Fairness Doctrine? The Ravings of Liberal Pussies

In case you aren't up to speed, the Fairness Doctrine (bill H.R.501) sponsored by New York Democrat Louise Slaughter, is a bill trying bring "fairness" to electronic media (mainly talk radio). In other words, liberals want government to step in (what a surprise!) and level the playing field so radio stations are forced to give equal time to voices on both sides of an issue. Sounds ok right? Maybe if you live in Russia. This "doctrine" has been brought up for years and was vetoed by Reagan. The problem comes into play when a radio station in a conservative area, plays the Rush Limbaugh show, which is three hours long, during the week. According to the "Fairness Doctrine" that station must now run an opposing show, such as the Al Franken show, for three hours. Is it fair to have government telling the small local AM station what shows they are to run, even if they are not supported by their market? It is, in a sense, economic suicide. If liberal radio was wanted by such a large group of people, then their ratings would be much higher than they currently are (see http://www.nationalreview.com/york/york200504261400.asp) Some would say that conservatives should support this bill since we have been citing examples of gross liberal bias in the media. However, this bill would not touch newspapers, such as the darling New York Times and Washington Post, where the worst liberal biases are held. On television networks, news programs use one sided facts to proclaim their "subtle" bias. These polls and research papers are said to be unbiased, even though sometimes researchers refuse to allow others to see the questions they asked. Under this guise, the "Fairness Doctrine" would not work. It clearly targets talk radio. I doubt that this bill will do anything but be recycled into something useful, like toilet paper.