By Chad Groening
A conservative think tank is warning that recent moves by liberals to change FCC ownership guidelines may lead to something even more frightening — the reinstatement of the “fairness doctrine.”
Last Friday conservative radio commentators Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity both expressed concerns that liberals in Congress want to bring back the so-called “Fairness Doctrine” that Ronald Reagan did away with back in 1987. The doctrine, which was in place from 1949 to 1987, was a policy that required broadcast licensees to provide “reasonable” coverage of controversial issues in a “reasonably fair” and balanced fashion — that is, giving equal time to opposing viewpoints.
Tom Readmond, the federal affairs manager of Americans for Tax Reform, has done a great deal of research on the topic of the fairness doctrine. He says the current legislation is only a steppingstone for those who want to regulate free speech.
“They will not include language to restore the fairness doctrine, but what they will do is give the enemies of media deregulation the momentum necessary to move to the next step, which would be reinstating the fairness doctrine,” he says.
Readmond fears that such a move would deliver a serious blow to conservative talk radio, and might force many radio stations to abandon political discussion altogether.
“A lot of radio stations probably would not want to carry political talk of any kind were we to go back to the fairness doctrine. And that would probably result in the end of quite a few conservative talk show hosts,” he says.
According to the ATR spokesman, ultra-liberal groups such as People for the American Way are pushing for the idea of such re-regulation. Readmond says a previous attempt by two liberal congressmen to reinstate the fairness doctrine through an amendment failed, but he expects they will keep trying.
(This article courtesy of Agape Press).
