Bozell: All FCC Nominees Must Vow to Protect Talk Radio From All Government Censorship or Political Speech Or They Should Not Be Confirmed
ALEXANDRIA, VA - Media Research President L. Brent Bozell, III today called on all of President Barack Obama's Federal Communications Commission (FCC) nominees to pledge to preserve the First Amendment freedoms of conservative and Christian talk radio. Bozell asserted that if they do not do so, they should not be confirmed by the Senate.
Bozell insists that this include the nominees' public disavowal of the censorship aspects of the just-passed Durbin Amendment. Last Thursday, the Senate passed a rider from Illinois Democratic Senator Dick Durbin that creates broad new free speech-suppression regulatory powers for the FCC.
The nebulous Durbin Amendment potentially allows for the FCC to prematurely rescind talk radio station licenses and creates many new regulatory avenues by which the FCC can silence talk radio. All under the guise of the vague requirements of "encourage(ing) and promot(ing) diversity" in media ownership and "ensur(ing) that broadcast station licenses are used in the public interest."
President Barack Obama yesterday officially made the long anticipated announcement of Julius Genachowski as his choice for Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. As mentioned in today's Wall Street Journal, Genachowski has been a long-time proponent of media-ownership rules that encourage more diversity, a key tenet of the new Durbin Amendment.
It was also reported yesterday that President Obama is in the process of compiling his full list of FCC nominees.
Brent Bozell:
"The time has come for all of President Obama's nominees, and Obama himself, to publicly vow to protect conservative and Christian talk radio from ALL forms of government censorship. So far their silence has been deafening. Should Mr. Genachowski and Company not vow to protect the First Amendment freedoms of talk radio, the Senate should refuse to confirm them.
"All the pieces for the silencing of conservative and Christian talk radio are being put into place. Aspects of the Durbin amendment create the impression of a new FCC censor power to pull station licenses mid-term - and many new ways to regulate talk radio out of existence.
"These are frightening new governmental censorship powers, and Obama's FCC nominees should pledge not to use them to shut down talk radio. The 'Fairness' Doctrine is dead, long live the new 'Fairness' Doctrine - the Durbin Doctrine."
To schedule an interview with MRC President Brent Bozell or another MRC spokesperson, please contact Tim Scheiderer (x. 126) or Colleen O'Boyle (x. 122) at (703) 683-5004.
