Posted on 02/27/2009 6:11:18 PM PST by dvan
Conservatives ask: Is Durbin going after Limbaugh?
Conservatives fear that Democrats are pursuing a “back door” approach to cracking down on Clear Channel Communications, the media conglomerate that airs "The Rush Limbaugh Show," a favorite among conservatives.
The Senate voted along party lines Thursday to adopt an amendment sponsored by Sen. Dick Durbin (Ill.), the second-ranking Democrat in the chamber, that directs the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to “promote diversity in communication media ownership and to ensure that broadcast station licenses are used in the public interest.”
The measure passed 57-41 without a single Republican vote.
Durbin said his proposal would encourage more women and minorities to apply for radio and TV ownership.
But Sen. Jim DeMint (S.C.), chairman of the conservative Senate Republican Steering Committee, charged the proposal would lead to regulatory pressure on Clear Channel, which owns and operates more than 1,200 radio stations in the United States.
The vote came minutes before the Senate voted overwhelmingly to quash the Fairness Doctrine, a regulation the FCC enforced until the mid-1980s that required radio and TV stations to give equal airtime to conservative and liberal viewpoints.
Democrats have tried several times to revive the Fairness Doctrine, which critics argue would decimate conservative talk radio. Those efforts failed because of vetoes by former Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.
President Obama has made clear that he does not intend to reinstate the doctrine.
But Republicans aren’t convinced that Democrats have given up on loosening conservatives' grip on talk radio.
“Sen. Durbin’s amendment exposed Democrat intentions to impose radio censorship through the back door using vague regulations dealing with media ownership,” said DeMint.
Sen. John Thune (S.D.), vice chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, said, “I am troubled that as we killed the ‘Fairness Doctrine,’ Sen. Durbin’s amendment brought to life a new threat to talk radio and other arenas of free speech.”
Aides to DeMint said the proposal was an attempt to “muzzle successful syndicated radio program” such as Limbaugh's.
“They’re trying to break up Clear Channel and other successful syndicated radio programs,” said Wesley Denton, a spokesman for DeMint.
Durbin dismissed the charge.
“To argue what I am putting here is a dramatic change in the law, is going to somehow muzzle Rush Limbaugh — that’s not the case,” said Durbin during a floor debate with DeMint.
“No one is suggesting that the law for the Federal Communications Commission [FCC] says that you can give this license to a Republican and this one to a Democrat and this one to a liberal and this one to a conservative.
“When we talk about diversity in media ownership, it relates primarily to gender, race and other characteristics of that nature,” Durbin said.
The Senate voted to append Durbin’s proposal to the District of Columbia Voting Rights Act, which passed the Senate on Thursday afternoon.
Minutes after adopting Durbin’s amendment, the Senate voted 87-11 to adopt an amendment sponsored by DeMint that would prevent the FCC from reinstating the Fairness Doctrine.
Republicans have introduced companion legislation in the House, but Democrats in that chamber are not expected to allow a vote on the bill.
Conservatives fear that forcing stations to make equal time for liberal talk radio would slash profits and pressure radio executives to scale back on conservative programming to avoid escalating costs and interference from government regulators.
Opponents of the Fairness Doctrine argue that liberal talk radio has not proven popular or profitable. For example, Air America, liberals’ answer to “The Rush Limbaugh Show,” filed for bankruptcy in October 2006.
The FCC discarded the policy in 1985 after deciding that it restricted journalistic freedom and “actually inhibit[ed] the presentation of controversial issues of public importance, to the detriment of the public and in degradation of the editorial prerogative of broadcast journalists,” according to a Congressional Research Service report.
Go ahead and make my day!
Unfortunately, that means we must target a few of them and destroy them. That means ruin them and jail them. Kinda like what they did to Scooter Libby. They need to understand that we mean business. And most importantly, the GOP needs to learn to mean business.
Durban may be a narcissist, but he is a man of a fascist mindset, and that means he is dangerous.
Otter: We gotta take these bastards. Now we could do it with conventional weapons, but that could take years and cost millions of lives. No, I think we have to go all out. I think that this situation absolutely requires a really futile and stupid gesture be done on somebody’s part.
Bluto: And we’re just the guys to do it.
D-Day: Let’s do it.
Bluto: LET’S DO IT!!
What was the number of this amendment? I want to check out my Senators (as if I didn’t know) and go after them.
Go ahead and make my day!
I am Reading your mail...I am a Chicago “girl” and I won’t back down
I seriously doubt that the senior senator from Illinois is acting without the tacit approval of the former junior senator from Illinois. As far as I’m concerned, Sen. Turban speaks for Obama.
He's from Springfield.
“President Obama has made clear that he does not intend to reinstate the doctrine. “
Who does he think he’s kidding? What an insult to everyone’s intelligence.
Limbaugh has been saying for a while that Obama and friends would attempt to bring back the Fairness doctrine under a different name. So now they call it “diversity in media ownership”. In today’s parlance, terms like “diversity” and “political correctness” have become synonymous with quotas and censorship.
Bankruptcy doesn't mean liquidation. Just ask the airlines.
My question is this: How many Americans are willing to live under tyranny? More importantly, How many Americans will be willing to act, yes I mean invoke the real reason for the second amendment, and HELL YES, take up arms against a tyrannical government?
All you lurkers here, put me on your little list. I WILL NOT LIVE under tyranny!!! That is my answer!
Dirty Dick at it again.
The democrats cannot help themselves. The must reinstate the Fairness Doctrine. They can't abide dissent, and the true loons (Durbin being their spokesman) in the party acknowledge that the elimination of the Conservative voice on talk radio is their number one priority.
Rahm Emanuel, on the other hand, does have some idea of the firestorm this will cause, and has instructed his pet president to calm the great unwashed by telling them he does not support the Fairness Doctrine.
It'll be interesting to see who wins this one.
For the record, I'm betting the Hush Rush Bill will be passed within a year. This will hand the House to the Republicans in 2010. We have to be careful with the House this time and not give Obama cover like we did Bill Clinton. Also, it would help a great deal if we did not choose to nominate the oldest Senator as our party's Presidential candidate in 2012.
Durbin should be excommunicated by his bishop IMHO. He is a CINO, Catholic in name only.
Why my fellow Catholics vote for him saddens me.
I feel your pain. I'm a Downstater myself. I'm beginning to believe that everyone living south of I-80 exists only to support the Chicago mob.
It works the same way in Ohio, all of us who live below Columbus pretty much work to support the looters in Columbus and Cleveland.
Doesn’t matter about semantics. Since their merger, the accompaning debt load, declining revenues and basement style stock prices they cannot make even the most minimal of expenses. They are history, that is unless Obammy comes to their rescue.
Sat Radio would be in trouble even if the economy wasn't tanking. (Just not as fast) Not because it isn't a good service but because its already a Dinosaur.
Who needs Sat radio when you can have the Internet in your car which has direct links to XM and Sirius for free as well as thousands of other FREE Internet Radio sites?
I live 60 miles northwest,near the Wisconsin border,and we are considered “downstate” too.
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.