Right Tries To Redefine Free Speech...Again

The Right is back to their old tricks, as if they ever left them.

Now it's not the Fairness Doctrine. It's the Censorship Doctrine. Instead of giving both sides fair access to the airwaves, it's taking it away from the Right.

No one need to look further than my debate with Sean Hannity and Brent Bozell of the Media Research Centers on Hannity's syndicated radio show last Tuesday where both Hannity and Bozell quickly re-labeled the Fairness Doctrine as the Censorship Doctrine, which in all honesty was Sean's invention which Bozell happily hopped on.

For the record, the Fairness Doctrine READ THE REST OF THE UNFAIRNESS HERE.

Award-winning TV writer, Steve Young, is author of "Great Failures of the Extremely Successful" (www.greatfailure.com) and blogs at the appropriately named steveyoungonpolitics.com

Comments

[AbstractImp]

Guess what free speech is, Hannity . . .

[AbstractImp]

Free speech includes responsibility: We are all responsible for protecting one another's free speech.

[AbstractImp]

Free speech requires honesty: if it isn't honest the speech isn't free.

[AbstractImp]

Free speech requires independence: outside of ideological straight jackets and manic religions.

[ebanks84]

I don't see why they just don't take the doctrine and paste it to their ta-ils and go palling around with themselves. That should scare a whole lot of people straight!

[NonLeftist]

Why do you think Air America has tanked? It's called the free market. If the Wii was a piece of garbage do you think people would trample themselves to buy it? In the same vein, you didn't hear Microsoft crying about the fairness of the Wii being more popular than the XBox 360. Come up with a better product on the airwaves and people will listen. If Air America is the best you can do. Sorry.

[Michale32086]

Now there is a nice big cold burst of reality for ya'all..

Dead on ballz accurate...

Kudos..

Michale.....

[amistad]

Not true.

[Excitedforfuture]

The entire world economy is going down the $hitter, and all Hannity, O'Reilly and Limbaugh can talk about is the Fairness doctrine. And palling around with terrorists!

[Bitsko]

I suppose it was just a coincidence that the airwaves got dumber and nastier after the Fairness Doctrine was dumped.

[Roy49]

I went to the Hannity website. There's a lot of sick people saying dimented things there about Obama for no good damn reason! A lot of hatemongering going on there being sponsored by Hannity and his moderators. I hate Republicans. They always stir up fear and hate. I am quite sure they will never be in power in the majority for many years. They are nothing but lowlife scum. But the minute, the very second I hear anything referencing killing the P.E. Obama, I will be contacting the Secret Service. Damn that!

[Michale32086]

}}}}
A lot of hatemongering going on there being sponsored by Hannity and his moderators. I hate Republicans.
{{{{

I wonder if you can truly appreciate the utter irony and hypocrisy of your statements..

Reminds me of the "FORWARD" in a book about President Nixon called THE LAST PRESIDENT

"How DARE you speak out against the president!! You should be thrown in jail!!! THIS IS A DEMOCRACY!!!!"

Same irony.. Same hypocrisy...

Michale.....

[LeftRight]

Actually Michale, what Roy49 said was not hatemongering...... The only way that Irony would apply here is if he was hatemongering AS WELL as the right-wingers on Hannity's site, and he's not.

[Digeeedad]

Hannity gets his radio audience all fired up daily, telling them that : "Obama is going to silence your last sorces of TRUTH on the airwaves"!

PLEASE visit Hannity's website forums, esp. "Washington Politics".... a REAL education in hate! :

http://forums.hannity.com/

[stella801]

LOL! I went there last week and got banned for my comments. I was civil, just stating my opinion and was banned. So much for freedom of speech.

[Michale32086]

And I got banned on taylormarsh.com because I had the audacity to ask people there to backup their hysterical rantings with some facts..

Don't think for a second that Democrat forums are any more the bastion of freedom of speech than Republican forums...

Michale.....

[Digeeedad]

I've been "lifetime banned" 3 times! LOL

Hannity should be "exposed" for what is allowed there. If, as you suggest, you civily disagree with even the most venomous nonsense you get banned yet the most hate-filled and racist posts are rarely removed. Here's an example:

Several posters regularly use an elementary school portrait of Michelle Obama as an object of ridicule, with one using the photo as his user ID/Avatar. He has "1rst Hag" printed on the photo.

I looked to Hannity's moderators (before I was banned for even questioning its use) to complain but found that one of the main moderator's uses as his ID photo/Avatar a short video clip of a white man cocking a pistol and shooting it into the air. A cartoon figure of a black man falls headfirst from the sky!

Would you think advertisers would like to be associated with this? And this is MINOR!

[luvronpaul]

Hannity has his own personal censorship doctrine which he enforces.

[Vyvjala]

Hookworm hannity's association with Hal Turner is an interesting topic......................

[ObjectiveRealist]

For what purpose?

[
PLEASE visit Hannity's website forums, esp. "Washington Politics".... a REAL education in hate! :
]

[BlackJAC]

Let the gops complain about their perceived victimhood on AM radio all they like. It hasn't won them anything other than a rep for being petulant brats.

[Excitedforfuture]

I know what you're talking about! They think they can influence voters, and yet they lost this election, badly!!!

They are too irrelevant for anyone to worry about the fairness doctrine.

[oncethere]

More often than not, under free-market, no regulation, capitalism, the worst, the most greedy, the biggest mouths, the biggest bullies, the most sociopathic, Rise to the Top.

[Michale32086]

And who puts them there??

They couldn't rise to the top without the tacit approval and encouragement of the masses...

Michale...

[IslandGyal]

Agreed

[Michale32086]

@LeftRight

}}}}
And for what it's worth, I don't like the fairness doctrine, I don't want us to bring it back, I think that it's a waste of time, and didn't do what it was supposed to do anyway! This is one issue where the market will do its job just fine!
{{{{

Ya see!! We agree on more than just Star Trek!! :D

Michale.....

[LeftRight]

Actually, Steve, you present the fairness doctrine incorrectly. All that it said was that a radio station (or TV station) had to present more than one side of an argument when a controversial topic was presented. There were no time requirements, and in fact the station owner had BROAD latitude to choose how to present any arguments.

And one more thing, Fox news would actually already be covered under the original Fairness Doctrine, as they have a few token liberals on hand.

[Michale32086]

You do realize that, if the Fairness Doctrine had been the law of the land during this election, we would have "been looking" forward to a {gag} McCain Presidency...

Michale.....

[LeftRight]

Why? Are you confusing the former Fairness Doctrine with the still operational Equal Time Doctrine?

[Michale32086]

No, I am not confusing the two..

The "personal attack rule" and the "editorial rule" that is coded into the Fairness Doctrine are the determining factors

It was Obama's media presence that put him in the White House.

Do you think that PE Obama would have done those half hour "informercials" if they had to give equal billing to McCain to respond to the attacks and editorials??

I don't think he would have.

Michale.....