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1st Amendment Under Attack By the Democrats/Socialists! ***********************
First it was the 2nd Amendment, now it’s the 1st Amendment, under attack by the Democrats/Socialists! The power hungry, frightened, Democrats/Socialists cannot abide free speech. They cannot exist for very long within a system that champions free speech. It they do manage to exist, they cannot thrive because free speech is their enemy. Free speech allows the light of truth to shine, blindingly, upon their falsities, their deceptions, their untruths, and their lies.
By now, you are probably asking yourselves, what is Longstreet babbling on about? Well, I’m speaking of, quite likely, the most dangerous move against freedom yet tried by THIS socialist Congress lead by “Nanny” Pelosi in the US House and “Massah” Reid in the US Senate. I am speaking, of course, of the return of the “Fairness Doctrine”. And all this time you thought it was a dead issue. No, not by a long shot!
Let me tell you a bit about the original Fairness Doctrine. I was a broadcaster before it was revoked --- and afterwards. I worked within the broadcasting business under the constraints of the “FD” and after it was lifted.
The Fairness Doctrine kept small market broadcast stations from broadcasting public affairs programs concerning their communities, their coverage areas, and their city of licenses. How can that be, you ask?
I’ll try to give you an example: Under the Fairness Doctrine, if a station broadcast a public affairs program on a controversial topic of interest to the community, it had to make every effort to broadcast another program with the opposing view. Time had to be made available for two programs rather than one. If there happened to be more points of view than just pro and con, the station had to broadcast them, also. In other words, if you broadcast the first one, you had to broadcast the others. It could quickly snowball. Next thing a broadcaster knew, his airtime was taken up by programming that only a handful of listeners listened to, anyway. That meant that, one: practically nobody was listening, and two: sponsors, who paid the bills with their commercial advertising, would pull their commercials… because NOBODY WAS LISTENING. Pretty soon the small market stations, especially, were in dire circumstances, financially. Many stations went under as a result of the original Fairness Doctrine. I know… because I saw it.
So, how did those of us who managed to stay on the air during that time do it? Well, we did it by slight of hand, actually. We broadcast NO controversial public affairs programs, period. If we found that we were in danger of losing our licenses, we would broadcast those controversial program in the wee hours, or in, basically, “dead times” such as Sunday mornings, before noon --- certainly before 2 pm. The point was to get the license covered. So we would program as little controversial programming as possible and still keep our license, and, still maintain a broadcast station in a small market.
AM broadcast stations went under by the truckloads. “Daytimers” were especially, hard-hit. They had limited hours of the day to broadcast, usually from local sunrise to local sunset. There are a finite number of hours between the two events. We were limited as to the number of commercials we could air per hour, as well (usually 18 minutes per hour of commercial time was allowed by the FCC. In some cases, such as the Christmas holiday season we could go as high as 22 minutes of advertising per hour. NOT 18 or 22 ads… 18 or 22 MINUTES of ad time. We could break that down anyway we wanted.) NOBODY wanted to run his or her commercials within a public affairs program. Nobody. AM stations went broke… and the AM spectrum very nearly died.
Then the Fairness Doctrine was lifted. It was like sunrise for the broadcast industry! Soon afterwards the “Talkers” arrived. The Rush Limbaugh program resuscitated more AM radio stations than you would believe unless you are connected to the industry. He very nearly rescued the AM Radio Spectrum single-handedly. Some say he did, and I count myself among them.
The reinstatement of the Fairness Doctrine will stifle free speech on the broadcast band. And let us be honest here… the Democrats want right wing radio shut down. They cannot compete getting their left wing message out on the broadcast bands in America. NOBODY listens! In droves! You don’t believe me? Ask the station managers who tried to carry a left wing radio program. It’s worse than “Dead Air”. Listening to a left wing radio program is akin to listening to children whine. Nobody likes that, not even left-wingers.
Add to the mix the very real possibility that the dems will extend the Fairness Doctrine to cover opinion blogs on the Internet, as well. I don’t KNOW how they would do it, but I certainly expect them to try. So, those of us in the blogosphere may find our free speech stifled just like that of the Broadcasters. Please, don’t tell me that can’t happen. As a Blogger who has had his blog locked, already, and access denied to him, I can tell you it is a horrifying feeling. One feels as if one has been muzzled.
One of the chief concerns of the Left is freedom of speech. It is troublesome and problematic for them. When you look at the countries around the globe in which the Left has taken over already established governments you quickly see that the very first thing they do… is muzzle the broadcast stations and the print media, which is not supportive of the Left. It is what they do. Until the Internet came along, there had never been a successful revolution, in modern history, unless the broadcast stations were neutralized FIRST!
As I said in an article, back in July of last year… the Left is trying to use the Fairness Doctrine to neutralize the Broadcast Media.
The Broadcast Media is a powerful force for freedom. It is truly the voice of the people. And therein lies the rub! Vox populae. The people’s voice(s). Broadcast media, with a conservative message, is a threat to the political left. Give them credit for understanding that, at least.
The Constitution guarantees Americans freedom of speech. The Constitution does not, however, grant Americans the right to have someone actually listen to what they may speak. Nowhere does it guarantee an American the right to be heard! So, our friends on the Left feel compelled to correct that. Enter: The Fairness Doctrine.
At the moment The Broadcaster Freedom Act (H.R. 2905) -- a bill in Congress that would ban permanently the so-called “Fairness Doctrine.” -- is stalled in Congress. The Left has made it clear they have tabled it because they are sure that if it continued to progress through the House and Senate this year, it WOULD pass! Sure that after Novembers election their numbers will increase enough that they can reinstate the Fairness Doctrine, itself, the Left has boxed the Broadcaster Freedom Act up… tight. They have “tabled” it in the House.
There is a petition at www.grassfire.net for you to sign to help generate 100,000 signers by July 4th in an attempt to press every member of Congress to go on record on this vital First Amendment issue. You can read and sign the petition at:
http://www.grassfire.net/410/petition.asp?PID=17150406&NID=1&Ref_ID=1493
As I said last July: “Yes, the Fairness Doctrine is definitely a threat to Freedom of Speech. If for no other reason we Americans must see that it is never re-enacted”.
America has given up entirely too much of it’s freedom, beginning with the Lincoln Administration, to present. It is past time to call a halt to encroaching anarchy. We should do it now --- while there are still a few of us “Old Timers” around who remember what a great nation the US used to be”
Longstreet.
First it was the 2nd Amendment, now it’s the 1st Amendment, under attack by the Democrats/Socialists! The power hungry, frightened, Democrats/Socialists cannot abide free speech. They cannot exist for very long within a system that champions free speech. It they do manage to exist, they cannot thrive because free speech is their enemy. Free speech allows the light of truth to shine, blindingly, upon their falsities, their deceptions, their untruths, and their lies.
By now, you are probably asking yourselves, what is Longstreet babbling on about? Well, I’m speaking of, quite likely, the most dangerous move against freedom yet tried by THIS socialist Congress lead by “Nanny” Pelosi in the US House and “Massah” Reid in the US Senate. I am speaking, of course, of the return of the “Fairness Doctrine”. And all this time you thought it was a dead issue. No, not by a long shot!
Let me tell you a bit about the original Fairness Doctrine. I was a broadcaster before it was revoked --- and afterwards. I worked within the broadcasting business under the constraints of the “FD” and after it was lifted.
The Fairness Doctrine kept small market broadcast stations from broadcasting public affairs programs concerning their communities, their coverage areas, and their city of licenses. How can that be, you ask?
I’ll try to give you an example: Under the Fairness Doctrine, if a station broadcast a public affairs program on a controversial topic of interest to the community, it had to make every effort to broadcast another program with the opposing view. Time had to be made available for two programs rather than one. If there happened to be more points of view than just pro and con, the station had to broadcast them, also. In other words, if you broadcast the first one, you had to broadcast the others. It could quickly snowball. Next thing a broadcaster knew, his airtime was taken up by programming that only a handful of listeners listened to, anyway. That meant that, one: practically nobody was listening, and two: sponsors, who paid the bills with their commercial advertising, would pull their commercials… because NOBODY WAS LISTENING. Pretty soon the small market stations, especially, were in dire circumstances, financially. Many stations went under as a result of the original Fairness Doctrine. I know… because I saw it.
So, how did those of us who managed to stay on the air during that time do it? Well, we did it by slight of hand, actually. We broadcast NO controversial public affairs programs, period. If we found that we were in danger of losing our licenses, we would broadcast those controversial program in the wee hours, or in, basically, “dead times” such as Sunday mornings, before noon --- certainly before 2 pm. The point was to get the license covered. So we would program as little controversial programming as possible and still keep our license, and, still maintain a broadcast station in a small market.
AM broadcast stations went under by the truckloads. “Daytimers” were especially, hard-hit. They had limited hours of the day to broadcast, usually from local sunrise to local sunset. There are a finite number of hours between the two events. We were limited as to the number of commercials we could air per hour, as well (usually 18 minutes per hour of commercial time was allowed by the FCC. In some cases, such as the Christmas holiday season we could go as high as 22 minutes of advertising per hour. NOT 18 or 22 ads… 18 or 22 MINUTES of ad time. We could break that down anyway we wanted.) NOBODY wanted to run his or her commercials within a public affairs program. Nobody. AM stations went broke… and the AM spectrum very nearly died.
Then the Fairness Doctrine was lifted. It was like sunrise for the broadcast industry! Soon afterwards the “Talkers” arrived. The Rush Limbaugh program resuscitated more AM radio stations than you would believe unless you are connected to the industry. He very nearly rescued the AM Radio Spectrum single-handedly. Some say he did, and I count myself among them.
The reinstatement of the Fairness Doctrine will stifle free speech on the broadcast band. And let us be honest here… the Democrats want right wing radio shut down. They cannot compete getting their left wing message out on the broadcast bands in America. NOBODY listens! In droves! You don’t believe me? Ask the station managers who tried to carry a left wing radio program. It’s worse than “Dead Air”. Listening to a left wing radio program is akin to listening to children whine. Nobody likes that, not even left-wingers.
Add to the mix the very real possibility that the dems will extend the Fairness Doctrine to cover opinion blogs on the Internet, as well. I don’t KNOW how they would do it, but I certainly expect them to try. So, those of us in the blogosphere may find our free speech stifled just like that of the Broadcasters. Please, don’t tell me that can’t happen. As a Blogger who has had his blog locked, already, and access denied to him, I can tell you it is a horrifying feeling. One feels as if one has been muzzled.
One of the chief concerns of the Left is freedom of speech. It is troublesome and problematic for them. When you look at the countries around the globe in which the Left has taken over already established governments you quickly see that the very first thing they do… is muzzle the broadcast stations and the print media, which is not supportive of the Left. It is what they do. Until the Internet came along, there had never been a successful revolution, in modern history, unless the broadcast stations were neutralized FIRST!
As I said in an article, back in July of last year… the Left is trying to use the Fairness Doctrine to neutralize the Broadcast Media.
The Broadcast Media is a powerful force for freedom. It is truly the voice of the people. And therein lies the rub! Vox populae. The people’s voice(s). Broadcast media, with a conservative message, is a threat to the political left. Give them credit for understanding that, at least.
The Constitution guarantees Americans freedom of speech. The Constitution does not, however, grant Americans the right to have someone actually listen to what they may speak. Nowhere does it guarantee an American the right to be heard! So, our friends on the Left feel compelled to correct that. Enter: The Fairness Doctrine.
At the moment The Broadcaster Freedom Act (H.R. 2905) -- a bill in Congress that would ban permanently the so-called “Fairness Doctrine.” -- is stalled in Congress. The Left has made it clear they have tabled it because they are sure that if it continued to progress through the House and Senate this year, it WOULD pass! Sure that after Novembers election their numbers will increase enough that they can reinstate the Fairness Doctrine, itself, the Left has boxed the Broadcaster Freedom Act up… tight. They have “tabled” it in the House.
There is a petition at www.grassfire.net for you to sign to help generate 100,000 signers by July 4th in an attempt to press every member of Congress to go on record on this vital First Amendment issue. You can read and sign the petition at:
http://www.grassfire.net/410/petition.asp?PID=17150406&NID=1&Ref_ID=1493
As I said last July: “Yes, the Fairness Doctrine is definitely a threat to Freedom of Speech. If for no other reason we Americans must see that it is never re-enacted”.
America has given up entirely too much of it’s freedom, beginning with the Lincoln Administration, to present. It is past time to call a halt to encroaching anarchy. We should do it now --- while there are still a few of us “Old Timers” around who remember what a great nation the US used to be”
Longstreet.
© Longstreet, 2008
Filed under:
conservative+censorship+freedom+speech+fairness+doctrine+constitution
Longstreet’s commentaries can now be found at “The Conservative Voice” at:
http://www.theconservativevoice.com/ and at: www.tcvdaily.com/
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