Free Republic

Republicans introduced a bill Wednesday that would bar Congress, President-elect Barack Obama and federal media regulators from bringing back the Fairness Doctrine, which they said would all but eliminate the talk-radio industry. The doctrine, a 1949 requirement that broadcasters present opposing points of view on political issues, was scrapped in 1987 after the Federal Communications Commission said it restricted journalistic freedom. But a new administration with the power to appoint members of the FCC, along with Democratic gains in both chambers on Capitol Hill, has renewed fears among Republicans that the doctrine could be revived. "Freedom of speech is under...

In the midst of economic troubles and much anticipation of a new administration about to enter the White House, the potential return of the Fairness Doctrine hasn’t gotten much attention. But on the eve of President-elect Barack Obama’s inauguration, Republican members of Congress haven’t forgotten. GOP Sens. Jim DeMint, S.C. and James Inhofe, Okla., along with two of their House colleagues, Reps. Mike Pence, Ind. and Greg Walden, Ore., introduced the Broadcaster Freedom Act at a press conference in the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 7. DeMint, who is named on the Senate of version of the bill, the DeMint-Thune Senate...

Received a notification this evening about a GOP preemptive strike against the Fairness Doctrine to be unveiled tomorrow. Good.Several principled, free-speech Democrats have signed on.No, just kidding about that last part. Just want to make sure you’re paying attention.Here’s the press advisory:Republican Leaders Announce Bill to Ban Fairness Doctrine Congressmen Pence and Walden join Senator DeMint in a press conference to highlight the introduction of the Broadcaster Freedom Act on the floor of the U.S. House. The Broadcaster Freedom Act would prevent the Federal Communications Commission from implementing the Fairness Doctrine without an act of Congress. Participants: Sen. Jim DeMint...

Washington - As an alternative to a reincarnation of the Fairness Doctrine, which would require television and radio stations using public airwaves to give equal time to Republicans and Democrats, California Senator Barbara Boxer is proposing a tax on loyal listeners to the Rush Limbaugh Radio Program, Underneath Politics has learned. "Much like taxes on cigarettes and sugar-filled candy, we need to punish citizens who engage in behavior detrimental to their own wellbeing," Senator Boxer said.

Wait a minute.When NBC’s Today Show – or any of a number of left-leaning main-stream media morning excrement-fests – had on author after author demonizing President Bush during his eight years in the White House, that was perfectly acceptable.When these masters of journalism interviewed endless lefty whinycrat pundits who couldn’t race to the guest chair fast enough to blast the President that was more than reasonable.The fact that we were (and still are) a nation at war would never keep the morning TV video rags from booking as many Bush-slammers as possible.Hey, they're entitled. Free country.(That they call themselves "objective"...

(CBS) Ann Coulter says liberals should look in the mirror. In her latest book, "Guilty: Liberal 'Victims' and Their Assault on America," the conservative firebrand stirs up controversy again, contending that liberals in America try to play victim when really, they're the bullies. While she's at it, she points fingers at what she calls the liberal media.

This year already we’ve heard calls for reintroduction of the Fairness Doctrine, and Internet censorship. Now, the first call for public funding for newspapers is here. Lining up behind GM and AIG, media outlets could join the many “distressed businesses” begging for government aid.

...I fear that one element in Obama's well-intentioned infrastructure plan—his goal of providing all Americans with broadband Internet access—might one day be seen as inadvertently laying the foundations for a return to fascism, the political catastrophe of the 1930's.... The 1930s fascists were expert at using all the most technologically sophisticated communications technologies—the cinema, radio, newspapers, advertising—to spew their destructive, hate-filled message. What they excelled at was removing the the traditional middlemen like religion, media, and politics, and using these modern technologies of mass communications to speak with reassuring familiarity to the disorientated masses. Imagine if today's radically unregulated Internet,...

Looks like ABC News is starting out 2009 with a partisan bang. On its main page, ABC News is hosting a slide show featuring what it is calling the "All Time Dumb Quotes." Now, these are not all strictly political dumb quotes, to be sure. They also have the empty headed Christina Aguilera, that sharp as a tack Jessica Simpson and other denizens of the Hollywood Mensa club among the 16 featured quotes -- and some of them are doozies, too. But, there are six political quotes five by Republicans and one by Tina Fey making fun of a Republican...

Last week, The Washington Post reported on President-elect Barack Obama's plan to convert his campaign's massive digital database of millions of supporters' contact and background data into a location that will permit him to use that data legally as a tool of persuasion for his governing effort. The Post accurately characterized it as the most important presidential exploitation of a new technology for political purposes since FDR used the then-new radio technology back in the 1930s to talk to, persuade and galvanize the American public. As someone who did political communications and policy work on Ronald Reagan's White House staff,...

Conservative talk radio has worked itself into a tizzy lately over the rumored revival of the Fairness Doctrine -- the FCC policy that sought to enforce balanced discussion on the nation's airwaves. As the founding president of Air America Radio, I believe that for the last eight years Rush Limbaugh and his ilk have been cheerleaders for everything wrong with our economic, foreign and domestic policies. But when it comes to the Fairness Doctrine, I couldn't agree with them more. The Fairness Doctrine is an anachronistic policy that, with the abundance of choices on radio today, is entirely unnecessary. Instituted...

Well, now it's out in the open: Rep. Anna Eschoo (D-CA - is that any surprise?) is calling for a return of the "fairness doctrine." And not just the old one, that covered radio and television: she wants it to apply to cable and satellite programming, as well. For all the high-minded rhetoric behind the Fairness Doctrine, the goal is the same: to reign in talk radio. Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Michael Savage, and others are successful. Conversely, liberals on talk radio have been utter failures. Air America still barely limps along but at some points, it had to resort...

Although president-elect Barack Obama has stated that he is opposed to the reimposition of the so-called Fairness Doctrine, it remains to be seen if he can resist the pressure of Congress to bring back a measure that many on the left favor because they claim it will "Hush Rush." Leading the charge for bringing back the Fairness Doctrine is Congresswoman Anna Eshoo of California. According to this report, Eshoo not only wants to bring it back but to extend it to absurdly include cable and satellite where public airwaves are not even involved: Congresswoman Anna Eshoo, D-Palo Alto, said Monday...

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

I'LL BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS FROSTY THE SNOWMAN LET IT SNOW I SAW MOMMY KISSING SANTA CLAUS OBAMA'S 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS UP ON THE HOUSETOP SILVER BELLS RUDOLPH BARNEY FRANK - DANCE OF THE SUGAR PLUM FAERIE WE WISH YOU THE FAIRNESS DOCTRINE

Regarding the column "What media consumers really want is bias" in the Nov. 2 edition. I don't believe we can expect many people to be 50-50 unbiased. What we would like to expect would be for "journalists" to do more work in setting aside their biases when reporting on current events. Before the 1960s, New York City had more than 10 newspapers, each with its editor's beliefs on the opinion page. In the 19th century, there were many papers, each written by one or a few people. That was when people had a chance to get a choice of opinion....

The Kenyan government has defended a contentious media bill which critics say is intended to gag the press. The Kenya Communications Amendment Bill, which was passed by parliament, gives the state power to raid media houses and control broadcast content. Information Minister Samuel Poghisio insists that the government is committed to press freedom. Kenya's press has feared for its independence since a 2006 raid on a TV station and newspaper offices.

Exclusive: TVNewser has learned Fox News will debut a new program at 9pmET, entitled "Hannity," featuring Sean Hannity as host. The program premieres January 12. "Hannity" will include a "Great American Panel" of three nightly in studio guests — a liberal, a conservative and an "X factor." The show will mix commentary, interviews and special segment like a "Hate Hannity Hotline." This is the first time in FNC's 12-year history it will alter programming at the 9pmET timeslot. Ever since Alan Colmes announced he was leaving "Hannity & Colmes" on November 24, speculation has run rampant as to what FNC...

Barack Obama ran on the promise of bringing America together, but Democrats in Congress seem more eager to use their majorities to expand and cement their power across the entire federal government. If Republicans are to avoid becoming a permanent minority, they need to stop five hyperpartisan bills likely to come to the floor over the first half of 2009. 1) Card Check: Labeled the Employee Free Choice Act, this bill would fundamentally undermine the rights of workers and business owners. The law now guarantees workers' right to a secret ballot in deciding whether to unionize. This bill (which Obama...

Finkbeiner lashes out at recall drive organizersArticle published Monday, December 8, 2008 Toledo Mayor Carty Finkbeiner lashed back at the backers of a recall effort Monday, accusing them of seeking to gain more power and wealth, but of not having Toledo's best interests at heart. The mayor said most of the people involved in Take Back Toledo are not Toledo residents. **SNIP** Mr. Finkbeiner accused WSPD-AM, 1370, of violating the Fairness Doctrine in not allowing him to respond to what he said were "vicious, one-sided diatribes" over the last three years, and said he would ask Congress to investigate WSPD....

Here's the dirty little truth about the democrats who want to bring back the fairness doctrine. Its just as much of a bailout as the billions being given to the banks or the auto unions. There is a reason why there is very little "liberal" talk radio. PEOPLE DON'T LIKE THE PRODUCT. If people want to hear what is on,---- they listen, if they don't.... well there are tons of radio stations, listeners can turn the dial to find what they like. If a radio program doesn't generate listeners, it doesn't get advertising, no advertising, no radio program. It's really...

In 2004 and 2007, Democrats attempted to quietly destroy the first amendment. With help from the communist Anti Defamation League, Democrats attempted to pass two bills that would have enacted speech code ordinances to silence free speech in the name of protecting "vulnerable minorities." This law would only protect certain classes of people while doing nothing to protect others. It would also have the potential of silencing dissent, muzzling public opinions on important subjects and preventing the spread of ideas. The bill quietly went through both the house and senate without a word by even republicans. Thankfully, president Bush vetoed...

It was supposed to be a joke. As an endless parade of corporate beggars marches to Washington in search of handouts for their beleaguered industries, some of us in the news business snarked that journalists would be next in line. I launched a Newspaper Bailout Countdown Clock on my blog after The New York Times Company's bonds plunged into junk territory in October. A few weeks later, columnist Jon Fine published a tongue-in-cheek memo in BusinessWeek outlining a federal newspaper rescue proposal. The jibes were meant to be facetious critiques of for-profit enterprises demanding massive taxpayer expenditures under the guise...

Hello, There has been a lot of talk since the election about the potential revival of the Fairness Doctrine. The recent vote elevating Senator Harvey Waxman to replace Senator John Dingell as Chair of the powerful Energy and Commerce Committee lends some weight to this speculation. And while President-Elect Obama has suggested that he does not support reinstating the Fairness Doctrine, there are several senior Democratic members of Congress who have expressed strong support for it. In light of all this anxiety, I wanted to take a few minutes to describe the history of the Fairness Doctrine and to explain...

LOS ANGELES - The Fairness Doctrine, which forced broadcasters to offer equal time to both sides of controversial issues, was abolished in 1987, paving the way for talk radio to take the opinionated — and popular — form it has today. Now, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and such influential Democratic senators as Barbara Boxer and Chuck Schumer are pushing for its return, or something like it. Could the equal-time provisions pull a Don Imus and make a radio comeback? It could, industry insiders say. And the government-mandated programing restrictions that come with it could hobble an already struggling industry. Talk-radio...

On Thursday December 4, 2008 a movie theater owned by the City of Miami Beach by the name of Byron Carlyle at 500 71 ST en Miami Beach, will show a movie in favor of Che Guevara. I do not know which film will be, since many have been made with lies and not with the real history. Che Guevara was a murderer.......

In this show I interview NY Times Bestselling author, Christopher Horner, author of the "Politically Incorrect Guide to Global Warming" and "Red Hot Lies". Next I interview Gary Schneider, president of New Media Alliance Television. We also have an appearance by action weather reporter Chet Waivers

...liberals are again bent on stifling dissent. They've learned from their past failures, however. Last year former talk show host Mike Pence (R-IN) sponsored legislation forbidding the FCC from reinstating the Fairness Doctrine. It passed 309-115, but the measure was never taken up by the Senate. The FCC still has the same power it did in 1949 to create a new Fairness Doctrine. And that's exactly what the left is already moving to do. Last year the Center for American Progress released its blueprint for the re-censorship of America's airwaves. The report notes the exact same language authorized the original...

Having won control of the White House and Congress, Democrats are turning their attention to their legislative agenda. High on the list of priorities? The Fairness Doctrine. Democrats such as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California and Sen. Charles Schumer of New York hope to use their party's victory to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine on radio, but the return of the doctrine would be bad news for them – and could end up being good news for conservatives. ... Many Democrats are eager to bring the doctrine back, and it is likely to be introduced early on in the next...

The “Employee Free Choice Act” is an insult to anyone with an IQ greater than zero. Let me get this straight: Take away a worker’s right to cast a secret ballot for labor union elections and that’s free choice. That’s just plain stupid, which is also what the Democratic leaders in Congress think of the voters who elected them. The union bosses want to replace the secret ballot with a “card check” system, so the union officials can see how people voted as they collect the cards. I think that’s called open intimidation, but they probably have a cutesy name...

ABC has Gotcha Gibson. NBC has Williams. CBS has Couric. Fox has............ Nothing. There is no national broadcast coming from Fox news. This needs to change.

On October 1, 2008, the Ithaca, NY, Common Council declared Ithaca a "Community of Sanctuary" for protestors against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but denied sanctuary status to supporters of the wars. Proponents of the sanctuary resolution used a false narrative of "suppressed" anti-war protestors to justify having government protect only locally popular speech content. Similar tactics can be expected nationally, as Democrats use government power to protect only liberal speech under the guise of promoting "fairness." {Snip} Nonetheless, the sanctuary city proponents used this false narrative of "suppressed" protestors to support its petition drive. The resolution sought to...

Exclusive: TVNewser has learned veteran Fox News Channel anchor E.D. Hill will not be renewed when her current contract expires. Hill, who has been with Fox News for more than 10 years, will continue with the network for the next few months until her current deal expires. SVP of Programming Bill Shine tells TVNewser that he "chose not to renew E.D.'s latest contract" but noted that "Hill has been a valued contributor to the success of FNC over the years, and we wish her all the best." Hill has been without a regular Fox News program since June 16,...

Barack Obama sought to silence his critics during his 2008 campaign. Now, with the ink barely dry on this November's ballots, Obama has begun a war against conservative talk radio. Obama is on record as saying he does not plan an exhumation of the now-dead "Fairness Doctrine". Instead, Obama's attack on free speech will be far less understood by the general public and accordingly, far more dangerous. The late community organizer Saul Alinsky taught his followers to strike hard from an unexpected direction, an approach known as Alinsky jujitsu. Obama himself not only worked as an organizer for an Alinsky...

Barack Obama sought to silence his critics during his 2008 campaign. Now, with the ink barely dry on this November's ballots, Obama has begun a war against conservative talk radio. Obama is on record as saying he does not plan an exhumation of the now-dead "Fairness Doctrine". Instead, Obama's attack on free speech will be far less understood by the general public and accordingly, far more dangerous. The late community organizer Saul Alinsky taught his followers to strike hard from an unexpected direction, an approach known asAlinsky jujitsu. Obama himself not only worked as an organizer for an Alinsky offshoot...

<p>The former news director of WTMJ reveals how talk show hosts like Charlie Sykes and Jeff Wagner work to get us angry.</p> <p>I first got into journalism because I thought I could make a difference.</p> <p>I wrote for the school newspaper and did “news” reports on a radio station a friend and I started at my high school in Springfield, Mo. I got my first professional job at age 20, while still in college, at a local radio station’s news department. Three years later, I became a news director, and 12 years after that, in 1995, I was recruited to move to Milwaukee to become news director at WTMJ, one of the largest and most successful news/talk radio stations in America.</p>

In view of the 2008 election, the Christian churches have been noticeably silent. Is this reluctance due to their fear of losing the tax exempt status?The recent election highlights this issue quite well. Candidates held moral positions that were in direct opposition to known biblical teachings. Despite the candidates support for issues like abortion, religious leaders allowed these candidates to go unchallenged from their pulpits.Religious leaders are fearful of losing the tax-exempt status if they speak out strongly regarding moral positions that candidates hold. Religious leaders are not directing their comments from their pulpits to influence decisions about candidates based...

According to a Friday New York Times article by David Kirkpatrick, Barack Obama has reassigned Fairness Doctrine proponent, former FCC Commissioner Henry Rivera, from heading his FCC transition team: “At least one official initially involved in the transition appears to have been reassigned because of concern about his lobbying or legal work. Henry Rivera, a former Democratic commissioner on the Federal Communication Commission who was involved in planning for the agency’s transition, has dropped out of that role because he had represented clients on communications policy in the last year, the newsletter Communications Daily reported Friday.” Kirkpatrick went on to...

The former news director of WTMJ reveals how talk show hosts like Charlie Sykes and Jeff Wagner work to get us angry. I first got into journalism because I thought I could make a difference. I wrote for the school newspaper and did “news” reports on a radio station a friend and I started at my high school in Springfield, Mo. I got my first professional job at age 20, while still in college, at a local radio station’s news department. Three years later, I became a news director, and 12 years after that, in 1995, I was recruited to...

Another Fairness Doctrine Alert by: Irene Warren, November 14, 2008 While America waits in the balance for the next Administration to take control of the White House, political and governance studies experts met at the Brookings Institution recently to discuss the President-elect’s public policy stance on climate change and the current global economic crisis that challenges the very viability of the nation. They also want to bring the Fairness Doctrine to radio broadcasting. As a way to express legitimate public policy concerns, Darrell West, vice-president and director of the Brookings Governance Studies offered to draft a public memo to present...

The Obama Fairness Doctrine by: Bethany Stotts, November 14, 2008 Just three days after the election, a Brookings Institution leader issued a memo to President-elect Barack Obama asking him to restore the Fairness Doctrine. The Vice-president of Governance Studies at Brookings, Darrell West argues that the Fairness Doctrine would help restore journalistic ethics and fulfill the media’s mission to educate the populace. In the first of twelve memos to President Obama which will be issued over the next eight months, West argues that the incoming chief executive needs to “Restore the Media Fairness Doctrine and Requirements for Television Public Affairs...

I find one of the more amusing although important questions is how will President-elect Barack Obama govern? As a moderate and centrist, or as an extremist, radical and liberal? I can answer such questions with another question: When your whole career and resume shows you are a leftist, an extremist, a radical, a liberal, and a 96 percent pure party line Democrat, are you are likely to be just that no matter what you say in the campaign? Mr. Obama ran far-left to win the primaries and then veered quickly to the center to win the general election. And now...

President-elect Barack Obama has designated former Federal Communications Commissioner Henry Rivera to head the team that will select the next FCC chairman — an Obama move that bodes poorly for conservative talk radio. That’s because Rivera is widely believed to support the reinstitution of the so-called Fairness Doctrine.

Barrack Obama seems poised, based on his associates and his appointments to date, to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine for American radio programming, If he does that administratively through his naming of a new Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, he’ll be taking a page out of King George III’s book of policies toward the American colonists. Say what? Isn’t that a bit of a stretch since the number of radio stations in 1776 was shockingly low, and King George did not have a Royal Communications Commission? Well, actually he did, and thereon hangs a tale. The slogan, “No taxation without...

As free speech advocates gear up to oppose revival of the so-called “Fairness Doctrine,” another Orwellian-named government effort to dictate the content of radio and TV news and opinion has been hatched by the Bush administration’s Federal Communications Commission (FCC). So far, there’s been much less focus on the “localism rule” – even though it would have a similar chilling effect on First Amendment rights. Under the FCC’s proposed regulations, owners of radio and TV stations would become subject to permanent advisory boards whose members – aka “community organizers” - would be chosen according to politically correct multi-cultural nostrums requiring...

Broadcasters should act before they're forced to react if Congress brings the so-called Fairness Doctrine back from the dead. The Fairness Doctrine, which should be called The Gag Rule, will effectively silence talk shows on broadcast stations and the millions of Americans who tune in and talk about what was talked about. (Full disclosure: I host a Saturday evening talk show on NewsRadio 1020 KDKA.) "There is a huge misconception, I think, in the public about what a Fairness Doctrine could possibly do," says Jeffrey McCall, communications professor at DePauw University in Indiana. I don't think people understand the repercussions...

John Podesta's Media Matters is paving the way for the resurgence of the Fairness Doctrine. Podesta, a co-chairman of President-elect Barack Obama's White House transition team, and former chief of staff in the Clinton administration, was a critical player in the startup of this Far Left "media monitoring" website.Media Matters is actively pushing to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine that would essentially silence talk radio. Women, minorities, autistic children: Conservative radio's vitriol not reserved for Obama As Media Matters for America documented, the nationwide network of conservative radio hosts -- personalities without the national prominence of Sean Hannity and Rush...

The DC Examiner has a troubling editorial today on a new rule being proposed by Bush's FCC that would represent a threat to the unfettered marketplace of ideas on talk radio while in practice, giving power to anti-free speech elements to dictate what can be broadcast. As free speech advocates gear up to oppose revival of the so-called “Fairness Doctrine,” another Orwellian-named government effort to dictate the content of radio and TV news and opinion has been hatched by the Bush administration’s Federal Communications Commission (FCC). So far, there’s been much less focus on the “localism rule” – even though...

Douglas Turner of the Buffalo News wants conservative radio talkers silenced. He calls them "virulent," "violent" and "coarse" and hopes that starting January 1 the "work of flushing" them will begin. Turner fills his little anti-free speech screed with claims and a few examples of how rotten he thinks righty talkers are and how they need to be shut down, yet can't seem to find a single cross word to say about the "coarseness" of lefty talkers. In other words, it is plain that "coarseness" or "one-sided" radio isn't really a concern of his. Only eliminating the free speech of...

Barack Obama’s transition team has tapped former FCC Commissioner Henry Rivera, a longtime proponent of the so-called "Fairness Doctrine," to head the team looking for the man or woman who will soon give Democrats a 3-to-2 advantage on the Federal Communications Commission. It’s another troubling sign that Democrats are serious about trying to reinstate the long-defunct FCC regulation, which can more aptly be described as the "Censorship Doctrine" because of its chilling effect on free speech. In effect from 1949 to 1987, the Fairness Doctrine was an obstacle to open discussion of public policy issues on the radio; its...