Sen. Norm Coleman tries to block Fairness Doctrine (sorry, Al)

As this site has demonstrated over hundreds of entries, "liberal" talk radio is a gigantic failure. Only some of that is due to managerial incompetence, fraud, graft, and so forth. The major reason is that people want an alternative from the other media sources, most of which are quite "liberal". In a way, I wish it weren't this way. If it were a success, that would result in more raw material for me to make fun of, and it would also prevent "liberals" from trying to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine and taking other measures to in effect mandate what the listeners of talk radio clearly aren't interested in.

Now, Senator Norm Coleman - currently being challenged by former Air America Radio host and putative comic Al Franken - has introduced a bill that would require congressional action to bring the Doctrine back:

"Today, in an age of high-speed Internet, broadband technology and satellite radio, when we have incredible opportunities for people to get access to information, bringing back the so-called Fairness Doctrine is a bad idea, and it's certainly not fair... We live in ... a world in which you can simply change the dial or turn the radio off. But we don't want government in the business of censoring or monitoring and applying a standard that is basically unfair..."

What "liberals" really should do is ask George Soros to pay into a fund that would pay people to listen to their radio stations, complete with radios preset to approved stations being air-dropped into cities and empty fields across the nation.

I'S-NOT-DOTTED UPDATE: Peace and freedom-loving Democrats - not a Stalinist bones in their collective bodies - have blocked the amendment. From this:

When Coleman, R-Minn., tried to bring up his amendment Friday to a defense authorization bill, Sen. Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat who chairs the Armed Services Committee, objected. Levin's office said he objected because the amendment belonged in the Commerce Committee's jurisdiction, and because it would have taken up time while the Senate was trying to debate Iraq...

...Republicans have seized on a comment made last month by Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., who said "it's time to reinstitute the Fairness Doctrine." Durbin's spokesman, Joe Shoemaker, said that Durbin was expressing support for the concept but has no plans to introduce legislation.

"There is no big conspiracy here, there's no secret plan, there's no nothing," he said.

Of course not! Meanwhile, in other news, Big Dumb Ed Schultz will be traveling to Washington DC to talk to Democrats about how to get himself on more stations. The topic of the Fairness Doctrine probably won't even come up! Of course, we'll never know, but trust Dick Durbin, he knows what's best.

Remember: there is no conspiracy!

Posted in General at July 12, 2007 11:24 AM