Posted on 07/02/2009 10:59:28 AM PDT by bs9021
First Amendment Farewell Tour
by: Brittany Fortier, July 02, 2009
Americans are in for some change they wont 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 OLeary, the publisher of the OLeary 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.
OLeary 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. OLeary said. Legislation is also forcing talk radio in to a trend OLeary 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, OLeary said.
Proponents of the Fairness Doctrine also want to shorten the length of time for talk radio stations to have their licenses renewed. OLeary 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, OLeary said....
(Excerpt) Read more at campusreportonline.net ...
What we see today in Congress for the first time [are] bills being introduced that are just flat out insane.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.