Nov 07 2008
If it ain’t broke why fix it?
Conservative talk radio hosts are wringing their hands with worry that under newly elected President Barack Obama, the liberal leaders in Congress may get frisky and seek to reintroduce the Fairness Doctrine. I think these talk radio folks are feeling a paranoia that isn’t worth the energy.
The former Federal Communications Commission regulation was introduced back in 1949 to ensure that radio listeners and television viewers would not be prevented from hearing an unrestricted array of viewpoints from broadcasters It was retracted in 1987.
Let’s be realistic here … the broadcast world has changed dramatically since 1949, and substantially since 1989. A proliferation of informational resources, an explosion of technology, a vast number of broadcast outlets including over-the-air radio and television, satellite radio and television, cable TV and the Internet are available to the public now. Few of these options were around in 1949, and many were not a part of our lives 20 years ago. In the present media environment the federal government has little reason to police the airwaves to ensure that differing viewpoints are heard.
Reimposition of the Fairness Doctrine is not proposed to meet a need to force broadcasters to offer more viewpoints. If majority Democrats in Congress bring it back, it will be for a narrow and much less noble purpose. They want to silence conservative talk radio. This proposal is about limiting, not expanding diversity of opinions on the air. It wouldn’t be the first time. The Kennedy administration used the Fairness Doctrine to intimidate broadcast licensees they considered enemies. Richard Nixon used it similarly. They both enjoyed cover from a broadcast spectrum that was puny compared to what exists today.
I would welcome a debate over whether government needs to muzzle conservative talk radio to protect them against conservative talkers on the air. Exhibit A against the Fairness Doctrine would be the federal election just completed. The few cases brought before the U.S. Supreme Court regarding the Fairness Doctrine demonstrate that the Court has trended away from the theory that broadcasters need to be restricted. I’m confident the Court would find reimposition of this obsolete concept a de facto restriction on free speech.
If Democrats want to use the Fairness Doctrine to silence the opposition, I say bring it on.
(6 votes, average: 3.17 out of 5)
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