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Free Press Group Wants Limits on Talk Radio
The American Civil Rights Union, an organization dedicated to protecting free speech, is blasting a liberal think tank for calling on the government to impose restrictions on talk radio.The Center for American Progress was founded by former President Bill Clinton's chief of staff John Podesta. Along with a group called Free Press, it has recently published a study entitled "The structural imbalance of political talk radio." The study suggests that conservative talk radio has an unfair advantage that needs to be rectified by government intervention. It calls for more diversity in ownership, and says stations that fail to abide by government-mandated public-interest obligations should pay a fine to support public broadcasting. Horace Cooper, a senior fellow with the American Civil Rights Union (ACRU), says individuals already have a way to regulate talk radio. "There is a very simple way they can deal with it," he points out. "They turn to another channel." But the Center for American Progress, says Cooper, apparently does not like that approach. "[They say] 'We're not going to leave it up to the American people to decide. We want to bring the government in and have them make these decisions,'" he insists. Cooper says the recommendations found in the report remind him of what goes on in totalitarian regimes. "They're actually proposing that we take the ownership rights of the radio stations from the pre-existing owners and re-allocate them to other people who have approved political views," he explains. "This is a lot like what is going on in Venezuela today. This looks a lot like what used to go on in the former [Soviet] Eastern Bloc." Cooper says the suggestions made by the Center for American Progress go way beyond the "Fairness Doctrine," which some members of Congress are trying to resurrect. Posted by: Bobby 2007-06-27 |
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