American Republic Online

Senator James Inhofe claims to have overheard Senators Clinton and Boxer say that should be a “legislative fix” for talk radio. Now, regardless of how you feel about talk radio, this has to concern you. Two senators are discussing a way the federal government could limit speech. In all fairness, they may have said it tongue in cheek, but to even consider it is absolutely unacceptable from any legislator. What would the reaction be if Senators Lott and Cornyn were overheard saying that there ought to be a legislative fix for The New York Times?

Consider a recent report by Think Progress (a liberal think tank) that describes the fact that talk radio is almost exclusively a conservative domain. They dismiss the explanation that is market-driven (no one wants to listen to liberal talk radio) as a “myth,” and conclude that it is “the result of multiple structural problems in the U.S. regulatory system…” (emphasis added). A regulation problem?

Look at this statement: ” [this] raises serious questions about whether the companies licensed to broadcast over the public radio airwaves are serving the listening needs of all Americans.” In other words, those companies that took the financial risk of setting up a radio station, administrating it, licensing the radio programs, and then providing their service for free to people who have numerous options at the touch of a button all in the hopes that some of them will listen to a couple commercials are not “serving the greater good?” I didn’t realize that the government owned the airwaves, and that is was up to the government to decide what best served our listening needs. I thought we did that when we turned on our radios.
This would only be the beginning. Surely the next target would be the internet, and sites like our own ARO. (You do know that the U.N. has been trying to take control of the internet, don’t you? Yes, the same U.N. that is head over heels in love with the U.S.) Free speech is essential to a free and open society. We can not restrict it.
Maybe the talk radio hosts should start saying they are journalists, hide behind the journalist veil and claim they are “objective.” (see below)

UPDATE: It seems that the veracity of the story is being questioned.  However, legislator are seriously considering bringing back the “Fairness Doctrine“: a regulation that required broadcaster “to present such issues in what was deemed an honest, equal and balanced manner.”  That sounds innocuous, right?  Well, again, who decided what is fair and balanced?  Fox News?  The Senate?  A whole new regulatory arm of the FCC?