by Matthias Deangelo

Created on: March 21, 2009

Mark my words. If (and I do mean if) the government reimposes the so-called "Fairness Doctrine", then liberals will ultimately rue the day it happened. Leave aside, for the moment, that robust and open debate are supposed to be liberal values, my liberal friends should oppose the Fairness Doctrine for selfish reasons.

Let's be honest about this (as Tom Bishop was in his piece supporting the "Fairness Doctrine"). The aim of the Fairness Doctrine is to drown out government critics. By requiring broadcast stations to air "opposing viewpoints," it essentially overwhelms the critic. The station now has to surrender precious air time to whoever is offended by the radio host's latest missive. That's air time that cannot be sold to advertisers, as well as air time lost to speakers no one wants to hear. As a result, broadcast stations will shy away from controversial hosts because the cost (in terms of lost time) is too high.

The real challenge in enforcing the "Fairness Doctrine", is not defining "fairness". The question is: who decides what constitutes "fairness?" In a liberal administration, the arbiters are likely to be liberal democrats, who are likely to take a hard look at Limbaugh, Hannity and Fox News. A conservative administration will be inclined to place Keith Olbermann, CBS, NBC and ABC in their cross hairs. It is not necessarily partisan politics. Conservatives sincerely believe that the mainstream media is slanted way to the left, while liberals insist that Fox News and Limbaugh are the epitome of unfairness.

So why should liberals be so fearful of the Fairness Doctrine? After all, they hold the reins of power in government? Well ask the Republicans how fleeting one's hold on the reins of power can be. After the 2004 election, very few people foresaw how precipitously the Republican party would implode. Four years ago, the Republicans held the White House, and substantial majorities in both houses of Congress. Barack Obama was just a newly elected Senator. Four years later, the wheel has turned, and could turn again. The pundits and polls assure us that this is still a "center-right" country. An administration that is politically responsive to this center-right impulse would likely choose fairness arbiters who at least rhetorically share these views.

In addition, it is worth remembering that Bill Clinton and Barack Obama achieved electoral success by tapping into the rhetoric of "personal responsibility" and "moral values", that flourishes on conservative talk radio. In other words, they were able to connect with the same demographic (or at least a sufficient slice of it) that listens to talk radio.

In the end, talk radio isn't broke, and does not need a Fairness Doctrine to fix it. Liberals should not be so quick to conclude that talk radio is a mortal threat, and that the Fairness Doctrine is an ultimate benefit to them. Be careful what you wish for guys.

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