(CNSNews.com) - House Republican Leader John Boehner (Ohio) says he’s troubled by a California Democrat’s plan to push for the return – and expansion – of the Fairness Doctrine.
In a newspaper interview on Monday, Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.), a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said she would work on bringing back the federal regulation that requires equal time for the expression of different political views on the public airwaves.
Boehner and other critics say Democrats want to re-impose the Fairness Doctrine to force an end to conservative talk radio. (While syndicated conservative talk-radio shows have been successful, liberal alternatives have flopped. The Fairness Doctrine would require radio stations to balance the conservative money-makers with liberal duds, something the stations undoubtedly would refuse to do. They would be forced to cancel successful shows touting conservative viewpoints.)
“The so-called ‘Fairness Doctrine’ would restrict free speech on the public airwaves, stifling dissent at a time when an open national dialogue about our country’s future is essential,” Boehner said in a news release on Tuesday.
“The American people do not believe the federal government should be in the business of dictating or restricting the content of political speech. I’m troubled by Rep. Eshoo’s comments, and my hope is that President-elect Obama will speak out against efforts by members of his party to use their majority power to limit free speech and dissent.”
Rep. Eshoo told the Palo Alto Daily Post on Monday that she believes in the Fairness Doctrine and will “work on bringing it back.”
Eshoo reportedly wants the regulation to apply not only to radio and television, but also to cable and satellite TV.
A Republican bill that would have permanently banned the Fairness Doctrine died in the 110th Congress, and with many Democrats in favor of bringing back the Fairness Doctrine, Republican efforts to kill it may to be doomed in the next Congress as well.