Posted on 02/18/2009 10:33:30 AM PST by Jim Robinson
The American Center for Law & Justice (ACLJ) is making legal game plans to combat the mislabeled "Fairness Doctrine" should it be revived.
For years, the Fairness Doctrine -- which was introduced in the U.S. in 1949 and then abolished by the FCC in 1987 -- forced radio and television stations to offer differing views on various subjects, which basically squelched the talk formats. ACLJ chief counsel Jay Sekulow claims that basically amounted to censorship.
"I use the example that we didn't go on the air until 1988 -- after the Fairness Doctrine was removed," says Sekulow. "So the reality is that without getting some type of fair play in there keeping it as it is, which is basically open airwaves, it's censorship. You could call it a lot of things, but it's really censorship -- and it's mandatory government speech, and that's always dangerous."
And it is definitely politically driven, argues the legal group. In a press release, ACLJ describes the recent effort to revive what it calls an "antiquated FCC rule" as "nothing more than a thinly-veiled attempt by some liberal members of Congress to silence the conservatives who oppose them."
Sekulow says proponents of the doctrine do not seem to understand that conservative talk-radio is market-driven -- that is, people listen to it because they prefer it. In contrast, the attorney points out that Air America, a liberal network set up to offer an alternative to conservative talk-radio, has failed miserably.
(Excerpt) Read more at onenewsnow.com ...
God bless them as they take this stand!! They have the weight of the evil lefty world against them—but so did David when he faced Goliath!
Ping
I listened to Jay's show this morning while applying spackle (sp?) to my face. The subject matter got me upset and didn't help with smoothing out those wrinkles. sigh.
I have not donated anything to ACLJ for a while. This might just be an issue worthy of hard earned money!
Hah. I read that and my mind translated it to ACLU and I thought, wow - talk about strange bedfellows...
BWAHAHAHAHAHAhahahahaha! ! ! ! ! !
The source of the support for the “Fairness Doctrine” comes from political sources. It is not coming from a groundswell of the common man. Therefore, we can conclude that the doctrine is politically motivated. We know this is true, but ask anyone stuck on stupid to see if they can name the source of support.
Ive never even heard of the ACLJ, I’m guessing they didn’t get any stimulus money...
Thanks. And thanks for having the character to not relinquish passwords any easier than you'd release the . . . steel in your hands with a round pointy end!
YYYiipppeeee!!!!!
Radio, cable, the internet......all are being discussed as needing “fairness” correction measures by the left. Seems they want to control the information flow. Good way to minimize any organized movements by the right.
Just heard on Fix News that Obama said he will BLOCK ant effort to bring back the FD. We’ll see...
He will not block local content rules, which will do the same thing.
You’d have that exactly right!
How so? All that is needed is for an organization like ACLJ to sue a city or state that would try and impose local content, and take it all the way to the Supreme Court. And the sooner, the better. Seats will be a opening on SCOTUS soon and then we are doomed.
Cable, too? Evenness on MSNBC and CNN? Sure — I’ll believe that when I see it.
Michael Savage has retained the Thomas More Society legal team to launch a series of lawsuits against the censorship doctrine, too.
Thanks for the ping. As it happens, I just posted an article on it.
Great!! Now where is the action also on the Census and socialized medical care?
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