Democrats propose return to censorship

In the USA, leading Democrats have indicated they want to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine – a 1949 policy that once required broadcasters to offer airtime to opposing viewpoints concerning controversial issues of public importance.

A White House adviser yesterday announced that President Bush would veto such legislation if it reached his desk.

Allan B. Hubbard, assistant to the president for economic policy and director of the National Economic Council, issued a letter indicating the president's position. He recalled that the FCC dropped the Fairness Doctrine in 1987, largely because of the explosion of outlets for information. "Since then, the multiplicity of voices has significantly increased and the case for the Fairness Doctrine is weaker than ever," Hubbard wrote in the letter. "Reinstating the Fairness Doctrine would muzzle political debate and free speech."

Ashley Horne, federal policy analyst for Focus on the Family Action, said it should really be called the "Un-Fairness Doctrine." "It would amount to government censorship of the airwaves," she said. "The government simply has no business dictating radio content."

Christian radio is a prime example. If a program offered a biblical perspective on homosexuality, stations would be compelled to offer airtime to a voice from a pro-gay point of view.

When the Fairness Doctrine was in effect, many broadcast outlets – especially Christian radio stations – chose not to air issues programming, thereby avoiding the restrictions. Horne said it is very likely the same thing would happen again. "Christian stations would simply refuse to discuss the important issues that we need to hear," she said. "This is simply a liberal scheme to silence the conservative viewpoint."

Craig Parshall, spokesman for National Religious Broadcasters, called the veto announcement a "very positive sign from the White House." "If you are a Christian broadcaster," he said, "you have the right and the high privilege to be able to broadcast the truth and to be able to do so in a way that is relatively unfettered."


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