First Amendment Farewell Tour

Campus Report ^ | July 2, 2009 | Brittany Fortier

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First Amendment Farewell Tour

by: Brittany Fortier, July 02, 2009

Americans are in for some “change” they won’t believe in as the Obama administration and Congressional Democrats prepare to reinstall the Fairness Doctrine, argues one author. If they are successful, the First Amendment as we know it in America will no longer exist. Brad O’Leary, the publisher of the O’Leary Report and author of Shut Up, America! The End of Free Speech spoke about this contentious issue at the Heritage Foundation on June 24, 2009.

O’Leary argued that American newspapers are “totally and completely biased” in their coverage of President Obama, even to the point of being “fraudulent.” Other sources of news information, such as talk radio and the internet, have been crucial in providing alternative viewpoints, but that could change soon if Congress regulates these media.

“What we see today in Congress for the first time [are] bills being introduced to bring a ‘fairness’ doctrine to the internet.” O’Leary said. Legislation is also forcing talk radio in to a trend O’Leary refers to as “localism,” or talking exclusively about local issues.

Diversity of ownership of talk radio is also being pushed by Fairness Doctrine advocates. “The [demographic] of the radio station will have a lot to do with whether or not your license is renewed,” O’Leary said.

Proponents of the Fairness Doctrine also want to shorten the length of time for talk radio stations to have their licenses renewed. O’Leary argued that this would give government bureaucrats the opportunity to hold “ACORN-like hearings” that would have the authority to close stations based solely on the content of their programming.

“Those of you that think you can beat this in Congress, forget about it,” O’Leary said....

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What we see today in Congress for the first time [are] bills being introduced that are just flat out insane.