On Wednesday a coalition of Representatives and Senators favoring media freedom unveiled a bill designed to permanently ban the ‘Fairness Doctrine,’ a law mandating broadcast censorship and regulation of speech repealed in 1987.
"This bill would make clear that Congress intends to protect the First Amendment by ensuring that the misguided ‘Fairness Doctrine’ never again comes into effect," said Sean Parnell, the President of the Center for Competitive Politics, which advocates for the First Amendment rights of speech, assembly and petition.
"As talk show hosts and observers across the political spectrum have realized, in an age of vast and diverse media there’s absolutely no justification for a new ‘Censorship Doctrine’ to regulate speech," Parnell said.
In recent years, some in Congress have called for a return to the ‘Censorship Doctrine,’ prompting opponents to introduce the Broadcast Freedom Act last session. The legislation was not brought up for a vote, but it has been reintroduced in the House and Senate.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) told reporters Wednesday that he did not "contemplate" scheduling a vote on the legislation. Senate supporters of the bill vowed to force a vote on the legislation under rules more favorable to the minority.
In 2007, Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.), the sponsor of this year’s bill, added an amendment to a Financial Services appropriations bill that placed a one-year moratorium on reinstatement of the ‘Fairness Doctrine.’ The amendment passed with 309 votes, including 113 Democrats.
President-elect Barack Obama has said he does not favor reinstituting the ‘Censorship Doctrine,’ but he has expressed support for local control and other Federal Communications Commission regulations that might have a similar chilling effect on speech in broadcast media. Obama will appoint the new head of the FCC and potentially other new commissioners.
