The Fairness Doctrine Lives!

In one of the many ironic twists and turns of life on Capitol Hill, the failure to pass amnesty for illegal aliens in Congress may have been the catalyst for the latest attempt by the Democratic majority there to bring back the so-called Fairness Doctrine.

“During the immigration debate, our phones were flooded with concerned citizens who knew the details of a 600 to 800 page document,” Senator Jim DeMint, R-SC, said in a press conference on July 11. “Talk radio is educating the public.”

“However, some politicians want to keep this from happening.” Senator DeMint voted against amnesty for illegal aliens.

Although it called for equal representation of political viewpoints, conservative commentators were virtually off the broadcast radar in the four decades that the federal Fairness Doctrine was in place and have been ubiquitous in the past 20 years that followed the Reagan Administration’s virtual scrapping of the rule.

“The repeal of this act achieved what its enactment was meant to do,” Rep. Greg Walden, R-Oregon, said in the press conference that took place in the Senate Radio and TV Gallery. Rep. Walden was the former owner of a radio station.

“A scarcity of stations is no longer present,” Rep. Walden noted. “There are now over 10,000 nationwide radio stations,” with different agendas and philosophies, he pointed out.

Enforced from 1947 to 1987, the conditions in place when the Fairness Doctrine was instituted were deemed “archaic,” by Rep. Mike Pence, R.-Indiana. The doctrine “should be left on the ash heap of broadcast history,” he argued.
The doctrine, which mandated that an opposing political viewpoint be presented for every aired political argument, was described by Senator Norm Coleman, R-MN, as “representing a bygone era where media outlets were few and far between.” “We live in a different world today,” the senator observed.

Noting a study compiled by the left-wing Center for American Progress, Sen. James Inhofe, R-OK, observes that they “claim a structural imbalance in political talk radio—
conservative hosts outnumber liberals 91% to 9%, and I believe it.”

“Liberals like [Senators] Clinton and Boxer complain about conservative talk radio, but I tell them that it is market-driven, and there is simply no market for liberal political radio.”

“If you don’t like it, you can turn the dial, or turn it off,” Senator John Thune, R-S.D., advises. “We don’t need government interference.”
Concerned about the “freedom of accurate information,” as Senator Thune puts it, the aforementioned Republican lawmakers gathered at the press conference last Wednesday to discuss their plan to halt efforts to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine.

“The real threats are to the First Amendment rights,” Senator DeMint warned. “If the FCC is not throttled by legislation, they will go back in that direction.”

“The Broadcaster Freedom Act would ensure that no administration, current or
future, can reintroduce this issue without an act of Congress,” Rep. Pence explained. Twenty-four hours later, appropriately enough on Friday the 13th, congressional Democrats have blocked the proposal.

“Liberals are clearly frustrated by the fact that their programs don’t
command the audiences that conservative programs do,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell stated in a column on Townhall.com. “Hence their interest in reviving the old restrictions.”

“Like a zombie in a B-Hollywood movie, the ‘Fairness Doctrine,’ just won’t stay dead.” The Bush White House also weighed in on Friday the 13th.

“As you probably know, some Members of Congress have recently indicated their desire to seek legislation to regulate what is said on the radio by reinstating the so-called Fairness Doctrine, which was abolished in 1987 after the FCC concluded that ‘a multiplicity of voices in the marketplace assured diversity of opinion’ on our airwaves,” read the White House statement. “Since then, the multiplicity of voices has significantly increased — and the case for the Fairness Doctrine is weaker than ever.”

“Reinstating the Fairness Doctrine would muzzle political debate and free speech,” the Bush Administration argued. “I therefore want you to know that the President would veto any legislation reinstating the Fairness Doctrine,” a key Bush administration official promised.

Stay tuned.

Mary Kapp is an intern at the American Journalism Center, a training program run by Accuracy in Media and Accuracy in Academia.