Conservative Blogger: Fairness?...

In August of 1987, the FCC removed what was known as the "Fairness Doctrine." This was the FCC regulation which required broadcast licensees to provide balanced coverage. Opposing viewpoints had to be given equal time to present their views.

The repeal of the Fairness Doctrine resulted in the explosion of conservative tak radio. Over the last twenty years, talk radio has emerged as the new American town meeting allowing millions of people to make their voice heard. As a business enterprise, talk radio has become a huge money-maker with conservative hosts being the top rated and having more commercial success than their liberal competitors.

This, of course, brings a cry of "foul" from the Left.

Liberals can't compete in the medium of talk radio, so they immediately say it's unfair. As a result, Democrats including Dennis Kucinich, Maurice Hinchey, Louise Slaughter and Bernie Sanders are all looking to reinstitute the Fairness Doctrine. (I know, I know...Sanders is an Independent, but...c'mon...he's a Democrat.)

As if that weren't enough, Senators Hillary Clinton and Barbara Boxer want a legislative fix for this "problem." That's what you and I and anyone else who listens to talk radio is to Clinton and Boxer--a problem.

Kind of puts a new perspective on the phrase "President Hillary Clinton," doesn't it?

This week, The Center for American Progress and Think Free have released a study called (what else?) "The Structural Imbalance of Political Talk Radio." Among their findings were:

In the spring of 2007, of the 257 news/talk stations owned by the top five commercial station owners, 91 percent of the total weekday talk radio programming was conservative, and only 9 percent was progressive.

Each weekday, 2,570 hours and 15 minutes of conservative talk are broadcast on these stations compared to 254 hours of progressive talk -- 10 times as much conservative talk as progressive talk.

76 percent of the news/talk programming in the top 10 radio markets is conservative, while 24 percent is progressive.

The study also believes that ownership of radio stations should not be allowed to exceed five percent of the total number of AM and FM broadcast stations, and local ownership should not exceed more than 10 percent of the total commercial radio stations in a given market.

Clearly, the Liberal agenda for 2007-2008 has been set...and it's to stifle the marketplace of ideas and your First Amendment rights.

What the Liberals don't get is that the problem isn't that their message isn't getting out.
The problem is their message sucks and no one wants to pay for it.

I've talked before about Air America--the Progressive Talk Radio Network--and why their business model is a total failure. They pay people to take their content and put it on the air---the complete opposite of syndication. When you are paying people to take your chief export, you won't gain much of an audience and you sure as hell won't make any profit---which is what radio stations are in business to do.

Conservative talk radio works and makes a profit because it's what the marketplace wants. Conservative hosts and their shows succeed because they make money.

They. Make. Money.

Air America didn't (and likely still doesn't).
Roseanne Barr didn't.

But, if the Liberals can't break in with an inferior business model, they'll do it under the guise of so-called "fairness" to fight the "structural imbalance."

First it'll be talk radio: Rush...Hannity...Beck....Ingraham...all of 'em.
Then it will be the news media and they'll go after FOX News.
The Liberals want their media dominance back no matter what.

We're not going to let them have it.

You can do something. Get your Senators and Congressmen on the phone and tell them this cannot stand. Tell them you'll vote against them if they support the Fairness Doctrine and you'll stop sending money--to them and to the party. It worked for the first iteration of the Immigration bill and it can work for this.

The Fairness Doctrine is anything but fair.

William Smith
ConservativeBlogger.com

UPDATE: The always great Michelle Malkin has more coverage of this over on her blog.

Posted by WilliamSmith on June 21, 2007 10:23 PM to Conservative Blogger