Thread: DeMint Tries to Prevent 'Fairness Doctrine' Revival

DeMint Tries to Prevent 'Fairness Doctrine' Revival
The South Carolina senator has attached his amendment, called the Broadcaster Freedom Act, to a bill to give the District of Columbia a voting representative in the House.

FOXNews.com

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Sen. Jim DeMint is pushing for an amendment Thursday to outlaw the so-called "Fairness Doctrine," in a move that could prove more symbolic than fruitful.

The South Carolina senator has attached his amendment, called the Broadcaster Freedom Act, to a bill to give the District of Columbia a voting representative in the House.

But Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin has also proposed an alternative bill to be debated at the same time. That proposal would order the Federal Communications Commission to encourage radio ownership "diversity."

A DeMint aide said Durbin's measure will "impose the Fairness Doctrine through the back door by trying to break up radio ownership."

The aide called the Durbin proposal "an attempt to break up companies like Clear Channel and hurt their syndications and therefore putting many local radio stations out of business that depend on those syndicated shows for revenue."

The media control doctrine is a policy created decades ago but abolished in the late 1980s that required broadcasters to provide opposing views on controversial issues.

Though President Obama remains opposed to any effort to renew it and the Federal Communications Commission claims it is not in any talks to revive the policy, a few Democrats have voiced strong support for the media control policy in recent weeks. Republicans like DeMint have drafted legislation to forestall any move to bring back the doctrine.

"We need to make it a law that the FCC or this Congress cannot implement any aspect of the Fairness Doctrine," DeMint said.

Though DeMint's measure stands a strong chance of ultimately failing, it could trigger a debate on the issue and coax senators to take a stand either for or against the policy.

FOX News' Trish Turner and Brian Wilson contributed to this report.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/02 ... e-revival/

added to homepage and into email RED ALERT

http://www.alipac.us/article4001.html

a guy i talked with in Durbin's office said this is a LIE

It's been well known for awhile that the Dems would relabel the Fairness Doctrine "localism" or "diversity" in an attempt to stifle conservative talk radio.

Durbin's proposal "would order the Federal Communications Commission to encourage radio ownership "diversity."

Wonder what "encourage" means?

Looks like this story has been updated. Note, both amendments passed, but DeMint's by a larger margin:

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FOXNews.com

Thursday, February 26, 2009

The Senate approved an amendment Thursday that would outlaw the so-called "Fairness Doctrine," an off-the-books policy that once required broadcasters to air opposing viewpoints on controversial issues.

Republican Sen. Jim DeMint's amendment passed by a wide margin of 87-to-11. The South Carolina senator had attached his proposal, called the Broadcaster Freedom Act, to a bill to give the District of Columbia a voting representative in the House.

It's unclear whether the amendment will survive as Congress debates the voting rights bill. But the measure served to effectively put the Senate on record as opposing a revival of the Fairness Doctrine.

However, Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin also won approval for an alternate amendment that would order the Federal Communications Commission to encourage radio ownership "diversity."

A DeMint aide said Durbin's measure will "impose the Fairness Doctrine through the back door by trying to break up radio ownership."

The aide called the Durbin proposal "an attempt to break up companies like Clear Channel and hurt their syndications and therefore putting many local radio stations out of business that depend on those syndicated shows for revenue."

The measure passed by a vote of 57-to-41.

The media control doctrine is a policy created decades ago but abolished in the late 1980s that required broadcasters to provide opposing views on controversial issues of public importance.

Though President Obama remains opposed to any effort to renew it and the Federal Communications Commission claims it is not in any talks to revive the policy, a few Democrats have voiced strong support for the media control policy in recent weeks. Republicans like DeMint in turn pushed legislation to forestall any move to bring back the doctrine.

"We need to make it a law that the FCC or this Congress cannot implement any aspect of the Fairness Doctrine," DeMint said.

FOX News' Trish Turner and Brian Wilson contributed to this report.

More coverage:
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Ding dong. The Fairness Doctrine is Dead…Sort of.
February 26, 2009

The Senate just voted 87-11 in favor of the following amendment put forward by Republican Senator Jim DeMint. It is worded like this:

"To prevent the Federal Communications Commission from repromulgating the Fairness Doctrine."

Cased closed right? Umm, not really The Senate also voted for Democratic Leader Dick Durbin's amendment 57-41 which states the following:

"To encourage and promote diversity in communication media ownership, and to ensure that the pubic airwaves are used in the public interest."

Wesley Denton, spokesman for Senator DeMint tells The Brody File the following:

"Senator DeMint's amendment slams the front door shut on the Fairness Doctrine for good. Its an important victory for free speech, and forced many Democrats to reverse their previous support of radio censorship. But Durbin's amendment exposes Democrat attempts to open the back door to regulating the airwaves. His amendment forces the FCC to impose "diversity" in communications media ownership, a clear attempt to dismantle successful syndicated radio programs. The fight goes on to protect free speech on the airwaves."

Indeed, the fight goes on. Don't think for a minute some within the Democratic Party wouldn't love to see the Fairness Doctrine take shape in some sort of way. That's no secret. Senators like Tom Harkin, Debbie Stabenow and others have said so. I think it's fair to say that The Fairness Doctrine in its purest state is history for now but conservatives won't sleep well at night until they are in the majority.

CBN News Washington Correspondent, John Jessup was at an afternoon press conference where Rep. Greg Walden stood beside Sen. DeMint pledging to introduce legislation to keep up their end of the fight. So, what happens now in the immediate future? The House must now resolve the issue since the language in Sen. Durbin's amendment is not in the House version.

http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/549194.aspx

Wall Street Journal blogs
February 26, 2009, 3:20 pm
Senate Votes to Kill Fairness Doctrine, But GOP Concerns Remain
Amy Schatz reports on the FCC.

The enduring fight over the Fairness Doctrine came to the Senate floor Thursday afternoon, as senators proposed dueling amendments on the issue during a debate on legislation that would give Washington, D.C., residents voting rights.

Republican Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina proposed an amendment, the Broadcaster Freedom Act, which would prohibit the Federal Communications Commission from reinstating the Fairness Doctrine, a policy dumped in 1987 that required broadcasters to provide balanced coverage of controversial issues.

Several Democratic lawmakers have said recently they’d favor bringing the Fairness Doctrine back, fueling an uproar in the conservative talk radio world. On Feb. 18, the White House tried to calm things down when it announced that President Barack Obama did not support reinstating the Fairness Doctrine.

That didn’t calm many conservatives, who believe Democrats are itching to reinstitute the rule in hopes of killing off conservative talk radio.

“What this would do is create a dysfunctional situation where no radio station could afford to express an opinion anytime,â€

Senate Votes To Ban Return of Fairness Doctrine
Amendment added to DC Voting Rights Act
By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 2/26/2009 3:05:56 PM MT
Fairness Doctrine: Complete Coverage from Broadcasting & Cable

The Senate voted Thursday 87-11 to prevent the FCC from reinstating the fairness doctrine, not that the FCC had indicated plans to do so.

The vote was on an amendment, itself amended, to an unrelated bill, the D.C. Voting Rights Act.

For that vote to block fairness reimposition to stand, the Voting Rights Act needs to pass in the Senate and the fairness amendment would have so survive a conference process with the House version.

The Broadcaster Freedom Act, introduced by Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), could initially have also prevented the commission from taking some proposed steps to bolster localism, including setting up advisory boards to give broadcasters guidance on public interest programming.

Those have been criticized by some Republicans as a back-door attempt to reinstate the doctrine.

The Broadcaster Freedom Act, would have prohibited "any similar requirement that broadcasters meet programming quotas or guidelines for issues o20 public importance.''

But that language was struck by a second amendment, introduced by Senator Dick Durbin (D-ILL), that instead, explicitly reaffirmed the commission's power to seek to promote diversity in media ownership.

The Durbin amendment passed on a straight party line vot, 57-41, while the larger fairness doctrine-blocking bill passed 81-11.

Free Press praised Durbin for rejecting the fairness doctrine hysterics." The move also created a bill that the Democrats could pass if they wanted to try and quell the ongoing doctrine debate.

DeMint introduced his fairness doctrine-blocking bill last month.

Attempts were made to pass similar bills in the last Congress. In fact, the House passed a bill sponsored by Pence, a former radio talk show host himself, that put a one-year moratorium on funding any Federal Communications Commission reimposition of the doctrine. Democrats, led by David Obey (D-Wis.), suggested that the amendment was a red herring, a nonissue and that it was being debated, such as it was -- no Democrats stood to oppose it -- to provide sound bites for conservative talkers and "yap yap TV," who had ginned up the issue.

In a Shakespearian mood, Obey said the amendment was "much ado about nothing" and "sound and fury, signifying nothing."

But other Democrats suggested that the sticking point was the current administration, and some big names, including Sen. John Kerry (Mass.), talked about the possibility of bringing it back.

Durbin's amendment may have opened the door for yet more fairness doctrine debate, however, which has been fueled by both Democrats suggesting the doctrine could come back and talk radio hosts convinced that is in the Democrats' playbook.

"Today's vote slammed the front door on the so-called ‘fairness doctrine,' which threatens to censor free speech and shut down talk radio," said DeMint in a statement on his Web site. "When senators were forced to vote in the open on this issue, they were compelled to side with the American people."

But he also said the Durbin amendment "seeks to achieve the same goals of the fairness doctrine through backdoor FCC regulations. "His legislation forces the FCC to "take actions to encourage and promote diversity in communication media ownership," an attempt to muzzle successful syndicated radio programs.

However, the Senate also passed an amendment by U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) that seeks to achieve the same goals of the fairness doctrine through backdoor FCC regulations. His legislation forces the FCC to "take actions to encourage and promote diversity in communication media ownership," an attempt to muzzle successful syndicated radio programs.

The Durbin amendment would hurt small, local radio stations that depend on popular syndicated programming for listeners and revenue. The Durbin amendment passed 57-41; no Republican supported his legislation.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/articl ... ctrine.php

I just heard DeMint on Fox and he said they killed the Fairness Doctrine for now, but he said they will keep trying. But it's dead for now.

Acting FCC Chair Sees Govt. Role in Pushing 'Media Diversity'
http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-145967-localism.html