Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Exploiting the Fairness Doctrine

Despite a crushing vote against the Fairness Doctrine in the Senate last week, a lot of Democrats are nevertheless pining for the return of some form of the policy so they can either shut up Rush Limbaugh and his epigones or at least neutralize them.

We probably haven't heard the last of this issue but Clarice Feldman at The American Thinker shows how utterly unworkable and ludicrous such attempts at censorship are.

She writes:

Much has been made of the possibility of a revival in one form or another of the Fairness Doctrine, an obvious ploy to diminish the considerable impact of conservative radio hosts, notably Rush Limbaugh, whom the President has pointedly named as a key source of information for his opponents.

I agree that the revival of this concept would be a disaster for free speech and debate, that whatever merit it might have had in another media era is certainly lost today where, among other things we have hundreds of cable channels and almost infinite broadcast opportunities. Only fools would rush into the thicket of reviewing and weighing free speech opportunities for liberals in a media which, in any event, is overwhelmingly dominated by them.

Ever vigilant for new ways to rake in dough, however, I see in this deluded notion a rare opportunity to enhance my coffers while having fun.

Here are the openings for me to make money in my new career as a liberal, openings which show what an utter joke the entire concept of airwave "fairness" is.

Read the rest at the link to learn about both her "plan" and why the Fairness Doctrine and its spinoffs (like "localism") make no sense.

RLC