15 Sep 2003 Hush Rush Redux

The left, specifically moveon.org and a handful of Republicans, apparently including former Senate majority leader Trent Lott, are attempting to increase government regulation of the news media.

Part of the effort includes a reinstatement of the so-called “Fairness Doctrine,” which puts so much red tape on broadcasters who express on-air opinions that the modern-day talk radio industry could well be crippled if the doctrine is reimposed.

Rush Limbaugh explains it all here.

In addition, Grover Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform has a website dedicated to stopping reimposition of the fairness doctrine.

A few years ago the left launched another attack on talk radio in the form of the innocent-sounding “Lobbying Disclosure Act,” which could have been used to force talk radio hosts and in some cases listeners to register with the federal government as “lobbyists” if they expressed an opinion on a bill before Congress. We learned about this from Rep. Tom DeLay, who now is the House Majority Leader, and, using what was then the latest in communications technology, faxes, alerted hundreds of talk show hosts. They informed their listeners, and the Capitol switchboard was flooded with calls. That bill was not approved.