47% Favor Government Mandated Political Balance on Radio, TV
Nearly half of Americans (47%) believe the government should require all radio and television stations to offer equal amounts of conservative and liberal political commentary, but they draw the line at imposing that same requirement on the Internet.
Read what that 47% should be reading – we need LESS government – Full Report| Pdf Version
by Brian Fitzpatrick, Senior Editor, Culture and Media Institute
Do we still cherish freedom of speech, or are some of us succumbing to the tyrannical impulse to stifle the speech of political adversaries? Do our leaders trust us to accept responsibility to govern ourselves, or do they wish to control which information we receive?
We do not need government to dictate to radio broadcasters, or anybody else, that they must counter their own opinions by subsidizing the presentation of opinions they disbelieve.
Thomas Jefferson said “To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.” Government compulsion of speech is a form of taxation for commercial broadcasters, and for all of us it’s a threat to one of our most cherished civil liberties, freedom of speech.
America enjoys such an embarrassment of riches in news and information that Fairness Doctrine advocates on Capitol Hill have opened their motives to question. Is it really conceivable that they are trying to make Americans better informed? Or is it more likely that they want to bring the monster back from the grave in order to hush Rush and his colleagues in talk radio, as Presidents Kennedy and Johnson did to political opponents? Don’t they believe the American people, who dictate what succeeds in the market, can be trusted to choose their own information sources?
These politicians need a refresher course in the Constitution, in particular the First Amendment, and in basic democratic principles such as respecting the right of others to oppose you. As Voltaire said, “I do not agree with what you have to say, but I’ll defend to the death your right to say it.” Greater dedication to free speech would be welcome on Capitol Hill.
August 17, 2008 at 4:58 AM
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