Time to Bury the Fairness Doctrine Once and For All

ACT

The announcement from Speaker Nancy Pelosi that she wants to revive the so-called “Fairness Doctrine” is big news -- but it shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise.

The Fairness Doctrine is an Orwellian and archaic Federal Communications Commission rule devised in 1949 that requires radio broadcasters to present both sides of an opinion when discussing controversial topics. It put unelected FCC bureaucrats in charge of enforcement and determining what speech was legal.

Broadcasters responded by avoiding controversial issues completely, the opposite of what a healthy democracy should expect from its radio press.

Now that the Democrats have control of Congress, their leaders are openly championing the return of the Fairness Doctrine. If they can’t beat conservative ideas in the radio marketplace, they might as well stifle them through government fiat... [snip]

The Broadcaster Freedom Act (H.R. 2905), which we introduced last summer, would permanently repeal the Fairness Doctrine by taking away the FCC’s power to reinstate the rule.

Of course, Speaker Pelosi will not schedule the Broadcaster Freedom Act for a vote.

But if we get the signatures of 218 members of the House on a Discharge Petition, we can circumvent the blockade presented by the majority leadership and bring it directly to the floor for an up-or-down vote.

There are certainly enough votes to pass the bill. In June 2007, the House passed, by a 309-115 margin, a one-year moratorium on funding for the Fairness Doctrine. A total of 113 Democrats -- nearly a majority of their caucus -- voted for the stay.

Right now, we have 196 signatures on the Discharge Petition. Not a single Democrat has signed on, despite their overwhelming support of the one-year moratorium.

We need just 22 Democrats to declare their support of freedom of speech by signing the petition to get a vote on the floor. Out of those who did the right thing last year by supporting the moratorium, there must be 22 Democrats who are willing to do the right thing again, even if their leader says to do otherwise...

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Broadcaster Freedom Act (H.R. 2905)
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