Posted on 08/12/2008 5:05:18 PM PDT by Las Vegas Dave
There’s a huge concern among conservative talk radio hosts that reinstatement of the Fairness Doctrine would all-but destroy the industry due to equal time constraints. But speech limits might not stop at radio. They could even be extended to include the Internet and “government dictating content policy.”
FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell raised that as a possibility after talking with bloggers at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C. McDowell spoke about a recent FCC vote to bar Comcast from engaging in certain Internet practices – expanding the federal agency’s oversight of Internet networks.
The commissioner, a 2006 President Bush appointee, told the Business & Media Institute the Fairness Doctrine could be intertwined with the net neutrality battle. The result might end with the government regulating content on the Web, he warned. McDowell, who was against reprimanding Comcast, said the net neutrality effort could win the support of “a few isolated conservatives” who may not fully realize the long-term effects of government regulation.
“I think the fear is that somehow large corporations will censor their content, their points of view, right,” McDowell said. “I think the bigger concern for them should be if you have government dictating content policy, which by the way would have a big First Amendment problem.”
(Excerpt) Read more at businessandmedia.org ...
And I thought it was a slow news day...
The Fairness Doctrine is fine as long as it is applied to the school system, the colleges, all of the newspapers, public radio, and all of the TV news shows. Katie gets 15 minutes, then JimRob gets 15 minutes. Sissy Matthews gets 15 minutes, then I get 15 minutes.
How ANYONE could consider that the “Fairness Doctrine” is even remotely constitutional is beyond the universe of reasonable thought.
Ouch. That's harsh!
LOL, true. It’s still the sad reality. I am by no means convinced he wouldn’t lean towards returning to the fairness doctrine himself.
I admit that’s a stretch, but this guy doesn’t like to be challenged, and I know there is going to be some challenging going on.
If the Republicans could hold 41 seats in the Senate they could block cloture on the FCC doing this. If McCain proposes it, it’s a done deal. Every Democrat would vote for it.
If B.O. gets in, it will be time for another ‘tea party’!
McCain joining senators John Thune, R-S.D., and Norm Coleman, R-Minn., to introduce the Broadcaster Freedom Act to block the return of the equally obnoxious Fairness Doctrine, which the left used with great success in the past to stifle conservative viewpoints on the airwaves, particularly radio.
... Hillary switches parties to Republican, the party of her youth, becomes VP on the ticket of her good friend McCain ... they're for responsibility and good sense, and put such a scare into the American people of Obama, who is already flailing and whose support is as much an illusion as Hillary's was ... but Democrats who don't like Obama, and they are legion, could certainly stomach voting for a winning ticket like McCain/Clinton over Obama.
And I wonder, of all those who consider it a moral civic duty to vote for McCain in order to keep Obama out of the White House ... would they vote for McCain on my wildly hypothetical McCain/Clinton tag?
Ah well. Like I say, as we comisserate.
Yep, and smoking will never be banned either.
Forget that. It's way past time to start burning down their houses.
I can’t vote for either one of them. The idea of McCain and Hillary on the same ticket makes me want to BARF.
There is more reason to expand the FCC to cover cable television than the internets.
Restricting political speech on the internet is just about censoring a contrary view to the liberal establishment. No allegations of illegal or seditious intent. Just an alternate media outlet to the fourth branch of government (run by and for the Democrats).
I bet the old media outlets start pushing fairness doctrine in order for them to kill the competition.
If fairness doctrine applies to the internet then it should be applied to newspapers.
They would tell you that they are fair now.
You know what, we have a lot of people who think this amnesty thing is a lark. It’s coming back next spring, and when it’s over that smile of theirs is going to be on the other side of their face.
McCain is not going to be happy to have folks angry at him over this. They are going to use every tool available to trash him, while 40% of the folks who think they are Conservative, will fight them tooth and nail over it.
Some of these folks are so anxious to back anything the party hack wants, they may just go for the fairness doctrine themselves. If McCain does go for it, you wait and see who trashes him for it, and who either remains quiet as a church mouse, or actually defends him citing how the immigration crazies have nobody to blame but themselves.
I would like to think McCain knows better, but he should have known better regarding the CFR bill too.
I guess I can see the value of the Fairness Doctrine in years gone past, when there were limited media outlets. Not that it worked then, either. But with the advent of the internet, cable’s 24 hour news, massive amounts of magazines and newspapers, there is absolutely no reason a person can’t get news coverage from every angle conceived by man. Not to mention...it’s not within the limits of the Constitution.
BUT..does that mean that conservatives will be able to post uncontested at Kos or DU? Does that mean that Rosie O’Donnell will be a guest on Rush? (ya gotta admit that could be humorous!)
Nah..didn’t think so...
Thanks LVD!
The idea of McCain and Hillary on the same ticket
Unfortunately, that nauseating concept is surprisingly make-believable with a Juan McCain candidacy.
B. Hussein Obama failing the 060300AUG08 telephone call test over Georgia gives me just another reason to vote against Obama.
A Conservative running mate could give me a reason to gamble my vote on the GOP.
Cheers,
OLA
I agree 100% with you. The FD will never be implemented.
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