White House Says Bush Would Veto Fairness Doctrine
President will quash attempt at censoring conservative talk radio.
Leading Democrats have indicated they want to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine - a 1949 policy that once required broadcasters to offer airtime to opposing viewpoints concerning controversial issues of public importance. A White House adviser today announced President Bush would veto such legislation if it reached his desk.
Allan B. Hubbard, assistant to the president for economic policy and director of the National Economic Council, issued a letter indicating the president's position. He recalled that the FCC dropped the Fairness Doctrine in 1987, largely because of the explosion of outlets for information.
"Since then, the multiplicity of voices has significantly increased and the case for the Fairness Doctrine is weaker than ever," Hubbard wrote in the letter. "Reinstating the Fairness Doctrine would muzzle political debate and free speech."
Ashley Horne, federal policy analyst for Focus on the Family Action, said it should really be called the "Un- Fairness Doctrine."
(Source: Focus on the Family; Citizen Link; July 16, 2007)
