Pelosi wants censorship, supports Unfairness Doctrine
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.”
Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.), however, who wrote the bill – the Broadcaster’s Freedom Act – which would permanently ban the Fairness Doctrine, expressed surprise at Hoyer’s statement on Wednesday. Pence said that if Democrats maintain a majority in Congress, he thinks there will be a movement to restore the Fairness Doctrine.
“No, I do not expect that bill [by Pence] to come to the floor, certainly not in the time that is remaining,” Hoyer told CNSNews.com. Hoyer’s office is in charge of scheduling which legislation is debated on the House floor.
“There is a real concern about the monopoly of information and the skewering of information that the American public gets,” said Hoyer. “First, is to the monopoly.
“Obviously, if one group, or a large group, controls information and only allows one perspective to be presented, that’s not good for democracy. That is not good for the American public. That is, of course, what the Fairness Doctrine is directed at, and it can have great merit. But there are obviously complications involved in that as well,” he said.
Pence, however, elaborated on why he thinks the Democrats will push to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine if they retain control of Congress.
“With the support of Speaker Pelosi and the majority leader for a return of the archaic legislation that, combined with the support of Senator Durbin, Senator Kerry, and Senator Feinstein, it seems very clear to me that should the next Congress remain in the hands of the Democrats, there will be an effort to restore the content regulation of the so-called Fairness Doctrine to the airwaves of America,” Pence told CNSNews.com.
Pence further noted that when he added an amendment to temporarily ban the Fairness Doctrine to an appropriations bill in June 2007, 113 Democrats voted in favor of the amendment.
But now that that he has organized a discharge petition that would force his bill (which permanently bans the Fairness Doctrine) to the House floor, not one Democrat signed on.
“Democrats voted with us then,” said Pence. “But to this hour not one Democrat has signed the petition.”
Hoyer voted with 114 other Democrats against the Pence Amendment in 2007.
Sen. Barack Obama, the presumptive presidential nominee for the Democratic Party, has not publicly addressed the Fairness Doctrine, but his spokesman made a statement opposing the reinstitution of the regulation on July 23.
“Senator Obama does not support re-imposing the Fairness Doctrine on broadcasters,” said press secretary Michael Ortiz, reportedly, in an e-mail to Broadcasting and Cable magazine.
“He considers this debate to be a distraction from the conversation we should be having about opening up the airwaves and modern communications to as many diverse viewpoints as possible,” said Ortiz.
Pence said he thinks pressure from Democratic leadership in Congress has caused many Democratic members to remain silent on the Fairness Doctrine issue.
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