Wednesday, July 11, 2007
GOP Fights to Protect Free Market Talk Radio
This article was written by Randy Hall, staff writer and editor at CNSNews.com
The battle over whether to reinstate the controversial Fairness Doctrine moved to the Senate on Wednesday, when Republicans introduced a measure intended to permanently prevent the Federal Communications Commission from using what they called "the heavy hand of government control over talk radio."
A liberal media analyst criticized the move, telling Cybercast News Service that conservative media had once again "whipped the Republicans into a frenzy over a fake issue."
Taking aim at the regulation, which required broadcasters to present both sides of a controversial issue and remained in force from 1949 until the late 1980s, Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., addressed a news conference on Capitol Hill.
"Today, in an age of high-speed Internet, broadband technology and satellite radio, when we have incredible opportunities for people to get access to information, bringing back the so-called Fairness Doctrine is a bad idea, and it's certainly not fair," he said.
Coleman noted that at the time when the FCC implemented the regulation, only a few broadcasters were operating. In 1987, the agency had determined that the rule was no longer necessary due to the emergence of a "multiplicity of voices in the marketplace," he said.
Since then, he added, "talk radio has flourished due to free market ideas."
"We live in ... a world in which you can simply change the dial or turn the radio off. But we don't want government in the business of censoring or monitoring and applying a standard that is basically unfair," he said
"Here they go again," said Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., who described efforts to revive the regulation as "nothing more than an attempt to muzzle the free speech of conservative Americans."
In recent weeks, Democrats, including Sens. John Kerry (Mass.), Diane Feinstein (Calif.) and Dick Durbin (Ill.), have called for the Fairness Doctrine to be reinstated or at least re-examined.
On the June 26 Bryan Lehrer radio show, for instance, Kerry stated: "I think the Fairness Doctrine ought to be there, and I also think the Equal Time doctrine ought to come back. ... [Conservatives have] been able to squeeze down and squeeze out opinion of opposing views. And I think it's been a very important transition in the imbalance of our public dialogue."
But DeMint told the press conference Wednesday, "If liberals had their way, this unfair doctrine would give the heavy hand of government control over talk radio," DeMint added. "We must act now to preserve all Americans' first amendment rights."
The GOP senators have introduced an amendment to the Department of Defense authorization bill that aims to prevent the FCC from reintroducing the doctrine.
Another participant in the news conference was Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., the author of a similar measure for the upcoming fiscal year in the House of Representatives, already approved by a vote of 309 to 115.
While the language of the Senate measure has not been finalized, it is expected to closely follow Pence's amendment, which stated that the FCC "shall not have the authority to prescribe any rule, regulation, policy, doctrine, standard or other requirement that has the purpose or effect of reinstating or repromulgating (in whole or in part) the requirement that broadcasters present opposing viewpoints on controversial issues of public importance, commonly referred to as the 'Fairness Doctrine.'"
The Senate legislation "will prevent this or any future administration from reintroducing the Fairness Doctrine without an act of Congress," Pence said, adding that the regulation should be left "on the ash heap of broadcast history, where it belongs."
As Cybercast News Service previously reported, the liberal Center for American Progress (CAP) and the media reform group Free Press recently issued a report declaring that "right-wing talk reigns supreme on America's airwaves."
Their recommendations to "close the gap" between the amount of conservative and liberal talk on the air included increased government regulation and greater diversity of commercial radio station owners. They did not call for reinstating the Fairness Doctrine.
Mark Lloyd, a CAP senior fellow, told Cybercast News Service on Wednesday that the GOP news conference was the result of conservative talk radio influencing certain Republicans.
The real issue is "ownership rules that do not serve the public interest," said Lloyd. But "instead of addressing this real issue of ownership, Fox News and talk radio and Drudge [the Drudge Report website] want to shift the focus to the Fairness Doctrine. We'll continue to say that our goal is greater diversity in media ownership."
However, Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., used Wednesday's news conference to criticize the CAP/Free Press report's suggestion of "a spectrum use fee" that would be levied on uncooperative station owners "to directly support local, regional and national public radio."
"Not only would [radio talk show host] Sean Hannity be off the air, but he'd have to financially support public radio" as well, the senator stated.
David Rehr, president and CEO of the National Association of Broadcasters, said in a statement Wednesday that restoring the rule "would stifle the growth of diverse views and, in effect, make free speech less free."
"Today, there are over 13,000 radio stations, more than 1,700 TV stations, nine broadcast TV networks, hundreds of cable and satellite channels, scores of mobile media devices and an infinite number of Internet sites that cater to every political persuasion and ideology," Rehr said.
"Bringing back the Fairness Doctrine is unnecessary, unwarranted and unconstitutional," he added.
This article was written by Randy Hall, staff writer and editor at CNSNews.com
The battle over whether to reinstate the controversial Fairness Doctrine moved to the Senate on Wednesday, when Republicans introduced a measure intended to permanently prevent the Federal Communications Commission from using what they called "the heavy hand of government control over talk radio."
A liberal media analyst criticized the move, telling Cybercast News Service that conservative media had once again "whipped the Republicans into a frenzy over a fake issue."
Taking aim at the regulation, which required broadcasters to present both sides of a controversial issue and remained in force from 1949 until the late 1980s, Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., addressed a news conference on Capitol Hill.
"Today, in an age of high-speed Internet, broadband technology and satellite radio, when we have incredible opportunities for people to get access to information, bringing back the so-called Fairness Doctrine is a bad idea, and it's certainly not fair," he said.
Coleman noted that at the time when the FCC implemented the regulation, only a few broadcasters were operating. In 1987, the agency had determined that the rule was no longer necessary due to the emergence of a "multiplicity of voices in the marketplace," he said.
Since then, he added, "talk radio has flourished due to free market ideas."
"We live in ... a world in which you can simply change the dial or turn the radio off. But we don't want government in the business of censoring or monitoring and applying a standard that is basically unfair," he said
"Here they go again," said Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., who described efforts to revive the regulation as "nothing more than an attempt to muzzle the free speech of conservative Americans."
In recent weeks, Democrats, including Sens. John Kerry (Mass.), Diane Feinstein (Calif.) and Dick Durbin (Ill.), have called for the Fairness Doctrine to be reinstated or at least re-examined.
On the June 26 Bryan Lehrer radio show, for instance, Kerry stated: "I think the Fairness Doctrine ought to be there, and I also think the Equal Time doctrine ought to come back. ... [Conservatives have] been able to squeeze down and squeeze out opinion of opposing views. And I think it's been a very important transition in the imbalance of our public dialogue."
But DeMint told the press conference Wednesday, "If liberals had their way, this unfair doctrine would give the heavy hand of government control over talk radio," DeMint added. "We must act now to preserve all Americans' first amendment rights."
The GOP senators have introduced an amendment to the Department of Defense authorization bill that aims to prevent the FCC from reintroducing the doctrine.
Another participant in the news conference was Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., the author of a similar measure for the upcoming fiscal year in the House of Representatives, already approved by a vote of 309 to 115.
While the language of the Senate measure has not been finalized, it is expected to closely follow Pence's amendment, which stated that the FCC "shall not have the authority to prescribe any rule, regulation, policy, doctrine, standard or other requirement that has the purpose or effect of reinstating or repromulgating (in whole or in part) the requirement that broadcasters present opposing viewpoints on controversial issues of public importance, commonly referred to as the 'Fairness Doctrine.'"
The Senate legislation "will prevent this or any future administration from reintroducing the Fairness Doctrine without an act of Congress," Pence said, adding that the regulation should be left "on the ash heap of broadcast history, where it belongs."
As Cybercast News Service previously reported, the liberal Center for American Progress (CAP) and the media reform group Free Press recently issued a report declaring that "right-wing talk reigns supreme on America's airwaves."
Their recommendations to "close the gap" between the amount of conservative and liberal talk on the air included increased government regulation and greater diversity of commercial radio station owners. They did not call for reinstating the Fairness Doctrine.
Mark Lloyd, a CAP senior fellow, told Cybercast News Service on Wednesday that the GOP news conference was the result of conservative talk radio influencing certain Republicans.
The real issue is "ownership rules that do not serve the public interest," said Lloyd. But "instead of addressing this real issue of ownership, Fox News and talk radio and Drudge [the Drudge Report website] want to shift the focus to the Fairness Doctrine. We'll continue to say that our goal is greater diversity in media ownership."
However, Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., used Wednesday's news conference to criticize the CAP/Free Press report's suggestion of "a spectrum use fee" that would be levied on uncooperative station owners "to directly support local, regional and national public radio."
"Not only would [radio talk show host] Sean Hannity be off the air, but he'd have to financially support public radio" as well, the senator stated.
David Rehr, president and CEO of the National Association of Broadcasters, said in a statement Wednesday that restoring the rule "would stifle the growth of diverse views and, in effect, make free speech less free."
"Today, there are over 13,000 radio stations, more than 1,700 TV stations, nine broadcast TV networks, hundreds of cable and satellite channels, scores of mobile media devices and an infinite number of Internet sites that cater to every political persuasion and ideology," Rehr said.
"Bringing back the Fairness Doctrine is unnecessary, unwarranted and unconstitutional," he added.
