Political Party Poop

Fairness Doctrine Will Level Playing Field?

Found on the blog California Conservative;

“That appears to be Howard Fineman’s contention in his latest column. Here’s a sampling of Fineman’s twisted logic:

Capitol Hill Democrats are planning a new drive for access elsewhere, on talk radio and local broadcast TV. The goal? To level the media playing field in time for the 2008 election.

Talk radio has long been a crucial power base for conservatives and Republicans; local TV stations are not.

They shy away from public-affairs programming altogether, and yet they rake in ever-larger wads of cash on political advertising.

Democrats have two media-access goals.

One is to prod local broadcast television and radio stations to renew their atrophied commitment to producing and airing their own public-affairs programming—shows that Democrats think would at least give them a chance to be heard. Some Democrats want to require stations to give free time for campaign debates, and even free campaign advertising as part of the stations’ “public-service” licensing requirement.

“Frankly, liberals’ attempts to get this passed will jumpstart the libertarian movement within the GOP. They’ll rightly see this as another liberal attempt to gut the First Amendment. Another hidden consequence of this is that it’ll remind conservatives just how important it is to put strict constructionist judges on the bench at all levels.”

Read the rest at the blog California Conservative