MRC Press Release - Liberal Media Cover-Up Speaker Pelosi's Slander of American Troops, Crediting Iran for Iraq Success
ALEXANDRIA, VA - With just three days left before Radio Independence Day, Congressman Mike Pence's Broadcaster Freedom Act (BFA), which would kill once and for all the onerous Fairness Doctrine, remains stuck in jail and in committee, consigned there by Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The discharge petition that will spring the bill for the full and fair up or down vote it deserves has 196 of the required 218 Congressional signatures. Not one of the signers is a Democrat.
Two Democrats, Jason Altmire of Pennsylvania and John Yarmuth of Kentucky, are co-sponsors of the BFA but have not yet signed to allow it to have a vote.
After spending the last year denying that she or her liberal cohorts were interested in reviving the Fairness Doctrine, Speaker Pelosi on Tuesday admitted to Human Events "The interest of my Caucus is the" revival of the Fairness Doctrine, and that contrary to her assertions of the last thirteen months they have "been active behind this [revival] for a while now."
The Fairness Doctrine is the anti-First Amendment government policy that served to stifle free speech on the radio airwaves for four decades before its 1987 repeal. The Media Research Center, long a defender of the freedom of speech, has drafted a petition to tell members of Congress to allow a full up or down vote for Congressman Pence's Broadcaster Freedom Act by July 4th, deemed Radio Independence Day. To sign the petition, visit www.MRCAction.org.
MRC President L. Brent Bozell, III:
"It is time for each and every Democrat in Congress to look in the mirror and into their districts, and decide just who it is they represent in Congress. Do they work for the people who elected them, or do they do unquestioningly the bidding of Speaker Pelosi?
"Their constituents have made their voices heard, with hundreds of thousands of emails, phone calls and letters delivered in just the last two weeks insisting that the Broadcaster Freedom Act receive an up or down vote. Thus far, Democrats have willfully ignored their wishes, to maintain their fealty to the San Francisco Speaker.
"These Democrats have a choice to make. They can choose continued blind allegiance to Speaker Pelosi, who has made her anti-free speech intentions known. Or they can choose to listen to the people they represent, and sign the petition for Broadcaster Freedom.
"They must choose freedom; they must choose to sign the discharge petition for the Broadcaster Freedom Act. And this week, in advance of Radio Independence Day, is the perfect time to do it."
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.
