Petition to Stop the Fairness Doctrine: Liberals Answer to the Problem of Free Speech
The Fairness Doctrine was an act of Congress that made sure that when one view point was expressed on the radio that the radio station gave opposite and equal air time to the issue as well in an effort to be "fair." The Fairness Doctrine was repealed by Ronald Regan and since then talk radio has flourished but much to liberals dismay it has been overwhelmingly conservative, about 91% right leaning.
From the Media Research Center:
The Issue:
Once again, liberal leaders are pushing the so-called “Fairness Doctrine” to silence conservative leaders like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Mark Levin. Their goal is clear -- silence conservative speech over the radio airwaves. Read MRC’s Special Report: Unmasking The Fairness Doctrine (.pdf)
Help Declare Radio Independence Day!
The Media Research Center is leading the effort to expose and defeat these efforts. The Broadcaster Freedom Act (H.R. 2905) -- a bill in Congress that would ban permanently the so-called “Fairness Doctrine.” -- is stalled in Congress. We want to rally 100,000 signers by July 4th so we can press every member of Congress to go on record on this vital First Amendment issue. NOTE: The “Broadcaster Freedom Act” is currently stuck in committee. Sign this petition urging Congress to bring this bill to a vote by July 4th! -- "Radio Independence Day"
I am signing this petition to urge members of Congress to bring the Broadcaster Freedom Act (HR. 2905) to a floor vote.
In addition, I am joining with other Americans who are standing against any and all efforts to censor, limit, or restrain the right of conservatives to participate freely in the marketplace of ideas through the “Fairness Doctrine” or similar legislative and bureaucratic efforts. I also call on the media to provide fair and balanced reporting on this issue. Our nation was built upon free and open discourse.
Sign the petition here.
I urge you to sign the petition sponsored by the Media Research Center to show Congress the support for the Broadcasters Freedom Act and make your declaration!
I would be more worried if I were you about these two factors killing talk radio:
Most of it is on AM. And most of its listeners are over 55. It's a struggle getting younger people to listen to radio at all, much less AM.
By the way, there are two powerful disincentives to stations throwing in the towel on talk and going back to music -- music doesn't work on AM, which is why they started talk in the first place, and the record companies are about to get Congress to force radio stations to pay more royalties for their songs. That's going to cost radio stations more than hiring a boatload of liberals to balance things out would. Fairness doctrine or no fairness doctrine, talk radio will survive and may even grow in the years to come.
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