Will There by a Revival of the Fairness Doctrine?

In the last few years there have been prominent Democrats that have been stating they would like to see the Fairness Doctrine reimposed once again. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Tom Harkin (D-IA), and Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) have been calling for the Fairness Doctrine to be reinstated due to the prominence and success of conservative talk radio. Back in 1949 the Federal Communications Commission implemented the Fairness Doctrine. It dealt with controversial issues. It stated that holders of broadcast licenses need to present controversial issues of public importance in a manner that was honest, equitable, and balanced. For example, if a radio station was going to conduct a presentation on a controverial issue, then contrasting views were also to be presented as well on that radio station regardless of what method was used. The Equal time rule wasn't required when it came to presenting both sides of a controversial issue. Equal time was made in reference to political candidates stating their views on radio.

Back in 1987 the Federal Communications Commission under then chairman Mark Fowler decided to repeal certain aspects of the Fairness Doctrine. Fowler was opposed to the Fairness Doctrine because he felt it was in violation of the right of free speech under the First Amendment. In June 1987, Congress tried to preempt and codify the Fairness Doctrine, but Reagan vetoed it. In 1991, when Congress tried to resurrect the Fairness Doctrine, then President George H.W. Bush threatened a veto and it wasn't until recently that some members of Congress were talking about re-introducing the Fairness Doctrine. The repealing of certain measures of the Fairness Doctrine allowed for political talk radio to flourish. It was a boon to conservative talk radio and out of that such media figures as Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, Michael Savage, and Glenn Beck were born to the radio industry. They've enjoyed great success and as a result the liberal media and Congress want to hush the conservative voice on talk radio. However, the media and Congress recognize that they can't hush talk radio by imposing the Fairness Doctrine as it is.

The Democratic-led Congress want to impose the Fairness Doctrine through a back-door approach. They want to disguise it and enforce it by changing it's terminology. They want to introduce such measures as localism and diversity ownership of the media to control speech on public radio. President Obama appointed another czar named Mark Lloyd. He is the Chief Diversity Officer in the Obama administration. According to WND (World Net Daily), Lloyd believes the Fairness Doctrine was never repealed. He's a strong supporter of it. What's chilling is he believes that conservative talk radio should be fined $250 million and the proceeds should go toward government-subsidized Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which supports the liberal PBS (Public Broadcasting System). Lloyd also believes radio stations whose programming doesn't meet public approval should be fined around $250 million dollars. He believes the programming on the radio stations should come under the guise of localism as well as have diversity ownership of the stations. Lloyd states the failure of liberal talk radio is indicative of market failure and it's in need of a regulatory fix. He doesn't believe the lack of success in liberal talk radio is due to listener preference.

In order to limit the spread of conservative talk radio, Lloyd believes the broadcast license terms should be shortened from eight to three years. He also believes in allowing local community leaders and activists to weigh-in on whether or not a station's license should be renewed. He proposes creating regulations to increase broadcast of ownership diversity in terms of racial ethnicity and gender of the station owners.

It's scary the kind of influence Mark Lloyd will have in the Obama administration in attempting to silence dissent. The Obama administration is transforming America into a communist country. Communism doesn't believe in freedom of speech. Our present government doesn't want anyone challenging or disagreeing with their socialist agenda. That's why they're trying to stifle the voices of dissent, such as conservative talk radio. Congress and the President recognize if they want to stifle the voices of dissent, they have to use other approaches to accomplish that task. They know the citizens are aware of the Fairness Doctrine, so they'll change their terminology and use such phrases as ownership diversity and localism to achieve their goals. This will give the government the means to control speech. We must stand up to the government and defend the right of free speech. When we lose our right to free speech, we will no longer be a free people. We will become a nation of tyrants.