Muzzling talk radio?

http://www.bpnews.net/BPFirstPerson.asp?ID=26101

[Baptist Press] 20 July 2007--Members of Congress are laying the groundwork for a serious effort to revive the Fairness Doctrine, a regulation the FCC adopted in 1949 that required broadcast licensees to provide balance when dealing with controversial issues. The government decided how many sides there were to an issue, how much time must be provided to each, and then chose a reasonable and fair way to treat the differences. The doctrine began to unravel in 1985. The remotely defensible rationale for the Fairness Doctrine -- scarcity of radio spectrum access -- was disappearing, with the burgeoning number and variety of media outlets. Presidential administrations had used the regulation to silence political opponents.

In 1987 President Reagan vetoed Congress's attempt to restore the Fairness Doctrine, and President George H.W. Bush threatened to veto a second attempt in 1991. Good riddance. This development was a great victory for the deregulation of speech, and it resulted in the cataclysmic success of talk radio, including the launch of Rush Limbaugh's program, which began syndication 1988.

Today there are more than 1,400 stations that devote most of the day to the talk format. This phenomenon would never have occurred under the Fairness Doctrine's regime. And now there are calls from some high-profile members of Congress to bring it back.

Talk radio's giant role in the demise of the recent immigration reform bill was a catalyst, but the latest move to revive the Fairness Doctrine has been in the works since January. Ohio Congressman and Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich promised, as chairman of the House subcommittee on domestic policy, to hold hearings that will include a look at restoring the Fairness Doctrine. In May, Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean said, "I believe we need to re-regulate the media." Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.) is also moving to bring back the Fairness Doctrine. He has the support of other members of the House's so-called Future of American Media Caucus, of which he is a member.

Right now, talk radio is the liberals' target. It's the engine of the conservative movement, employing the constitutional tool of free speech to dig into the details of controversial issues. Radio is the perfect medium because it does not demand that busy and productive Americans drop what they're doing to absorb its message. It's interactive and populist. Opposing views get a hearing -- and often a point by point argument from the host. If talk radio's critics really wanted both sides of the story aired, they'd regulate television and print media, which leans decidedly liberal. In fact, talk radio is the balance to the 50-plus year liberal dominance in television.