But of course, nobody checked for the secret signals.
President Obama opposes any move to bring back the so-called Fairness Doctrine, a spokesman told FOXNews.com Wednesday.
The statement is the first definitive stance the administration has taken since an aide told an industry publication last summer that Obama opposes the doctrine — a long-abolished policy that would require broadcasters to provide opposing viewpoints on controversial issues.
‘As the president stated during the campaign, he does not believe the Fairness Doctrine should be reinstated,’ White House spokesman Ben LaBolt told FOXNews.com.
Ah, but Obama is just trying to lure us into a false sense of security! We’ll all go to sleep one night with the 1st Amendment all safe and secure, and then by morning BAM! – it’ll be all fairness police up in our grill!
I do hope the right continues to bark up this tree though. There are only so many hours of hate radio available in a day – the more of them they burn chasing phantoms like this, the less they’ll have to muck up real stuff, like health care reform.
Stop the presses! Obama has spoken! Never mind all the Democrats (several in Congress) who have called for its return, never mind Axelrod refusing to say one way or another over the weekend, Obama has spoken: the Fairness Doctrine will not return.
And you can trust that, just like you can trust that he won’t have any lobbyists in his administration, just like you can trust that he will have the most open and honest and clean cabinet, just like you can trust that he will post all bills on the White House web site for at least four days before signing them, just like you can trust he’ll have us out of Iraq within months of his inauguration, just like he’ll fight pork in federal spending…
It’s become pretty obvious that Obama’s promises have expiration dates. What’s the date for this one?
He better hurry. Another liberal talk network just went belly-up. Apparently they couldn’t find an inner city Boys and Girls Club to rip off to keep going…
J.
Since liberals (I’m told) have an ironclad hold on CBS, ABC, NBC, CNN, PBS, MSNBC, MTV, ESPN, HBO, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, the LA Times, the Daily Planet, all the other major daily newspapers, USA Today, Time, Newsweek, O Magazine, Highlights For Children, Popular Mechanics, the Pony Express, and the songs of the humpback whales…I’m still not sure why conservatives are against the Fairness Doctrine.
Actually, Jay Tea, there is an extensive, below-the-radar movement to reimplement the fairness doctrine at all levels: radio, television, and internet, and, for your own best interests, I think you need to spent the bulk of your political activism time organizing againt this movement.
Come on, boy! Go get it! Fetch!
Tyro: You’ve said to much. Off to the camps with you. By the way Jay, be sure to tell the others we have SECRET CAMPS. Spend lots of time looking for them. It’s where Bill Clinton stashed his drugs while running guns and drugs in Arkansas.
Excuse me, we’re only a month in to the Obama Presidency.
Chill!
If only the Fairness Doctrine was the actual solution to what ails us. That would be pretty simple.
The fact that Rush and Hannity and Savage and the other passengers in the clown car called talk radio regularly spread disinformation without opposition or correction isn’t our problem.
Our problem is that our “liberal” media recognizes Ann Coulter as a responsible voice in our national discourse. And Michelle Malkin. And Jim Bunning and Jim Inhofe and Tom Coburn. Our media would rather tell us that “there is disagreement” about global climate change, that “there is some pork” in the stimulus bill, that “there is disagreement” about when Social Security will “go bankrupt.”
The Fairness Doctrine won’t fix that.
Alan Dershowitz said it best: the best answer to “bad” speech is more speech.
Too bad that liberal talk show hosts can’t win audiences and ratings.
And I can believe Oliver is against the Fairness Doctrine — if Limbaugh gets pulled off the air, he might lose his job and have to find real work.
So, Oliver, care to go on the record? Will you commit to opposing the Fairness Doctrine should it be brought up for serious consideration?
J.
Obama said he opposed the return of the Fairness Doctrine… We Checked! – Jay Tea
http://www.oliverwillis.com/2009/02/16/we-checked-3/#comment-137420
I thought you checked on this one Jay Tea, even though you never showed any evidence. Oh, I get it. You were lying to make a point. You are a liar.
if Limbaugh gets pulled off the air, he might lose his job and have to find real work.
Indeed. But what is El Rushbo qualified to do?
if Limbaugh gets pulled off the air, he might lose his job and have to find real work
Yes, I might get a job writing right-wing pap for a magazine and obsessively commenting on blogs.
So, Oliver, care to go on the record? Will you commit to opposing the Fairness Doctrine should it be brought up for serious consideration?
So the funny thing about this is that I’ve said multiple times before that I’m against the Fairness Doctrine. In fact, I said so in response… to Jay Tea! SEVEN MONTHS AGO.
Clearly I’m sending out secret signals. Add tinfoil to block.
We don’t need the fairness doctrine back, we need the FCC and congress to enforce anti-trust laws. Too large a fraction of the media is held in too few hands. It’s particularly problematic at the local level. In some areas all the stations are owned by national corporations with no local programming and only syndicated news and weather. It is particularly egregious on the weekends when most programming is downloaded via satellite with maybe a single engineer at the helm – no one is available in the event of a local emergency to actually, you know, report.
Oliver, care to go on the record? Will you commit to opposing the boogeyman (or boogeymen!) should he be brought up by fever dreaming conservative talk show hosts and repeated verbatim by the likes of Jay Tea? Answer the questions!
OW: I’m against it.
JT: Stop being so evasive!
J.G.Thayer: “He better hurry. Another liberal talk network just went belly-up.”
Do you know how much money the Moonie Times loses every year?
…just like you can trust that he will post all bills on the White House web site for at least four days before signing them…”
Jesus, dude. you just don’t know when to stop.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog_post/update_on_sunlight_before_signing/
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/09/02/18/Setting-the-bar-high/
Jay Tea, you are the classic evidence that right wing talking points are impervious to the facts.
Do you know how much money the Moonie Times loses every year?
Did you see how much money Rupert lost this year?
Without further comment on the utter idiocy that is Jay Tea:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/arra_public_review/
Too bad that liberal talk show hosts can’t win audiences and ratings.
Care to disclose what state you live in? The reason I ask is because your supposition isn’t true. Philadelphia is a DFH paradise, yet they haven’t even given liberals a shot on radio here(Yet we get BillO the clown, Rushbo and Sean Insanity). And no, stations that go to low power at night don’t count. Hell, I don’t get why the ESPN station here is so low power at night that you can’t get it in the suburbs.
Indeed. But what is El Rushbo qualified to do?
I was about to say smuggling drugs to and from the Carribean, but he isn’t really good at that, either.
As for failing liberal talk radio, besides political affiliation, what’s the main difference between liberal and conservative talk radio? The answer is how loud, vile and polarizing the host is. People don’t listen to Limbaugh to be informed, they listen to him to be entertained. Here’s a tag line for the promotion for a successful liberal talk radio show:
“Listen to the Zython Hour, or James Dobson will rape your dog!”
Talk radio isn’t really worth selling the soul of the progressive movement for. There are better ways to get our message out. On the other hand, making money hand over fist for incoherently yelling at people sounds pretty sweet…
Bring on the fairness doctrine and let’s flush that toilet once and for all!!
Reagan enabled a bunch of rich right-wingers to consolidate their media interests as a propaganda arm of the GOP. It worked until the Internet made an end run around them.
Now right-wing talk radio has condensed the stupidity of the GOP and concentrated it among buffoons who have destroyed any chance for the GOP to reclaim majority status, because the party leaders have to genuflect to a bunch of loons who are laughingstocks for 80% of the country.
20% of the country is a great radio audience, but it doesn’t help much in elections.
In my part of the country you need an excellent radio to detect Rush way down at the end of the dial and broadcasting on 100 watts. The progressive station, Green960, comes in so good I sometimes hear it when the radio isn’t even on.
we need the FCC and congress to enforce anti-trust laws. Too large a fraction of the media is held in too few hands.
Yeah, that’s right. Lookin’ at you , Murdoch.
Southern Quaker says: “We don’t need the fairness doctrine back, we need the FCC and congress to enforce anti-trust laws.”
Winner.