FCC Head Does Not Support Reinstatement of Fairness Doctrine

For months, the right wing looney tunes, Sean Hannity especially, tried to make people believe that Obama was going to not only take away their guns but also their free speech. FCC nominee Julius Genachowski states clearly and concisely in this video that that's not the case. The only trouble is, Hannity's audience will never know any better. They already believe what they believe.

Durbin Amendment the New Fairness Doctrine?

Unless, I'm missing something, Kathleen Parker is off base here. See the video below. Reinstating the Fairness Doctrine (would require equal time for conservative and liberal voices on the airwaves) was voted down in the Senate by a fairly large margin.

I can't imagine that Obama in any way would want to suppress conservative talk radio. That seems so petty and cynical because it assumes that Americans are mindless and would somehow be brainwashed by radio jocks. 

Sure, the democrats have had fun with Rush over the past couple of weeks and have used him as a tool to make a point, but no one in greater America thinks of Limbaugh as a leader, only the people who listen to him and the apologizers. 

There is, however, the Durbin amendment (Illinois Senator Dick Durbin) that the conservatives are now shivering about. Conservatives thrive on conspiracy. The Durbin amendment was voted up and conservatives call it the new Fairness Doctrine, but it doesn't say anything about taking any of their dear leaders off the airwaves. The statement of its purpose:

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

That says to me that the FCC would be more interested making sure that Rupert Murdoch doesn't own all the media (although he owns a pretty good chunk now, including Fox and the WSJ). Obama's not about limiting free speech as far as I can tell. If he was, he ought to start with the skinheads. 

Conservatives are a jittery bunch and I'm beginning to understand why they carry guns. They tend to think everyone is after them. I wonder if that's genetic or if it relates to being brought up in certain parts of the country. They're intent on seeing Obama as the ideological left as Bush was the ideological right. But it just ain't so. 

Sean Hannity's Favorite Whine Now Moot

Hannity, Rush and the rest of the small minded ilk have been whining about the reinstatement of the Fairness Doctrine, saying that the "liberal machine" wants to get them off the air. Well, it was all for naught and it was all for theater, riling up listeners for no good reason other than to line their pockets with more money. When will listeners realize they're being played?

AP: The Senate voted Wednesday to bar federal regulators from reimposing a policy, abandoned two decades ago, that required balanced coverage of issues on public airwaves. The pre-emptive strike against the so-called Fairness Doctrine has been actively pushed by conservative radio talk show hosts who have warned that Democrats would seek to revive the policy to ensure that liberal opinions get equal time.
The 87-11 vote added the measure as an amendment to a bill giving District of Columbia residents a vote in the Houses.
Most Democrats voted along with the amendment, pushed by Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., but said it was unneeded because President Barack Obama has stated he has no intention of reviving the Fairness Doctrine. They added that it is generally recognized that it is no longer relevant with the proliferation of television networks, some 14,000 AM-FM radio stations and the Internet.

Perhaps no one expresses Hannity's irrelevancy better than Lord Tantrum:

Raging Tantrum: You fear-mongering asshole! For months you’ve shrieked indignantly about the return of the “Fairness Doctrine”– despite NO INDICATION that it had ANY chance of passing. Barack Obama did not want to re-institute it. Most Democrats in Congress had no interest in bringing it back.

But you needed something to talk about. Far be it from you to paint your political opponents in anything but the worst possible light.

Your party got their butt kicked this election cycle because their policies failed. You didn’t have much to go on, so you started making things up.

We personally heard you say on your show a few weeks back that “they’ll have to tear the microphone out of my cold dead hands.”

The most meaningful way for Rush and Sean Hannity and the like to go off the air is for people to wise up and stop listening. 

Rush Tries To Engage Obama Again

If only we could stop opposing Rush, he'd go away. Part of Limbaugh's appeal for his listeners is that his hype and feigned arrogance gets under the skin of people on the left. In Rush, I see a man struggling hard to stay relevant. I also see a talk radio show host.

Think Progress: But the White House’s answer was insufficient for Limbaugh, who is trying to use the issue to mobilize the far right. Writing in the Wall Street Journal today, Limbaugh pens a new question directed at Obama:

Dear President Obama:

I have a straightforward question, which I hope you will answer in a straightforward way: Is it your intention to censor talk radio through a variety of contrivances, such as “local content,” “diversity of ownership,” and “public interest” rules — all of which are designed to appeal to populist sentiments but, as you know, are the death knell of talk radio and the AM band?