Like an STD in Bill Clinton's medical records, the "Fairness Doctrine" is waiting to make a comeback and wreak havoc with the lives of people who weren't paying close attention. Instituted in 1949, it purported to give both sides of controversial issues air time. That worked about as well as a Lindsey Lohan trip to rehab. What ensued were about 30 years of left-wing domination of the media. Thankfully, Ronald Reagan got rid of this socialist abomination in the 1980s and that paved the way for the rise of conservative talk radio. Irony of ironies: things actually became fair once the Fairness Doctrine was gone. Republicans got to have talk radio and Democrats got to have the networks, the universities, public schools, Hollywood and Chicago. OK, that does seem like there's still a bit of imbalance but-hey-at least we finally got something.
The Left seemed to tolerate the rise of talk radio until Fox News came along. Now the Republicans could be seen on TV as well! "Oh my (insert non-denominational entity here)! Now the children will be able to see that the right-wing whackos don't really have horns and fangs-we've got to do something!" When they found out all of us mindless talk radio morons could turn on our computers as well the playground whining ("Hey-no fair!") to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine began in earnest.
They can't do anything about it just yet. However, if the other Mr. Clinton gets elected next year all bets are off. Hillary has already proven that she'll go on the paper like a good dog whenever The DailyKos or MoveOn.org tell her to. She'll be on a real short leash with them if elected and an executive order to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine will probably show up before her luggage gets to the White House.
Here's what it really does. If someone complains to a station that carries Rush Limbaugh that station has to put a liberal talk show on if they want to keep Rush on the air. The Air America people finally get to leave the void they've been living in and get on a big people's radio station! They might even bring their listener along. You can see the sound business sense of balancing a profit making machine like Rush with three hours a day of Skippy the Chimp from Air America discussing new ways to lose wars and raise taxes, can't you? Larger stations will figure out a way to make it work, smaller ones will have to get rid of Rush and do a call-in show about scrapbooking.
To clear it up, let's imagine this lunacy being applied in other areas.
The NFL would have to provide teams an equal amount of playing time during the games if one team was too good.
Everyone gets into Harvard now! It's just not fair to limit it to the smart kids.
If you're a bit of a loner and can't get a date, the government has to provide you with one for every time your good looking roommate goes out. It may sound good at first but the government doesn't require the date to like you. She'll leave eventually and, like Air America, you're still a loser who can't get anyone to pay attention to you on your own.
Something needs to be done while we still have a Republican in the White House. Enter Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) and "The Broadcaster Freedom Act." This act would prohibit the FCC from reinstating the Fairness Doctrine. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Asylum) has blocked the bill. Rep. Pence is trying to get the 218 signatures needed to bring the bill directly to the floor for a vote. There is more information about the petition here. This site says he has 185 signatures but I heard him say on Laura Ingraham's show this morning that it's up to 190 now. There are also links there to find out if your representative has signed or not and to contact the ones who haven't.
Despite what Democrats like to believe, Republicans enjoy First Amendment rights too. Let's fight for them now or we're all going to end up in some underground chat room, lamenting the fact that our favorite talk station now just airs stories about what Britney Spears isn't wearing that day.
Cross posted at The Grizzly Groundswell
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