President-elect Barack Obama has hired Henry Rivera to run the team that will select the next chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Rivera, former head of the FCC, is a longtime proponent of the so-called Fairness Doctrine.
Congressional Democrats have threatened to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine, which was put in place by the FCC in 1949 to force the nation’s TV and radio broadcasters to make time for voices on both sides of controversial issues. It was dropped as new technologies offered an abundance of sources for information.
With a 3-2 Democratic majority on the FCC, the Fairness Doctrine could be resurrected without approval by Congress.
Ashley Horne, federal policy analyst for Focus on the Family Action, said the Fairness Doctrine would force stations to stop addressing important policy issues.
“A Christian radio station discussing the issue of abortion would have to give airtime to a pro-abortion voice like Planned Parenthood,” she said. “Rather than present a view that fundamentally opposes the station’s core beliefs, it would likely steer clear of airing controversial topics altogether.”
— Jennifer Mesko
