Fred Thompson reveals "chilling news" about Limbaugh, Hannity, Levin, & the absurdity of podcasts

[Amerigo Vespucci]

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Fairness Doctrine Makes No Sense in Today’s World
Posted on October 8th, 2007
By Fred in Individual Liberty, Commentaries
http://fredfile.fred08.com/

NOTE: The American Spectator reports this chilling news:

Rep. Henry Waxman has asked his investigative staff to begin compiling reports on Limbaugh, and fellow radio hosts Sean Hannity and Mark Levin based on transcripts from their shows, and to call in Federal Communications Commission chairman Kevin Martin to discuss the so-called “Fairness Doctrine.”

“Limbaugh isn’t the only one who needs to be made uncomfortable about what he says on the radio,” says a House leadership source. “We don’t have as big a megaphone as these guys, but this all political, and we’ll do what we can to gain the advantage. If we can take them off their game for a while, it will help our folks out there on the campaign trail.”

This news about Democrats trampling on the First Amendment for political purposes ties into Fred’s latest commentary. –Sean

Whether it’s the situation in Iraq, talking about the economy, or the culture, conservatives and like-minded people are putting up a fight on TV, radio and alternative forms of media, and challenging what Democrats and some in the mainstream media would like to set as conventional wisdom. So – big surprise – Democrats are crying foul and are literally trying to change the rules. The latest example of this is Democrat attempts to pull the Fairness Doctrine out of the dustbin of history.

The Fairness Doctrine is an artifact from the days when there were only a handful of television channels and radio stations on our dials. Then, there might have been something to the fear that somebody might get control of all the media outlets in an area — so equal time rules were put in place.

As television and radio stations increased, it became clear that the rule was a bust. Instead of protecting free speech, it imposed costs on broadcasters that killed political discussion entirely. Why run the risk of dealing with anything controversial and having the regulators and the lawyers come down on you? Instead of talking about issues, news directors used stopwatches to measure candidates’ airtime.

Finally, in 1987, the Federal Communications Commission ended the antiquated policy. Today, with more cable, satellite, and local access TV channels than anybody can keep track of — the equal time rule makes even less sense. Throw in the Internet, podcasts, and satellite radio, and it’s absurd.

The real issue here is not what you “can” see or hear — which is what the Fairness Doctrine was about originally. It’s what you’re “choosing” to see or hear.

Insiders say it was the collapse of the radio station “Air America” that led to this attempt to retool the Fairness Doctrine as a form of de facto censorship. I guess the idea is that, if you can’t compete in the world of ideas, you pass a law that forces radio stations to air your views. In effect, it would force a lot of radio stations to drop some talk show hosts — because they would lose money providing equal airtime to people who can’t attract a market or advertisers.

The funny thing is that the success of the current crop of radio talk show hosts is due, in part, to a lot of people’s perception that broadcast television doesn’t give the views of their audience a fair shake. Maybe I shouldn’t admit it, since I dabble in radio myself, but this media used to be viewed as a kind of broadcast ghetto. The bicoastal elite had such a grip on the major newspapers and television networks; they pretty much ignored the hinterlands. It was media flyover country.

Now congressional leaders say they want to “level the playing field” there too – meaning they want to diminish the importance of conservative talk radio. In other words, they don’t trust the results of freedom and the marketplace. Why am I not surprised?

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[aquart]

1. "House leadership source"?

Oddly, it does not says "Democratic House leadership source."

[Bolo Boffin]

2. "there might have been something to the fear that somebody might get control of all the media..."

there might have been something to the fear that somebody might get control of all the media outlets in an area

http://www.thenation.com/special/bigten.html

And that's only from 2001.