February 27th, 2009 
joel 
On Thursday, U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) successfully attached the Broadcaster Freedom Act as an amendment to a bill providing the District of Columbia a voting representative in the House. According to Fox News, the amendment passed 87-11 and effectively outlaws the “Fairness Doctrine,” a defunct FCC policy that required opposing viewpoints to be aired on controversial issues on broadcast stations.
Views on the Doctrine depended on who you talked to. There was significant fear on the account of broadcasters that the policy would be reenacted, threatening conservative talk radio and religious broadcasting because of the onerous bookkeeping that would be required. Others feel that that the whole Fairness Doctrine revival was just a canard drummed up to incite and engage the conservative base.
Recently, Democrats such as Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), and Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), along with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) have made public their support in reinstating the policy. Last Friday, Rush Limbaugh wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal asking the President to “keep the airways free.”
In the end, Pres. Obama has come out and rejected the reinstatement of the Doctrine, making the vote Thursday an easy one for the majority. One hitch may be the also passed amendment by Sen. Dick Durbin that orders the FCC to encourage radio ownership “diversity.”
A similar bill is running through the House.
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Republicans claimed that a delay would confuse consumers, and put an undue burden on broadcasters and those companies waiting for the spectrum that will be released by the switch to DTV.
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