Dems seek 'Fairness Doctrine' in back door?

Dems seek 'Fairness Doctrine' in back door?
Radio exec says crackdown on talk radio escalating
Posted: May 19, 2009
9:36 pm Eastern

2009 WorldNetDaily


A radio company executive and the author of a new book on censorship says Democrats in Washington are infuriated simply by the existence of conservative values, and since they know the so-called "Fairness Doctrine" probably is unconstitutional, they are seeking the same thing through the back door.

The comments come from Brian Jennings, the national vice president of talk programming at Citadel Broadcasting and the author of "Censorship: The Threat to Silence Talk Radio."

"I think the Democrats have switched gears and they are going through the back door to the FCC to try and accomplish the same thing," Jennings said in an interview with Greg Corombos of Radio America/WND.

A radio company executive and the author of a new book on censorship says Democrats in Washington are infuriated simply by the existence of conservative values, and since they know the so-called "Fairness Doctrine" probably is unconstitutional, they are seeking the same thing through the back door.

The comments come from Brian Jennings, the national vice president of talk programming at Citadel Broadcasting and the author of "Censorship: The Threat to Silence Talk Radio."

"I think the Democrats have switched gears and they are going through the back door to the FCC to try and accomplish the same thing," Jennings said in an interview with Greg Corombos of Radio America/WND.

"These Democrats have been trying to crack down on talk radio and particularly conservative talk radio for the past 20 years," he said.

Jennings warned the "back door" consists at this point of two strategies: demands by Democrats that radio stations generate a certain amount of the programming "locally," an effort that would eliminate for some stations the option of carrying nationwide talk radio leaders such as Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity.

The other attack comes from local "accountability" boards that remain under consideration.

Tell your government "no" to censorship.

The boards essentially would be censorship boards, he said.

"At the least it would instill fear in speech and at the worst it would turn into a censorship board," he said.

Jennings said Democrats simply believe that conservative talk radio is too powerful in the U.S., even though the liberal "viewpoint" is heard in myriad other venues, including National Public Radio, network television and media publications.

In his book, he notes, "If key Democrats have their way, the principles of the Federal Communications Commission's Fairness Doctrine will once again be enforced and allow government to control the content heard on free radio, a mandate that will have far-reaching implications for all media."

The "Fairness Doctrine" was policy in the U.S. until the 1980s, when it was abandoned under President Reagan. The change then was quick.

"Conservative talk radio burgeoned, giving rise to the father of conservative talk, Rush Limbaugh, and such hosts as Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, Michael Medved, Neal Boortz, Laura Ingraham, and others. The format was a smash hit – resonating with listeners from coast to coast and giving a powerful voice to the conservative movement. Soon such programming, attracting an estimated 50 million listeners weekly, dominated the airwaves where liberal talk radio failed. Popular, profitable, outspoken, powerful, influential – it's what the American people wanted, and its success was the Democrats' worst nightmare," he writes.

"Now, the principles of the Fairness Doctrine threaten to be reinstated – if not directly, then through back-door tactics involving ownership of stations," he said.

Listen to the audio interview here:

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=98592

I signed the petition to block government attack on freedom of speech.

I love listening to talk radio and especially when they have the joke news in the am, and at the end they say. "it is ........ (they tell us how many days are left), days until we escort Barrack Hussien Obama back to that cesspool they call Chicago."

Love it!!! Here is the petition I signed.

We, the undersigned, assert our rights as citizens of the United States in demanding that Congress immediately drop all legislative efforts to re-impose the so-called "Fairness Doctrine" and that the president of the United States veto any so-called "Fairness Doctrine" legislation approved by Congress and that the U.S. Supreme Court overturn as unconstitutional any so-called "Fairness Doctrine" legislation approved by Congress and signed by the president

How dare they mess with the 1st Amendment!

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?pageId=87882