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Home Front: Culture Wars
Dems to restrict free speech
2007-01-16
Over the weekend, the National Conference for Media Reform was held in Memphis, TN, with a number of notable speakers on hand for the event. Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Fairyland) made an surprise appearance at the convention to announce that he would be heading up a new House subcommittee which will focus on issues surrounding the Federal Communications Commission.

The Presidential candidate said that the committee would be holding "hearings to push media reform right at the center of Washington.” The Domestic Policy Subcommittee of the House Government Reform Committee was to be officially announced this week in Washington, D.C., but Kucinich opted to make the news public early.

In addition to media ownership, the committee is expected to focus its attention on issues such as net neutrality and major telecommunications mergers. Also in consideration is the "Fairness Doctrine," which required broadcasters to present controversial topics in a fair and honest manner. That's a blatant lie; it did nothing of the sort. It was enforced until it was eliminated in 1987.

Kucinich said in his speech that "We know the media has become the servant of a very narrow corporate agenda" and added "we are now in a position to move a even narrower progressive agenda to where it is visible."

FCC Commissioner Michael Copps was also on hand at the conference and took broadcasters to task for their current content, speaking of "too little news, too much baloney passed off as news. Too little quality entertainment, too many people eating bugs on reality TV. Too little local and regional music, too much brain-numbing national play-lists. Too much of what people want and too little of what we say is good for them" Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein also spoke at the event.
Posted by:Jackal

#11  My prediction, if this passes. (a) Rush Limbaugh and others dedicate half of their broadcasts to presenting the other side in a non-serious way that includes strawmen and funny voices that look good in transcripts but are mocking in tone and delivery (b) a ton of laws flood in about the various news shows as both Left and Right point out the bias in the others news.

The end result is a mountain of paperwork and a quick trip to the Supreme Court on freedom of speach grounds. The Fairness Doctrine dies forever in the Supreme Court.

The winner, late night talk shows.
Posted by: rjschwarz   2007-01-16 18:18  

#10  I do not trust these rat ba$tards one bit. We must all be vigilant and resist their so-called media reform plans, which are nothing more than leftist agenda for media control. This is a very dangerous threat. As screwed up as the media is now, it will get very bad if loons like Kucinich get their hands in the perloo. We are entering a very dangerous period in the history of our country.
Posted by: Alaska Paul   2007-01-16 17:18  

#9  Who is/was taller, Kucinich or Goebbels?
Posted by: tu3031   2007-01-16 13:23  

#8  Le Money Quote:
Kucinich said in his speech that "We know the media has become the servant of a very narrow corporate agenda" and added "we are now in a position to move a progressive agenda to where it is visible."

"We know". Yes, Dennis knows. Some other elite members of his "we" know this. What the rest of us perceive as the free market at work must be a mirage.
Posted by: eLarson   2007-01-16 13:07  

#7  It [The Fairness Doctrine] was enforced until it was eliminated in 1987.

The politically Far-Left has called for a re-instatement of the "Fairness Doctrine" prior to every election since it was eliminated. Their problem is it has been repeatedly proven to have the exact opposite effect of it’s stated goals. Of course, Kucinich and his band of loons have always had their own concept of “free speech”. You can hardly blame them though, their affirmative action in broadcasting really wouldn’t get much support if it was called by it’s more appropriate name - The Un-Fairness Doctrine.
Posted by: DepotGuy   2007-01-16 10:52  

#6  Conservative talk radio hurts them. The Fairness Doctrine is aimed squarely at conservative talk radio and nothing else, since the MSM and public broadcasting are left-liberal entities. If the FCC comes out with anything resembling the Fairness Doctrine it should be litigated tooth and nail.
Posted by: Jonathan   2007-01-16 09:30  

#5   Too much of what people want and too little of what we say is good for them

Actually its all based upon somebody's concept of statistical sampling to provide commercial sponsors a means of determining how much of their advertising overhead tacked on each and every piece of consumer product or service goes into the pockets of media and Hollyweird bigwigs. Not that there would be a penny of corruption in that process. No, nothing there.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2007-01-16 09:29  

#4  Bigjim - the one thing they can accomplish to to f*ck things up. Kucinich is a major idiot.
Posted by: Spot   2007-01-16 08:45  

#3  But I love to see them lace into things they could not possible accomplish.
Posted by: bigjim-ky   2007-01-16 08:05  

#2  Kucinich said in his speech that "We know the media has become the servant of a very narrow corporate agenda"


Uh, yeah, but it's the Dem's agenda?!?
Posted by: bigjim-ky   2007-01-16 08:04  

#1  Copps should be forced to resign.

Kucinich should be institutionalized.
Posted by: Rob Crawford   2007-01-16 07:38  

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