Christian and pro-family groups are up in arms over recent efforts by the Democrat-led Congress to re-instate a “Fairness Doctrine” that would require conservative and Christian radio talk stations to give air time to opposing views.
Christian groups say the law, which was discontinued in 1984 after the Supreme Court ruled it unnecessary to give opposing views airtime in an increasingly information rich world, would marginalize the freedom of Christian and conservative radio stations.
“If resurrected, Christian radio stations discussing topics like abortion likely would have to give airtime to a pro-abortion voice like Planned Parenthood,” Focus on the Family Action said in a statement.
On Wednesday, Focus on the Family helped mail out thousands of petitions to Democratic Congress members urging them to drop their support for the Fairness Doctrine and instead help support a measure by Indiana Republican Mike Pence that would guarantee free speech on the air.
“Oppose the Democrat leadership’s plan to censor the airwaves of American talk radio and American Christian radio," the group said in a statement. "Sign the discharge petition for broadcast freedom and help us send the Fairness Doctrine to the ash heap of broadcast history, where it belongs.”
Ashley Horne, federal policy analyst for Focus on the Family Action, emphasized the importance of letting the voices of people be heard.
"The Democrat members of Congress need to hear from their constituents while they are in their home districts for the Independence Day recess," she said in a statement. "Members will listen to their constituents who speak up on this important legislation.”
Comments
The next election is about far more than 'change' for the sake of change.
For you Christians who niavely support Obama you need to hold his feet to the fire.
McCain has already stated that he is against this and that he will fight for protecting our freedom of speach.
Those with anti-Christian views already have equal airtime. They've got their own little radio stations and programs. Isn't that enough? Or is it that they don't have as much influence as Christians do, and they're just jealous that no one's listening to them?
Does this mean that Dr. Richard Land and Dr. James Dobson will be able to demand equal time on NPR?
It's like this...if we don't do something 'they' could just get away with it. Most here on all sides of many issues seem to agree this 'fairness doctrine' is just plain stupid.
The American Center for Law and Justice is gathering the signatures to force the vote to kill the 'fairness doctrine' and you can sign the petition at www.aclj.org. Here's something from their site:
"If you don’t believe there’s pressure to reinstate the troubling Fairness Doctrine, consider comments made yesterday by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. She admitted to not only a personal desire to see a return of the Fairness Doctrine, but also to leading the effort to block debate on the Broadcaster Freedom Act – the bill which would ban a return of the Fairness Doctrine."
I just have to say, as someone who is normally considered liberal-minded because I am a politically pro-gay and pro-choice Christian, that this is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. That is like saying that Fox News and CNN have to give each other 'equal' air time on their own stations! This is absurd. If a person tunes in to a radio station to hear a certain opinion. If they want another one, they will turn the station. These kinds of things just make me roll my eyes. Sometimes we are our own worst enemy. People who push things like this make anyone who is liberally-minded look like a fool. I am as ashamed of the backers of this as I am of Fred Phelps' anti-gay "God hates Fags" routine.
Apologies across the board.
Mark Tanberg- I don't like Journalists who think their job is to change the way America thinks. Journalism is about reporting what is going on.... "just the facts ma'am".
With that said...the unfortunate thing is that the loudest voices in the Democrat party are the radical, pro-choice, pro-gay liberal wingers.
Take the court in CA that 'legalized' gay marriage. How many of them are Democrat? The Democrat party is a car out of control. (The Republicans are close behind.)
The liberal news media is not doing any favors to the Democrats by focusing their reporting on the highly liberal actions of some Democrats. The liberal media is painting with a broad brush so that Democrats look like people who need to be on medication to those of us who hold to more concervative views. At the same time the liberal media is painting with a broad brush the Republicans as a bunch of war mongers always looking for a fight and how dare we go into Iraq who has been funding terrorism for over 40 years (but they don't seem to know that part. Ever wonder how the #2 terrorist from Afganistan was found in a hospital in Iraq shortly after we went in? The liberal news media wouldn't even connect the dots....
@ blue1018
"I can not STAND journalists like this one who still wish to group all democrats as radical, pro-choice, pro-gay liberal wingers. I understand the context of this article, and I do agree that free radio is an important right to many, but once I saw the redundant Democrat, Democrat, Democrat I wanted to scream!"
I am a Christian Repulican and I agree with you in the sense that Christians get labeled and disregarded when they voice opposition to what is going on in either party. I could be a Democrat if they would take a stand against abortion and uphold the constitution instead of always trying to gut it. Defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman would bring me over as well. That said theres a lot of work to be done by Christian Democrats to change the party into a moral one and no less on the Republican side that is run by fools who worship money rather than God. Our fight is against the ideas that have set themselves up as anti God and deify humanism over the almighty, those forces are both Democrat and Republican and it's they that we should be warring against with every fiber of our Christian being.
Well, I think that the fairness doctrine is a ridiculous idea anyways, but if conservatives must show liberal views, then every single liberal talk show must show conservative views. And every single religious show must show opposing views. (Personally I would have no problem with this, indeed I would rather like to have opposing views presented so that they can be exposed for the garbage that they so often are).
If it is one sided, then it is not fairness, it is un-fairness.
wbmoore--
BINGO! And if the people let these tyrannical Democrats bring back the "Fairness Doctrine" you can mark that moment as the death of free speech in America. Because once they have a stranglehold on the media, they will then effectively shut down all opposition and opposing views. You will then have a truly one party state in this country, with only the "voice of the party" on the airwaves, and then we will be no different than Castro's Cuba, Mao's China, Stalin's USSR or Chavez's Venezuela.
Chris, I suspect what will most likely happen is that Christian radio stations will be required by force of law to allow liberals to present their rebuttal, but these same liberals will not allow conservatives to have their say, since they will be in charge of the commissions that decide if there is sufficient access to differing viewpoints.
chris333, I think the issue is what happens if there is no one willing to present the opposing view, will the say conservative view be allowed to be presented anyway or will it not be allowed to be presented because there is no opposing view to be presented. Considering how liberal a view the major networks present, for many the only way one can get the news from a conservative view point is through the conservative radio talk shows. As a result many conservatives see this as a backdoor way to shut them down.
Is this fairness bill going to force all media to devote a portion of time to opposing views? Will liberals have to give time to hear opposing points as well?
Personally, I think the proposal is ridiculous, but I don't see why it should be so bad. I would love to have the opposition come give a point for point argument for their side, and then blow it out of the water.
I don't see why anyone should worry. This sounds like a good chance to expose the lies for what they are.
If what is being reported in the Daily Mail in Britain is true, then I think this is what we have to look forward to in schools in this country. It is reported that children 11-12 years old had to dress up and kneel on prayer mats and pray to Allah, as part of a religious education class. Two children refused and were told off and given detention.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1031784/Schoolboys-punished-detention-refusing-kneel-pray-Allah.html
too much!
What Rush Limbaugh did is simply tit for tat since the Democrats were crossing over to vote for McCain in an attempt to pick the Republican nominee. What's good for the goose...
I believe the ACLJ is collecting signatures to bring this issue to a vote. It can be forced to a vote. Polozi doesnt' want to do that. Bringing the issue to a vote will get rid of the 'fairness doctrine'.
I find it refreshing that everyone here on all sides of the fence seem to agree the fairness doctrine is a bad idea. Find some wood and knock on it...FAST!