Is the Tyranny of Right-Wing Radio Coming to an End?

Conservative fears of an impending Democratic attack on talk radio -- dubbed the "Hush Rush" effort in an homage to top-rated radio talker Rush Limbaugh -- continue to escalate, despite ample evidence that such an assault is unlikely to occur when (as is likely) Democrats sweep back into power in the forthcoming elections in November.

As noted recently on the "Focus on the Family action" website citizenlink.com, conservative fears of a supposed return to the Federal Communications Commission's long-defunct Fairness Doctrine remain unabated. In a post entitled "Take Action: Ask Congress to Protect Talk Radio," Managing Editor Jennifer Mesko recently wrote, "Democrats have threatened to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine which would force conservative stations to broadcast liberal viewpoints."

In response, says Mesko, "Radio broadcasters and some members of Congress are calling on Democrats to celebrate July Fourth -- dubbed "Radio Independence Day" -- by pledging to protect the airwaves from censorship."

As previously reported, "Leading hard-right conservatives, led by their talk radio 'shock jock' shock troops, have been worrying aloud about the supposed return of the long-defunct Fairness Doctrine ever since their stunning success last year in defeating bi-partisan immigration reform."

Although most informed observers believe the right's existential angst is unfounded, it is nonetheless real -- and has spurred former broadcaster and current congressman Mike Pence, R-Ind., to introduce the Broadcaster Freedom Act (H.R. 2905), which would prohibit the FCC from reinstating the Fairness Doctrine. "Bringing back the Fairness Doctrine would amount to government control of political views on the commercial and religious airwaves of America, and it must be opposed," Pence told Family News in Focus, while calling on Congress to support the Broadcaster Freedom Act before July Fourth. Shock jock Laura Ingraham joined Pence, saying, "This is nothing more than an attempt to have government regulate one of the most effective forms of political discussion today."

Of course, only a year ago more than three hundred members of Congress -- including 113 Democrats -- supported a moratorium on the Fairness Doctrine!

Meanwhile, other conservatives, such as Jim Boulet Jr., executive director of English First and organizer of the website KeepRushontheAir.com are claiming that the cunning (if Republican-controlled) FCC -- employing a little known tactic Boulet terms "legislation by stealth" -- may instead "reinstate the Fairness Doctrine via something called 'localism.'"

In a National Review Online post headlined "FCC Tries to Hush Rush," Boulet assails the "tyranny of 'cultural diversity' while citing "a little-noticed item in the Federal Register" he claims will soon hand the FCC "the power to drive Rush Limbaugh off the air."

Liberals are obsessed with "balancing" Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Hugh Hewitt, Mark Levin, and the rest of conservative talk radio, says Boulet, "even though plenty of other outlets -- the Washington Post, the New York Times, USA Today, ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, MSNBC, PBS, and National Public Radio -- constantly flog the liberal agenda." And since the "Hush Rush crowd's dream" to revive the so-called "Fairness Doctrine ... using the democratic process," has failed, Boulet says, "regulations proposed on January 28 by the Federal Communications Commission would effectively reinstate the Fairness Doctrine via something called 'localism.'"

This "legislation by stealth" means that "most of the Fairness Doctrine's opponents might not know about it until it's too late," says Boulet. "Which isn't to say it was impossible to see this coming. The Left has long sought new ways of bringing back the Fairness Doctrine, and their latest gambit features a sizable dose of political correctness."

Right-wingers like Boulet charge that a 2007 Center for American Progress/Free Press report called The Structural Imbalance of Political Talk Radio "cleverly recasts the Fairness Doctrine as 'localism' by stating that 'any effort to encourage more responsive and balanced radio programming will first require steps to increase localism.'"

Boulet apparently believes the FCC "has swallowed the Center's diversity rationale whole" and that "cultural diversity" requirements will soon be imposed that will have the effect of knocking Rush Limbaugh and his ilk off the air. "This cultural diversity is to be enforced by professional ethnic activists and other perpetual malcontents," claims Boulet.

As a result, he opines:

"Should the FCC prevail, radio stations will return to the sort of programming that predominated during the days of the Fairness Doctrine, only filtered by 2008-style political correctness. Instead of full debate on controversial issues such as amnesty for illegal aliens, AM radio will become a herd of independent minds, a vast 'Air America' from sea to shining sea in which never a conservative word is heard."

Although this putative threat to the First Amendment simply isn't real, the notion that the days of right-wing dominance of the airwaves may well be numbered is rapidly becoming a reality -- not because of any government-imposed regulation, but simply because the political tide appears to be turning at last, and our long national nightmare may in fact be drawing to a close.

Happy "Radio Independence Day," everyone!

Comments

[conned]

I listened to some right-wing talk this morning. I counted five patently false, blatantly untrue claims in a row. This is the kind of thing that influences people and shapes the political landscape. How the hell can we have any kind of democracy when people are making decisions based on faulty premises adopted as a result of believing lies they trusted to be the truth? Its what Scott McClellen call the "permanent campaign mentality", and it comes from the RNC. If there is such a notion as the "public airwaves", should there not be at least an obligation to make sure, at a minimum, that the information broadcast is not harmful to the public. Or manipulation of the masses by the powerful few?

[Lorifromky]

Right-wing radio is declining because 75% of the country thinks we are on the wrong track, and fewer people want to listen to blowhards trying to defend this indefensible administration. The majority of right wing radio is older, white males so the demographics are working against them as well. I don't think the genre will rise to the level it was in the 1990s. Thankfully.

[Boris]

The Fairness Doctrine is not and has never been about balancing left and right. It has been as follows: if an individual, using the public airwaves, broadcasts a lie or unsubstantiated attack on another person, that person should have the right to address the lie or attack with equal time.

It is about using public airwaves to unfairly attack another American.

Conservative broadcasters to broadcast lies as 'speculation' or stop lying altogether. Without lying, conservatism would lose a large part of the American middle class, which is often too dumb to question the truth or falsity of the statements.

[3dtrix]

For many years I have been involved in an active campaign to silence right-wing talk radio. I proudly assert this campaign has been one of the most successful endeavors in my life. I can honestly say that I have overcome the lies, bigotry and hatred of Limbaugh, Ingraham, Savage, Hannity and their lesser (if such a thing there can be) brethren of traitors and troglodytes - I don't listen to them. Never have, never will.

I feel sorry for those who do - imagine inhabiting a world so small, so dark that every step taken is as though one were forced to wear shoes too small, and to rely on a putrid odor for guidance instead of even the faintest light. I pray for them, too, when I pray for my country.

[S1m0n]

It turns out that there's a downside to making the success of any business investment dependent on the political fortunes on one particular political party. Who knew?

[Dakotadem]

OK, so we don't pass the Fairness Doctrine - how about a requirement that each of the right-wing talk shows include a disclaimer, "The bullshit you are about to hear is not based on fact or any semblance of truth. It is simply propaganda designed to enrage the ignorant, racist idiots that listen to this program." I would be happy with that.

[JBoy]

...you could use that same disclaimer for each left-wing political website & blog.

[Clairvaux]

If you don't like the Fairness Doctrine, try the anti-trust laws.

[1will]

Bringing back the Fairness Doctrine would not end Right Wing talk radio it would ultimately end talk radio-period.
There is no market for Liberal Talk Radio. For whatever reason, no one wants to listen to it. Air America is a prime example. It's the flagship lefty network yet it must constantly be bailed out by one Liberal millionaire after another. They can't get enough advertisers to stay out of bankruptcy.
It all stations were forced to add a Lefty program to balance out the Right Wing programs then the stations would be losing money on the Liberal programming. Soooo......what do you do? You either raise the prices for advertising on the rest of the shows or take a loss on the Liberal programming.
The more likely outcome would be a loss of Right and Left Wing programming and some other shows added instead. As Right Wing Talk Radio shut down the Amnesty schemes last year I imagine many in Congress would like this.
Ignorant voters make happy politicians.

[booksnmore4you]

Something MUST be done about AM radio. If I travel from West coast to East coast and zig-zag north and south while scanning the radio dial, a picture clearly emerges that there is something terribly, terribly wrong.

[MB141]

they can't do anything about AM radio because right-wing talk or low-power hispanic and ethnic broadcasts are the only thing that works...what else does AM have to offer? what else does radio have to offer? soon enough, satellite will be standard in every vehicle and terrestrial radio as we know it will be left to the fringe...pretty much where it is right now. Liberals get their news from the same places that most Americans do - tv, internet, newspaper.

[RobinSeattle]

Well, this article was a whole lot of nothing.

Look, the televangelists always use some purported enemy as a fundraising tool and the rightwing talkers, who decry the whole victimhood thing while using it for themselves, are doing it to bring solidarity to their ilk among the public. Pretty transparent really.

While I'm a liberal, I'm also opposed to the fairness doctrine. The reason is twofold: one, I am very uncomfortable with government dictating content in the media. It is funny that Dobson complains about censorship even as he is probably the biggest pro-censorship force in the U.S.

Secondly, it is up to the public to sort out what is nonsense and what is the truth, no matter what is on the radio ro television. Limbaugh, et al aren't journalists and everybody knows it. Their shows also play to the choir, if studies are correct. So let the wingers listen to Rush's crap. Who cares?

Look, this article promised to show the decline of rightwing radio. I was hoping to see some evidence of falling ratings and a declining number of radio stations feeaturing the winger format, etc, but that wasn't delivered here. So there is no proof offered that winger radio is in decline (though, iirc, Limbaugh's show, which is given to stations free---probably in exchange for part of the local commercial time allotment---has shed about half of its stations).

[MajorKong]

Tonight on Fox:
Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, Brit Hume, Pat Buchanan, William F Buckley Jr., Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Cal Thomas, Charles Krauthammer, Rush Limbaugh, Glen Beck, Ann Coulter, Michelle Malkin, Michael Medved, Matt Drudge, Mike Gallagher, Laura Schlesinger, Fred Barnes, Fred Hiatt, Thomas Sowell, Neil Cavuto, Richard Mellon Scaife, Laura Ingram, Michael Savage, James Dobson, Ben Stein, Jonah Goldberg, Jack Welch and Rupert Murdoch discuss the lack of conservative voices in the media.

[Necron99]

Hey...that's not fair...Bill Buckley is dead.

/snark

[booksnmore4you]

He meant to say some "up-and-commer" who is convinced in his own mind that he's channeling Buckley. :-D

[banjomike]

The reason the arch-conservative commentators are afraid of localism is: it works.

Every radio station in the country has to file regularly for renewal, and part of the process is showing that they are serving the public interests of their area.

A few years ago here, two women who had a local talk show so conservative that the local Republicans were attacked as much as Democrats, always with much more innuendo that facts, were pulled off the air when a local petition to question the station's license renewal due to lack of local service. The women had often crossed the line into provable slander on-air. The station owners quickly decided it wasn't worth a fight, and they were gone within a month.

If the stations are held accountable for the slander their radio personalities say, they face losing their licenses. That line is crossed regularly by Rush and the rest- maybe it's time for him to pay back that loan from God with some interest, a station at a time. It's not a question of fairness- just one of responsibility.

[BeeOplentee]

Pipe dreams. The reason Rush and a lot of the others are mainstays on the AM dial is simply because they have huge supporting audiences. Liberal radio on the other hand, is miniscule and hanging on pathetically simply because nobody wants to hear them, and consequently nobody wants to sponsor them. It's really all about business.

[1will]

Very true although the 6 Air America listeners might disagree with you.

[CaptainObvious]

Mike Pence: "Bringing back the Fairness Doctrine would amount to government control of political views on the commercial and religious airwaves of America, and it must be opposed,"

Notice how he refrains from calling them the PUBLIC airwaves.

[oncethere]

When you are 11 years old, nothing is enough. And so it is with Right-Wing Radio which has dominated AM for 20 years. It seems incomprehensible to me that Savage and Limbaugh, who have had major bully pulpits in American culture for 20 years, are beginning to whine that their right of free speech is being infringed upon. How much is enough for these guys? Have they never heard of sharing?

Make no mistake about it, Savage, Hannity and Limbaugh have, for the last 20 years, conducted a---daily---verbal propaganda war against liberals and liberalism every word the equal of Hitler's harangues against Jews and Communists in the 1930's. They are dead-set on "defeating" liberals and they make that clear every day. As a country, we need to confront the seriousness of this threat to democracy.

[booksnmore4you]

Yes, and that really is what this is.

This is neofascism developing in the making.