President Obama Begins to Fulfill a Promise(extreme Obamassianism barf alert)

Living in between the two purist partisan camps means being willing to go out of the way to both criticize the President when he deserves it and to compliment him when he deserves it.

The doctrine was a requirement that any radio station that included political programing would be required to provide “equal time” for both sides. This seemingly simple requirement was a nightmare in practice, however, since true ideologues (the people most likely to use the doctrine to file complaints and obstruct FCC licensing) are precisely those most likely to believe that ANY time for the other side is, by definition, too much. In order to avoid harassment and intimidation by such extremist partisans, radio stations simply avoided any political content whatsoever.

The death of the doctrine during the Reagan administration led quickly to the rise of a talk radio establishment. Because liberal audiences were already well-served by the broadcast and cable television networks (where surveys have shown more than 90% or reporters vote for Democrats), the new talk radio niche quickly became a haven for frustrated conservatives.

Unwilling to tolerate the existence of even one ghetto of conservative dominance, however, some powerful Democrats, including California’s Henry Waxman, have recently advocated bringing back the “fairness doctrine” specifically and intentionally as a tool to suppress conservative speech. Shameless in their hypocrisy regarding the legitimacy of dissent (remember, it wasn’t long ago that “dissent is patriotic” was the watchword of the left), Democratic leaders like Waxman were prepared to rely on raw government power to ensure the permanant dominance of their message in all forums that the government could reach. Waxman even proposed including the Internet in his censorial diktat.

By distancing himself from such extreme and abusive partisanship, President Obama has taken a small but significant step in fulfilling his campaign promise to be the President of all Americans, including those that may disagree with him.

PETITION TO BLOCK CONGRESSIONAL
ATTACKS ON FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND PRESS

To: U.S. Congress, President of the United States, Supreme Court of the United States

Whereas, the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution clearly states: "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";

Whereas, members of Congress are recently on record saying they want to re-impose the so-called "Fairness Doctrine" on U.S. broadcasters, or else accomplish the same goal of censoring talk radio by other means, and thereby establish government and quasi-government watchdogs as the arbiters of "fairness" rather than the free and open marketplace of ideas;

Whereas, the U.S. experimented with the so-called "Fairness Doctrine" for 38 years - from 1949 through 1987 - during which time it was repeatedly used by presidents and other political leaders to muzzle dissent and criticism;

Whereas, the abandonment of the so-called "Fairness Doctrine" in 1987, thanks to President Ronald Reagan, resulted in an unprecedented explosion of new and diverse voices and political speech - starting with Rush Limbaugh - that revitalized the AM radio band and provided Americans with a multitude of alternative viewpoints;

Whereas, talk radio is one of the most crucial components of the free press in America, and is single-handedly responsible for informing tens of millions of Americans about what their government leaders are doing;

Whereas, it is a wholly un-American idea that government should be the watchdog of the press and a policeman of speech, as opposed to the uniquely American ideal of a free people and a free press being the vigilant watchdogs of government;

Whereas, the so-called "Fairness Doctrine" - either under that name, or using a new name and even more devious methods - represents a frontal assault on the First Amendment, and its re-imposition would constitute nothing more nor less than the crippling of America's robust, unfettered, free press:

SIGN THE PETITION at http://www.wnd.com/index.php?pageId=87882

Freepmail me if you want to join my fairness doctrine ping list.

No he hasn’t.

He’s just letting others do his dirty work. As Hannity has pointed out, it’ll just be under the guise of local oversight boards who will systematically ostracize station owners who live by the “profit motive”.

The doctrine was a requirement that any radio station that included political programing would be required to provide “equal time” for both sides.

Uh, Jason....don't forget the boobtube.

Nice try at fairness but this is mushy gobbely-gook. The author apparently knows nothing about the concept of "localism" and other myriad of ways to achieve the same ends without using the term "fairness doctrine" to label it.

Obama essentially committed to not using the term "Fairness Doctrine" while implementing all of it's tenets.

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