CELEBRATE RADIO INDEPENDENCE DAY!
It's official! The American Left has admitted that it can't compete on the radio so it is looking for a helping hand from the federal government. It's a hand that giveth to the left and taketh away from the right. The legislation -- which congressmen and senators have expressed interest in reviving -- is called (get ready to chortle) the Fairness Doctrine.
Twenty years after radio king Rush Limbaugh revolutionized the AM band, liberals know this painful truth -- conservative talk radio remains the most potent media force in politics today. At its best, it not only gives listeners news and opinion they won't hear anywhere else, but it can also inspire a tidal wave of civic engagement that Washington cannot ignore. Dial back to one year ago, when others and myself were leading the charge against immigration amnesty. Dial back further to October 2005 when we led a movement to reconsider the Supreme Court nomination of Harriet Miers. All successful.
Thus we're hearing renewed calls for the anti-free speech bureaucratic nightmare otherwise known as the Fairness Doctrine. It demands "equal treatment" for both sides of any controversial topic, but because its minders only consider conservatism "controversial," the law's chilling effect is felt in talk radio -- and nowhere else.
But make no mistake: Imposing "fairness" on America's radio waves is an end-run around competing in the battle of ideas. Liberals can't compete on radio airwaves. They've shown that; Air America proved it. In a media format stripped down to just a mind and a microphone, liberals cannot command an audience. So their new motto is: If you can't beat 'em, silence 'em.
Last year, when threats of the Fairness Doctrine's reincarnation surfaced, Congress passed a sensible, one-year moratorium. But in a few months, the threat will return when this respite sunsets. Rep. Mike Pence is pushing the Broadcaster Freedom Act that will take pre-emptive action, aborting the "Fairness Doctrine" so that it will never, ever, re-surface.
The Act is bottled up in committee, meaning Speaker Nancy Pelosi is too afraid to allow an up or down vote. At a press conference yesterday, Mike Pence, House Minority Leader John Boehner, and many others called on the congressmen who supported last year's ban to step up and sign a discharge petition, which force will Pelosi to grant the bill a vote. Two hundred and eighteen signatures are needed and so far we have 196. We need just 22 more, and we're looking at everyone who voted for last year's ban but hasn't endorsed a vote on the Freedom Act. (See the latest tally at HypocrisyCaucus.com)
It's said that "eternal vigilance is the price of liberty." Without quick action, we could soon see a Democratic Congress and a Democratic president imposing "Fairness Doctrine"-type legislation as routinely as you or I make trips to the car wash. That could mean the end of The Laura Ingraham Show on stations across the country.
I'll never let them take away my microphone, and I hope you never let them take away yours. We're hoping to get the remaining 22 signatures by July 4th, so that together we can celebrate Radio Independence Day.
from LauraIngraham.com
1 comment:
The first talk radio station (KABC in Los Angeles) went on the air in 1960 — 25-plus years before the Fairness Doctrine was repealed. Larry King went into national syndication in 1978, and the first nationally syndicated conservative host, Ray Briem, went national in 1 9 8 2!!! FD did not stifle talk radio and wouldn't if it came back. Congress is about to force radio stations to pay royalties for playing music to artists, which will cost them a lot more than hiring a few liberals or picking up a few liberal shows.
As far as liberal talk goes: A lot of last-resort AM stations with weak signals tried progressive talk and got no better results than they had. Others had slightly better results but decided to sell out to someone who wanted to sell half-hour preacher shows (they pay good money). Other stations with GOOD signals succeeded and continue with liberal talk to this day — including KPOJ Portland, KKZN Denver, WCPT Chicago and WINZ Miami, which has 56 percent of the ratings of its conservative counterpart.
And Obama has already come out against FD, so it’s all a red herring. A red herring resigned to rile the conservative base, and to help corporate radio, which is leading a lobbying campaign to keep from having any local programming requirements or staff requirements. Most AM talk stations are computers in closets running off satellite feeds, and the big owners want to keep it that way. Little or no local news, little or no local talk. It helps their bottom line to have conservative bloggers dressing up the FCC’ s localism proposals as a plot to silence conservatives.
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