California Conservative

In what’s shaping up to be smackdown matchup, Fred Thompson has ridiculed Dennis Kucinich in this NRO op-ed. Suffice it to say that people will instantly recognize Mr. Thompson as the heavyweight and Rep. Kucinich as the fly about to be swatted across the political universe.

I had planned on talking a bit today about Venezuela. The president there doesn’t like the way his media is covering him, so he’s doing away with the free press. He’s established rules on what he thinks is fair, and he’s denying licenses to television and radio stations that don’t play by government rules.

I can’t criticize him now, though. After all, how would it seem for me to complain about another country, when our own congressional leadership is trying to put the same sort of rules in place here? To do so, they’re pulling the Fairness Doctrine out of the dustbin of history.

The Fairness Doctrine is an artifact from the days when there were only a handful of television channels and radio stations on our dials. Then, there might have been something to the fear that somebody might get control of all the media outlets in an area, so equal time rules were put in place.

Dennis Kucinich is leading the fight for the ‘new and improved’ Fairness Doctrine. Last year, Tom Harkin led the ‘fight’ for it. Suffice it to say that it’s always been a bad idea but that it’s utterly useless now.

Notice, though, the way in which Sen. Thompson constructs his arguments. Frankly, it’s a thing of beauty. If you haven’t noticed, Sen. Thompson is approaching this in a very Reaganesque way. He’s laying out his positions on a wide variety of issues; he’s mixing in Constitutional concerns from time to time, a not-so-subtle reminder of how important putting strict constructionist judges is. Most importantly, his appeal is logical & measured. Put differently, it’s pitch perfect. Check out the logic in this argument:

Finally, in 1987, the Federal Communications Commission ended the antiquated policy. Today, with more cable and local access channels than anybody can keep track of, the equal time rule makes even less sense. Throw in the Internet, and it’s absurd.

As flawless as that logic is, here’s the best smackdown of the Fairness Doctrine:

Insiders say it was the collapse of the radio station “Air America” that led to this attempt to retool the Fairness Doctrine as a form of de facto censorship. I guess the idea is that, if you can’t compete in the world of ideas, you pass a law that forces radio stations to air your views. In effect, it would force a lot of radio stations to drop some talk show hosts, because they would lose money providing equal airtime to people who can’t attract a market or advertisers.

The funny thing is that the success of the current crop of radio talk show hosts is due, in part, to a lot of people’s perception that broadcast television doesn’t give the views of their audience a fair shake. Maybe I shouldn’t admit it, since I dabble in radio myself, but this media used to be viewed as a kind of broadcast ghetto. The bicoastal elite had such a grip on the major newspapers and television networks; they pretty much ignored the hinterlands. It was media flyover country.

POW!!! Now THAT’S a smackdown soundbite: “I guess the idea is that, if you can’t compete in the world of ideas, you pass a law that forces radio stations to air your views.”

Translation: If your ideas are pathetic, like liberals’ ideas are, you’re forced to practice censorship.

Here’s the other stunning line that I love:

The bicoastal elite had such a grip on the major newspapers and television networks; they pretty much ignored the hinterlands. It was media flyover country.

This pretty much speaks volumes of the contempt that big city liberals have towards the heartland. The media elites essentially said “Here’s what we’re giving you. If you don’t like it, tough.” Instead, we’ve turned to conservative talk radio, the blogosphere and all forms of alternative media. Now liberals are panicking to the extent that they’re ‘reviving’ the Fairness Doctrine.

Frankly, it’s fun watching Sen. Thompson in action because he’s such a clear communicator. I’m looking forward to his jumping into the race.

Technorati Tags: Fred Thompson, Blogs, Alternative Media, Talk Radio, Conservatism, Air America, Dennis Kucinich, Censorship, Liberals

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog

This entry was posted on Friday, May 18th, 2007 at 9:53 am and is filed under 1st Amendment, Academia, Author: Gary Gross, Election 2008, Liberals, Media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.