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This may appear to support this fairness doctrine thing but it really isn’t.

I say so what if they put this back into effect. I recall several totally liberal radio stations that couldn’t make enough money to stay in business. The clown in Minnesota that is still trying to steal the election is another fine example.

So the liberal message on talk radio just isn’t listened to - so people will listen to Rush then turn off the radio. Rush’s message (and the other conservative talkers) is actually a more reasonable message that carries meaning and logic. So those liberals tune into talk radio to hear their favorite liberal host (wherever that person could be found!). They listen until the theme shifts to the conservative view. Only the true believers will tune it out, but many will listen and change their thought process.

On the other side of that view how many conservatives do you really think will just jump right in bed with the liberal thought process? I say very few.

So in reality I think the one’s who will be harmed by the fairness doctrine are the owners of the radio stations and/or networks who will suffer from loss of advertising dollars. If I were purchasing ads on radio I would certainly require that my ads ONLY run during the airing of a conservative point of view and I imagine many who would be paying for advertising would do the same.

Finally just how long do we really thing this will last? Congressional elections happen every 2 years and I don’t thing that the electorate will stay home for the next one.

“I say so what if they put this back into effect. I recall several totally liberal radio stations that couldn’t make enough money to stay in business. The clown in Minnesota that is still trying to steal the election is another fine example.”

This is the most common confusion over the “fairness doctrine”. Not that I would be for any government control over freedom of speech, but lets suppose that all it meant was that there was “balance” on talk radio. For one, since there is a finite amount of time in a day, if liberals got equal time, then that would knock some conservative broadcasters off. But you may say, thats the price we pay for a fair viewing of all political opinion. The problem is that broadcasters are businesses and are in business to make money. If they are required to air liberal commentators who havent made money then the broadcasters will lose money by putting them in slots that were previously occupied by money making conservative broadcasters. Fine, you may say, because its the price for those broadcasters to pay for the right to air on public airwaves where local content and diversity are wanting. Wrong. For one, who is to say which conservative host should be tossed over the side? Is it the national hosts like Rush and Hannity? Or is it the local conservative host. Likely, any government imposed “balance review board” will choose to toss out Rush and Hannity and try and “balance” with local conservative hosts, claiming that those nasty big name hosts don’t represent the local communities. Forget about the fact that the only reason broadcasters air these guys is because local communities listen and they generate revenue. Fine, you may say. We must have an equal sharing of political views. Fact is, we already have that. Its called the free market of ideas. If an idea is worth being aired then broadcasters will figure a way to air it and make money off of it and some venues are more supportive of liberal ideas over conservative ones. Liberal povs hold sway over tv and press, and conservative views hold sway over radio. I’d prefer it be the other way around but I wouldn’t want to governmentally mess with it. Fine you may say, let the government meddle with fairness in the name of diversity or localism, its the price we pay for a free society. Wrong. What will happen is that broadcasters will get sued by third parties(read ACORN) until they choose not to air any political talk radio at all. And if you don’t think thats possible, well that was exactly why there was almost no political talk radio until the fairness doctrine was rescinded.