MRC Press Release - HOUSE MAJORITY LEADER HOYER LATEST DEMOCRAT TO ADMIT TO SEEKING RETURN OF THE FAIRNESS DOCTRINE
ALEXANDRIA,
VA -
As reported today by CNSNews.com, Democratic House Leader Steny
Hoyer (MD) has now joined Speaker Nancy Pelosi (CA) in publicly
announcing their desire to reinstate the onerous government
censorship innocuously known as the Fairness Doctrine.
The public desire of Pelosi and now Hoyer, the two most powerful
members of the House of Representatives, for the return of the
Fairness Doctrine further explains why Congressman Mike Pence's
Broadcaster Freedom Act (BFA), which will kill once and for all the
Fairness Doctrine, has not been allowed out of committee and on to
the floor for a full and fair vote.
Congressman Pence has filed a discharge petition to get his bill a
full vote, his only avenue to bypass the dictatorial blockage of the
House leadership. The petition requires 218 Congressional
signatures; Pence has thus far secured only 198 - ALL of them
Republicans.
The MRC, long a leader on the issue of free speech, has had nearly
200,000 people demand that Congress have an up or down vote on the
BFA by signing their petition for Broadcaster Freedom on their
website: (http://www.mrcaction.org/512/petition.asp).
The Fairness Doctrine served for forty years to silence free speech
on the radio airwaves. Its 1987 repeal led to a talk radio
revolution, one dominated by conservative hosts. Liberals, having
failed repeatedly to compete in this marketplace, now seek to again
shut it down with the reinstatement of the Doctrine.
MRC President L. Brent Bozell, III:
"Hoyer has now joined Pelosi in coming out of the anti-free speech closet. Their now public advocacy for censorship explains why they continue to refuse to allow Congressman Pence's Broadcaster Freedom Act out of committee.
"Pelosi and Hoyer will not put their Caucus' votes where their mouths are, because they both know the American people are for free speech and against the Fairness Doctrine. If they are confident enough to go on the record with their desire to reinstate the Doctrine, why are they so afraid to put it on the table for a vote?
"Americans of all stripes should demand that their representatives sign the petition for Broadcaster Freedom, to force Pelosi, Hoyer and every member of Congress to cast their votes on the vital issue of free speech."
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.
