Bill Would Undercut Democrats’ Push to Regulate Talk Radio

(CNSNews.com) - Amid a new push by Democrats in Congress to regulate talk radio — a medium dominated by conservatives — a Republican House member has introduced a measure aimed at undercutting those plans.

“It is a dangerous proposal to suggest the government should be in the business of rationing free speech,” Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) said Wednesday morning on the House floor. “Congress must take action to ensure that the archaic remnant of a bygone era of American radio does not return. There is nothing fair about the Fairness Doctrine.”

The doctrine was a federal regulation (not a law) that required broadcasters to present both sides of a controversial issue. The Federal Communications Commission enforced the rule from 1949 to 1987, when it was dropped during the Reagan administration.

Many in the broadcasting industry credit the dropping of the rule for the rise of conservative talk radio and such popular personalities as Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham.

Richard Durbin of Illinois, John Kerry of Massachusetts and Dianne Feinstein of California are among the Senate Democrats who have recently spoken of a need to reinstate the regulation.

Advocating the rule’s return, Kerry recently told a New York radio show that conservatives have been “squeezing down and squeezing out opposing views.”

Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) recently told a California radio show about overhearing a conversation between Democratic Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barbara Boxer three years ago about applying a legislative fix to control conservative talk radio. Boxer and Clinton have both denied the conversation took place.

If Democratic proponents get their way, the Fairness Doctrine’s requirements would be codified in law and be stronger than a regulation by the FCC.

Pence’s proposal, which he is calling the Broadcaster Freedom Act, would not only block the return of the regulation, but legally prohibit the FCC or any future president from reinstating it.

“As some voices are calling for Congress to enforce their idea of fairness upon the American people, it would be good for us to proceed with caution whenever some would achieve their fairness by limiting freedom of others,” said Pence, a talk radio host before he was elected to Congress.

Coinciding with the new push to reinstate the regulation, two liberal groups last week released a report decrying conservative domination of talk radio. Free Press and the Center for American Progress said 91 percent of total weekday talk radio programs in the top five markets belongs to conservatives, while 76 percent of all talk radio shows are conservative.

The two organizations said new regulations were needed to increase diversity of ownership. They did not, however, not call for a return of the Fairness Doctrine. That’s because it probably just wouldn’t work, said Derek Turner, research director for Free Press.

“When the Fairness Doctrine was dropped, the cat was out of the bag,” Turner told Cybercast News Service. “Reinstating would require a regulator to step up and decide who gets speech and who doesn’t. But broadcasters do have the responsibility to use the public airwaves in a more responsible way. It’s not about censoring conservatives or promoting liberals. It’s about restoring local ownership.”

Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.) has proposed a bill called the Media Ownership Reform Act, which would cap radio ownership to five per cent of the market.

Even if that bill became law, it’s unclear how much effect it would have. According to Dennis Wharton, spokesman for National Association of Broadcasters, Clear Channel is currently the biggest player, owning nine percent of the country’s radio stations. But the company is downsizing and will soon own less than six percent of the market.

Calls in the House for the return of the Fairness Doctrine have been led by Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) although his spokesman, Natalie Laber, said there are no immediate plans to discuss a proposal in the House Oversight Committee’s domestic policy subcommittee, which Kucinich chairs.

Among Democrats in the House backing a return to the Fairness Doctrine is Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.).

“Like many members of Congress, she is concerned about the lack of fairness and the lack of balance that defines so much of the mainstream media,” Slaughter’s spokesman, John Santore, told Cybercast News Service. “It’s a disservice to the public to promote misinformation and it undermines the press’s role of providing fair and accurate information.”

Santore said codifying the Fairness Doctrine would not target one side of the political spectrum. Neither would it affect cable news channels, but rather only network TV and radio.

“There has been an attempt to confuse the public,” he said. “This is not about Democrats’ sour grapes — wanting to get back at people who criticize them. It’s not about one party or the other, it’s about fair criticism. We welcome open debate but are opposed to one-sided debate.”

‘Silly’

Wharton of the National Association of Broadcasters said he would support Pence’s bill.

He said the FCC dropped the Fairness Doctrine in 1987 because it inhibited free speech — commentators at the time feared getting fined so they avoided political topics altogether.

Wharton said the doctrine had been introduced in 1949 to ensure that different viewpoints would be heard among the few stations then in existence. But limited media outlets are a thing of the past, he said.

“All types of expression of political ideology can be found in today’s media environment and the idea that we need to have government come back and reinstate a rule that frankly was discredited when it was thrown out 20 years ago, is silly,” he said.

“I would make the argument that radio is probably the least-consolidated of all media in America today,” Wharton added. “When you consider the fact that there are four record companies, there are six Hollywood studios - [by comparison] there are over 3,000 radio owners in the United States.”

“If the left wants equal time to express its views on the radio or television, they have the liberty to do so by starting their own programs and shows,” Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, said in a release Wednesday.

“In fact, in the larger media world including broadcast TV, public broadcasting, and print, the left predominates. The challenge for them is getting people to listen,” he said. “To seek parity in talk radio by restraining the freedom of others is neither free, nor equal, nor fair.”

Popularity: 1% [?]

Capitalism 101:

In a free market, if people listen to a show, it gets favorable ratings. If a show has ratings, it has advertisers. If a show has advertisers, it has money to go on.

In other words, if people wanted to listen to liberal talk radio the shows would be there. Air America (the famed liberal radio talk show network) filed Chapter 13 bankruptcy last year because advertising doesn’t pay the bills. It limps along with 64 stations nationwide three years after its founding.

Station ownership has little to do with it. What the market wants, it gets.

By the way, conservative talk radio does present both sides. You have to give the other side’s views in order to refute them. Liberals in D.C. just don’t want their unscripted comments being broadcast nationwide.