Text 29301, 52 rader
Skriven 2007-07-26 13:46:00 av Jeff Binkley (1:226/600)
Ärende: Fairness doctrine
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Someone who is smarter than the average democrat....

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http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8QKB7000&show_article=1

FCC Chair: Fairness Doctrine Not Needed  
 
Jul 26 10:43 AM US/Eastern
By JIM ABRAMS
Associated Press Writer        
 
 
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Federal Communications Commission has no intention 
of reinstating the Fairness Doctrine imposing a requirement of balanced 
coverage of issues on public airwaves, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said. 
Martin, in a letter written this week to Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., and 
made public Thursday, said the agency found no compelling reason to 
revisit its 1987 decision that enforcing the federal rule was not in the 
public interest. 

Several Democratic lawmakers suggested that Congress take another look 
at the doctrine after conservative radio talk show hosts aggressively 
attacked an immigration reform bill when it was on the Senate floor, 
contributing to its defeat. 

Pence and other Republicans in both the House and Senate countered by 
introducing legislation to bar the FCC from reinstating the rule. 

Under the doctrine, first instituted in the late 1940s, broadcasters 
could lose their licenses if they failed to give free airtime to 
opposing sides on controversial issues. 

Martin, in his letter, said government regulation was not needed to 
ensure public access to a wide range of opinion. "Indeed, with the 
continued proliferation of additional sources of information and 
programming, including satellite broadcasting and the Internet, the need 
for the Fairness Doctrine has lessened even further since 1987," he 
wrote. 

Pence, in a joint statement with Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., welcomed 
Martin's position but said Congress should still pass his legislation so 
that no future administration or FCC chairman could revive the doctrine 
without an act of Congress. 

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