Free Republic

Over the past few months,  we’ve seen a seemingly endless parade of bailouts from Washington — for banks, for automobiles, and just about everything else.    Today,  Congress may be voting on yet another bailout — this time for liberal media.   This afternoon, the Senate is expected to take up a proposal by Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois which would clear the way for restoration of  measures designed to chill speech considered too conservative.” The Durbin measure is being offered as a substitute to a contrary measure by Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina which would bar the FCC from re-imposing...

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...

Yesterday by a whopping 87-11 vote, the Senate added as a rider to the passed DC voting rights bill the Broadcaster Freedom Act (BFA). The BFA, if also passed by the House and signed by the President, would kill once and for all the Censorship Doctrine -- also mis-known as the "Fairness" Doctrine. Much Conservative celebration ensued. However, the revelry is misplaced and premature. It means only that the Left means to destroy Conservative and Christian talk radio by other means. Because another rider was added via a party-line 57-41 vote. Written by Illinois Democratic Senator Dick Durbin, S.160's Purpose...

Senator Jim DeMint’s amendment to kill the Fairness Doctrine was pretty straightforward. But an aide to DeMint said Senator Dick Durbin’s amendment requiring “diversity” in radio ownership will “impose the Fairness Doctrine through the back door by trying to break up radio ownership.” ...more

It was an important and impressive vote in the Senate.  By a vote of 87-11, the Senate approved an amendment by Senator Jim DeMint which prohibits the FCC from reinstating the Fairness Doctrine and requiring broadcasters - including Christian broadcasters - always air both sides of a controversial issue.While this is an important victory, it is Round One.  Also in the Senate yesterday, an amendment by Senator Dick Durbin was approved by a much closer vote, 57-41 - an amendment that attempts to promote 'diversity' in media ownership.That amendment is still of concern to those who support broadcast freedom -...

[1]Media Research Center President and NewsBusters.org Publisher Brent Bozell today called on all of President Barack Obama’s Federal Communications Commission (FCC) nominees to pledge to preserve the First Amendment freedoms of conservative and Christian talk radio.  Bozell asserted that if they do not do so, they should not be confirmed by the Senate.Denouncing the so-called Fairness Doctrine is not enough. Last Thursday, the Senate passed a rider from Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) that creates broad new free speech-suppression regulatory powers for the FCC.The nebulous Durbin Amendment potentially allows for the FCC to prematurely rescind talk radio station licenses and...

On March 3, Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., took the Fairness Doctrine and its often overlooked potential threat to Christian radio to the Senate floor. The Oklahoma senator gave a lengthy floor speech and mentioned that Sen. Jim DeMint’s effort to force an up-or-down vote on the Fairness Doctrine issue, which passed 87-11 in the Senate, was a good beginning. “Last week’s vote was the first nail in the coffin of the Fairness Doctrine, but it was not the end of the attempt on the part of some people to regulate the airwaves,” Inhofe said. “Now, I have long been outspoken...

In this clip from the floor of the Senate, Senator Inhofe talks about a back-door scheme by Democrats to sneak an anti-free speech amendment into law. Will the totalitarian left tell the truth and let America know they want to regulate speech? No way. They will try to sneak in anything they think America would find distasteful. These fascists who would regulate our very breath, speech and expressions are quite serious and unprincipled. Good job, Senator Inhofe

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Yesterday evening, U.S. Senator Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) issued a warning on the Senate Floor about the dangers of Democrats’ latest attempt to stifle Free Speech through their efforts to promote diversity in communication media ownership and promote Broadcast Localism.  Though the Senate last week passed legislation (S.Amdt.573) that prohibits the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from reinstituting the fairness doctrine, it also approved an amendment by Senator Dick Durbin (R-Ill.), “encouraging and promoting diversity in communication media ownership,” which is really just a new means of censorship on the airways and will give the FCC unfettered authority to...

EXCERPT: Oklahoma Senator Jim Inhofe, the most rational man in Washington, DC has given an impassioned speech on the floor of the Senate in defense of Christian radio. “In a straight party-line vote, Democrats chose to adopt Senator Durbin’s Amendment 591, which calls on the FCC to quote, ‘encourage and promote diversity in communication media ownership…and to ensure that broadcast station licenses are used in the public interest.’ That’s a quote and essentially it makes an end-run around the Fairness Doctrine.” “The ACLU and other liberal organizations could attempt to file lawsuits against anyone who presents a message that they...

In today's Huffington Post is Joseph A. Palermo's "Cheney, Rove, and Fleischer and the Importance of Net Neutrality." Net neutrality, you see, is yet another way the Left hopes to silence their opposition -- and Palermo calls on Obama's Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to do exactly that. I guess he gets partial credit for honesty. And if this latest example of the Left's rush to suppression via Obama's FCC makes you think of the old Censorship Doctrine or any of the new ones -- "localism," "diversity in media ownership" and serving the "public interest" -- well, it should.