#2 Democrat in the House would support return of the Fairness Doctrine

By Rick Moran

This is madness. How can we go back to the days when talk radio was virtually banned due to requirements under the Fairness Doctrine? What would happen to political discussions on cable news if the nets were required to air opposing views for everything said?

What of the internet? What of blogs and websites like American Thinker?

These are questions that we are going to face next year when there will apparently be a serious push by Democrats to re-establish the Fairness Doctrine - in some form or another.

Their ideas unable to compete in the marketplace liberals are apparently ready to rig that marketplace and force feed people their views. The number 2 Democrat in the House Steny Hoyer is prepared to make that nightmare a reality:

A bill to permanently ban the “Fairness Doctrine” – a dormant FCC rule that says broadcasters, mainly talk radio, must grant equal air time to opposing viewpoints – probably will not be voted on this year in Congress, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) told CNSNews.com on Wednesday.

Hoyer also joined House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in strongly suggesting that he would support reactivating the Fairness Doctrine, telling CNSNews.com that he is interested in “ensuring the availability of fair and balanced information to the American public.”

The bill to permanently bury the Fairness Doctrine has been sponsored and championed by Mike Pence (R-IN). It would prevent the FCC or any other regulatory body from imposing the doctrine on the media. For some time, it appeared that Pence had the votes to pass it. Hoyer's reluctance to bring it to the floor means he is waiting to see how many seats the Democrats will gain in the upcoming election before deciding on whether to bring the measure up for a vote.

Given that the Republicans must defend 32 seats that are "open" seats this year, most analysts put the number of seats the Democrats will gain at between 20-30. If so, that would almost certainly kill Pence's bill and open the door to enacting some form of the Fairness Doctrine.

One thing for sure - this is no longer a liberal pipe dream. The threat is real. And despite protestations from the Democrats that nothing much will change with the "new and improved" Fairness Doctrine, it stands to reason that the Democrats will seek to crush conservative views as they did for so many years when the Fairness Doctrine ruled the air waves.