlanta Daily World black newspaper (Atlanta's top black newspaper) back in 1928. Ms. Scott continues to publish the historic newspaper that her family started.

On The Georgia Gang panel, Ms. Scott often represents a decidedly left-of-center political viewpoint, something that stands out in a state that often continues to be dominated by a deeply conservative political apparatus.

Dick Williams, is the long-time moderator of the show. Mr. Williams (who is originally from Kansas City) is right-of-center in his political views (historically decidedly right-of-center, though somewhat moderately right-of-center by the standards of the current political climate). Mr. Williams is also a former writer and journalist for the AJC (Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper, Atlanta's major daily newspaper).

Jeff Dickerson (who is originally from Detroit) is currently a crisis communications and public relations specialist who often represents many high-profile public figures and entities that are in a state of crisis from a PR standpoint.

Like Mr. Williams, Mr. Dickerson is also a former writer and journalist for the AJC. In his first several years on the show when he was still writing and reporting for the AJC, Dickerson (who has traditionally represented a moderate center-left point-of-view on the show politically) often had a journalistic activist type of persona. But during the years of the George W. Bush era after he started his private crisis communications firm, Dickerson often took a moderate centrist, barely center-left political viewpoint.

But during the years of the Barack Obama era, Dickerson seemed to shift a little farther to the left on the political spectrum in response to spirited conservative attacks against Obama (...something that has particularly been noticeable in a farther right-shifting Georgia political apparatus that often shifted even farther to the right in response to the election of Obama as president).

Phil Kent (who is originally from Upstate New York, but has spent his entire adult life in Georgia and the South) is the resident staunch conservative on the panel. Mr. Kent is a former senior advisor to noted staunchly conservative former South Carolina U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond. Mr. Kent also is a former long-time writer and journalist for the Augusta Chronicle newspaper.

Kent traditionally has often been hard right-of-center in his political views, particularly on immigration issues. Though Kent has recently notably moderated many of his decidedly right-of-center political viewpoints as his relationships and ties with the metro Atlanta business community have strengthened as CEO of Insider Advantage (which does much political polling), as publisher of James magazine (an Atlanta-based center-right Southern-oriented business/political magazine) and as president of his own business consulting/PR/lobbying company.

Many understandably think that the show seemed to be much more entertaining and engaging in the past when political independent Georgia Hall of Fame political writer and commentator Bill Shipp and the decidedly left-of-center author, radio personality and former Civil Rights political activist Tom Houck (who was used to be a personal driver for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the King family) were regular panelists who used to have frequent spirited, intense, heated (and sometimes angry) clashes during debates over major issues.

Also, the show seems to be somewhat reflective of where Georgia's (particularly metro Atlanta's) political climate may be at any given moment.

The show moved to the right as (an already generally deeply socially and culturally conservative) Georgia political climate moved decidedly to the right politically during the period from 1980 to 2016. And the show seems to be moderating back towards the center somewhat as much of Georgia's political climate (particularly in metro Atlanta) seems to be moving towards the center or even the left as a result of the state's changing demographic climate and as a result of some degree of growing pushback against the hard-right conservatism of the Trump era.

[bu2]

Originally Posted by Born 2 Roll

Interesting tidbit about The Georgia Gang is that out of the four panelists, Alexis Scott is the only native-born Atlantan on the show.

Ms. Alexis Scott is a member of one of Atlanta's most prestigious black families that founded the Atlanta Daily World black newspaper (Atlanta's top black newspaper) back in 1928. Ms. Scott continues to publish the historic newspaper that her family started.

On The Georgia Gang panel, Ms. Scott often represents a decidedly left-of-center political viewpoint, something that stands out in a state that often continues to be dominated by a deeply conservative political apparatus.

Dick Williams, is the long-time moderator of the show. Mr. Williams (who is originally from Kansas City) is right-of-center in his political views (historically decidedly right-of-center, though somewhat moderately right-of-center by the standards of the current political climate). Mr. Williams is also a former writer and journalist for the AJC (Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper, Atlanta's major daily newspaper).

Jeff Dickerson (who is originally from Detroit) is currently a crisis communications and public relations specialist who often represents many high-profile public figures and entities that are in a state of crisis from a PR standpoint.

Like Mr. Williams, Mr. Dickerson is also a former writer and journalist for the AJC. In his first several years on the show when he was still writing and reporting for the AJC, Dickerson (who has traditionally represented a moderate center-left point-of-view on the show politically) often had a journalistic activist type of persona. But during the years of the George W. Bush era after he started his private crisis communications firm, Dickerson often took a moderate centrist, barely center-left political viewpoint.

But during the years of the Barack Obama era, Dickerson seemed to shift a little farther to the left on the political spectrum in response to spirited conservative attacks against Obama (...something that has particularly been noticeable in a farther right-shifting Georgia political apparatus that often shifted even farther to the right in response to the election of Obama as president).

Phil Kent (who is originally from Upstate New York, but has spent his entire adult life in Georgia and the South) is the resident staunch conservative on the panel. Mr. Kent is a former senior advisor to noted staunchly conservative former South Carolina U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond. Mr. Kent also is a former long-time writer and journalist for the Augusta Chronicle newspaper.

Kent traditionally has often been hard right-of-center in his political views, particularly on immigration issues. Though Kent has recently notably moderated many of his decidedly right-of-center political viewpoints as his relationships and ties with the metro Atlanta business community have strengthened as CEO of Insider Advantage (which does much political polling), as publisher of James magazine (an Atlanta-based center-right Southern-oriented business/political magazine) and as president of his own business consulting/PR/lobbying company.

Many understandably think that the show seemed to be much more entertaining and engaging in the past when political independent Georgia Hall of Fame political writer and commentator Bill Shipp and the decidedly left-of-center author, radio personality and former Civil Rights political activist Tom Houck (who was used to be a personal driver for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the King family) were regular panelists who used to have frequent spirited, intense, heated (and sometimes angry) clashes during debates over major issues.

Also, the show seems to be somewhat reflective of where Georgia's (particularly metro Atlanta's) political climate may be at any given moment.

The show moved to the right as (an already generally deeply socially and culturally conservative) Georgia political climate moved decidedly to the right politically during the period from 1980 to 2016. And the show seems to be moderating back towards the center somewhat as much of Georgia's political climate (particularly in metro Atlanta) seems to be moving towards the center or even the left as a result of the state's changing demographic climate and as a result of some degree of growing pushback against the hard-right conservatism of the Trump era.

Every time I've seen it, there have been two to the left and two to the right, but nobody particularly extreme, so it hasn't seem tilted one way or the other. Heated and angry clashes have never been entertaining to me. Nightline drove a lot of these shows to take the format of two extremes talking past each other, not to each other. There is a respectfulness on that show.