Failed Radio Host: Bring Back The Fairness Doctrine So I Can Have a Job

Such a heart-tugging plea from failed radio host Bill Press, previously a failed television host. The Washington Post so graciously provides Press with space to make a plea to everyone to listen to Obama 1260 (yes, that's actually the name of the station) before it ceases to exist after today.

You see, in the feverish mind of Press, the fact nobody listens to Air America is -- you guessed it -- a right-wing conspiracy.

How pathetic.

In fact, the only reason there's not more competition on American airwaves is that the handful of companies that own most radio stations do everything they can to block it. In many markets -- witness Philadelphia, Boston, Providence and Houston -- they join in providing no outlet for progressive talk. In others, as in Washington, they limit it to a weak signal, spend zero dollars on promotion and soon pull the plug.

Companies are given a license to operate public airwaves -- free! -- in order to make a profit, yes, but also, according to the terms of their FCC license, "to operate in the public interest and to afford reasonable opportunity for the discussion of conflicting views of issues of public importance." Stations are not operating in the public interest when they offer only conservative talk.

For years, the Fairness Doctrine prevented such abuse by requiring licensed stations to carry a mix of opinion. However, under pressure from conservatives, President Ronald Reagan's Federal Communications Commission canceled the Fairness Doctrine in 1987, insisting that in a free market, stations would automatically offer a balance in programming.

That experiment has failed. There is no free market in talk radio today, only an exclusive, tightly held, conservative media conspiracy. The few holders of broadcast licenses have made it clear they will not, on their own, serve the general public. Maybe it's time to bring back the Fairness Doctrine -- and bring competition back to talk radio in Washington and elsewhere.

If people actually listened to Press and the rest of these far-left kooks then their ratings and ad revenue would reflect that. He doesn't understand, and never will, that conservatives dominate talk radio because they provide an alternative to the other 98% of the media that regurgitate the bilge coming from Obama radio. What Press and his ilk want is no competition. All media should be just like him, then we'll have fairness.

They're Coming To Take Me Away Ha-Ha

Media Matters, another one in a long line of "progressive" agencies funded in part by George Soros is stepping up their campaign against those evil right wing radio talk show hosts. They really don't believe in that whole First Amendment thing do they?



I haven't made their list, yet, but I am trying my hardest. Go check out their list of public enemies.

Just in case you think Media Matters doesn't matter, quite often you find the MSM using them as a source.

Neal Boortz, an Atlanta talk show host who is syndicated nationally, champion of the Fair Tax and never one to back down gives his take on this.

Hey Neal, I am coming for your job. (In my dreams)

Good News: New and Improved 'Fairness Doctrine' Could Apply to Web Content

Nothing would ignite a fire under the behinds of a million bloggers more than threatening them with the idea of having to provide "balance" on their sites.

Good luck with that.

Mark my words. Any politician dumb enough to vote for something like this should take the time to enjoy their final term in office. I'm almost curious to see them try, as the backlash would be so swift and enormous the notion of resurrecting this long-outdated scheme would never again see the light of day.

There’s a huge concern among conservative talk radio hosts that reinstatement of the Fairness Doctrine would all-but destroy the industry due to equal time constraints. But speech limits might not stop at radio. They could even be extended to include the Internet and “government dictating content policy.”

FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell raised that as a possibility after talking with bloggers at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C. McDowell spoke about a recent FCC vote to bar Comcast from engaging in certain Internet practices – expanding the federal agency’s oversight of Internet networks.

The commissioner, a 2006 President Bush appointee, told the Business & Media Institute the Fairness Doctrine could be intertwined with the net neutrality battle. The result might end with the government regulating content on the Web, he warned. McDowell, who was against reprimanding Comcast, said the net neutrality effort could win the support of “a few isolated conservatives” who may not fully realize the long-term effects of government regulation.

“I think the fear is that somehow large corporations will censor their content, their points of view, right,” McDowell said. “I think the bigger concern for them should be if you have government dictating content policy, which by the way would have a big First Amendment problem.”

“Then, whoever is in charge of government is going to determine what is fair, under a so-called ‘Fairness Doctrine,’ which won’t be called that – it’ll be called something else,” McDowell said. “So, will Web sites, will bloggers have to give equal time or equal space on their Web site to opposing views rather than letting the marketplace of ideas determine that?”

The notion is so insane, so anti-freedom that only some pointy-headed libs could be stupid enough to dream it up.

I can see the left trying to stifle dissent by attempting to silence talk radio. After all, they hate free speech. But the idea that blogs would ever have to provide balance? With the sheer volume on both the left and right it would just not be possible. Considering it's the World Wide Web, how would they possibly control content that extends across the globe?

A Day of Sanity in America

It's beginning to look like a banner day for sanity in America. First, Shamnesty goes down to defeat, then the Supreme Court blocks race-based preferences in school, and now it appears Indiana's Mike Pence has successfully introduced an amendment to help scuttle the possibility of the absurd Fairness Doctrine returning (keep your fingers crossed).

Michelle Malkin has the latest Fairness Doctrine details.

Of course, nothing that has happened today will prevent the left and some willing RINO's from coming back to try again.

We must forever be vigilant against our domestic enemies.

UPDATE: The Pence amendment passes 309-115. There were 115 Democrats in favor of censorship, zero Republicans. Sanity prevails.

Little Dick Wants to Hush Rush

All you need to know about the absurd notion of reinstating the Fairness Doctrine is this disingenuous line from Little Dick Durbin (D-Caracas).

“It’s time to reinstitute the Fairness Doctrine,” said Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.). “I have this old-fashioned attitude that when Americans hear both sides of the story, they’re in a better position to make a decision.”

Well sorry, Dick, but I have an old-fashioned attitude that when Americans seek to silence other Americans, it's very un-American.

It's pretty clear that all they want to do is shut down talk radio because they don't control it. The left overwhelmingly controls television, newspapers, academia and has made inroads on the Internet, where virtually anything goes.

They are unable to compete in talk radio because their ideas have failed, they're boring, and have no sense of humor.

So because a whiny puke like Little Dick Durbin thinks we're not hearing "both sides" (really, what planet is he living on?), we're supposed to shut down an industry?

Never going to happen.

Nothing Fair About This

Adam Thierer has a lengthy piece at City Journal about efforts to revive the Fairness Doctrine, something we thought was dead and buried years ago. But since liberals aren't satisfied dominating just 99% of the media, they need to come after those outlets where free speech still means something.

This media cornucopia is a wonderful development for a free society—or so you’d think. But today’s media universe has fierce detractors, and nowhere more vehemently than on the left. Their criticisms seem contradictory. Some, such as Democratic congressman Dennis Kucinich, contend that real media choices, information sources included, remain scarce, hindering citizens from fully participating in a deliberative democracy. Others argue that we have too many media choices, making it hard to share common thoughts or feelings; democracy, community itself, again loses out. Both liberal views get the story disastrously wrong. If either prevails, what’s shaping up to be America’s Golden Age of media could be over soon.

Read it all.

Also at Michelle Malkin, Captain's Quarters, Don Surber.

Fairness Doctrine Anything But Fair

The stormtroopers of the Left despise free speech, which is why they're attempting to resurrect the cockamamie Fairness Doctrine. Any thought of saddling America once again with this law needs to be quashed forthwith. Nat Hentoff explains why.