Boehner Voices Concern Over Eshoo's Fairness Doctrine Comments
Eshoo says she will push for its reimposition
By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 12/16/2008 1:04:00 PM
House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH), said Tuesday he is concerned about Rep. Anne Eshoo's statements to the Palo Alto Daily Post that she will push for reimposition of the Fairness Doctrine.
Boehner called on President-elect Barack Obama to speak out against any congressional effort to "limit free speech."
Obama has twice told B&C through an aide that he is opposed to the return of the doctrine
, which required broadcasters to air both sides of controversial issues.
“The so-called ‘Fairness Doctrine’ would restrict free speech on the public airwaves, stifling dissent at a time when an open national dialogue about our country’s future is essential," said Boehner in an e-mailed statement Tuesday a copy of which was supplied to B&C. "The American people do not believe the federal government should be in the business of dictating or restricting the content of political speech. I’m troubled by Rep. Eshoo’s comments, and my hope is that President-elect Obama will speak out against efforts by members of his party to use their majority power to limit free speech and dissent.”
Boehner was responding to an interview Monday in which Eshoo, a member of the House Energy & Commerce Committee whose chair will be fellow Californian Herny Waxman, told the paper: "I’ll work on bringing it back. I still believe in it,” and adding that she would want it to apply to cable and satellite rather than just radio and TV.
The doctrine, which only applied to broadcasting, was scrapped by the FCC as unconstitutional in 1987. Congress tried to revive it, but President and former broadcaster Ronald Reagan vetoed it once and pledged to a broadcaster in a letter at the time that he would block it again if congress tried to reimpose it.
The doctrine's demise is credited--or blamed, depending on who is citing it--for the rise in conservative talk radio. Hosts including Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin have expressed concerns that the new Democratic regime in Congress will try to reinstate the doctrine as a way to silence their critics.
Contributing to that concern were
recent comments by Democratic Senator Charles Schumer of New York to Fox News last month.
The office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, yet another California Democrat, has raised the specter of its return.
, saying that “all stations should have to represent a balanced perspective…instead of always hammering away at one side of the political [spectrum].”
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Haven't the Dems ever heard of a tuning knob, volume control, or an On Off switch. Why is there answer to everything censorship.
Al Parker - 12/17/2008 12:14:00 PM EST -
WHY ARE SOME DEMS SO DIM? There are more than two sides to every issue; will media have to give equal time to independents, libertarians, communists? With a multiplicity of media choices on the internet and cable/satellite, ideas can and should compete in the marketplace. Obama didn't need equal time to win the presidency -- and reimposition of the Fairness Doctrine would stifle free speech. Will bloggers have to comply? The enemies of free speech on the 'net are licking their chops. Obama won't buy this and he'd better rein in his party before misguided liberals do in the diversity of telecommunications voices in their misguided quest for "fairness."
Adam Smith - 12/16/2008 9:27:00 PM EST
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