Matt Rooney | June 17, 2009


During hearings on his nomination for chair of the Federal Communications Commission, Julius Genachowski to Kay Bailey that he opposes renewing the Fairness Doctrine:





Not so fast, Save Jerseyans. Keep the champagne on chill. President Obama never actually favored the Fairness Doctrine per se even though his congressional caucus definitely does. Obama is aware that conservative talk show hosts have transformed the phrase "Fairness Doctrine" into a rallying point for the American Right. He's much better at politics than he is at economics.

With all of this in mind, the Obama Administration will attempt to implement the basic aims of the Fairness Doctrine in an indirect way. Their Trojan Horse of choice is a doctrine called "localism." Human Events contributor Jack Thompson has a great article up which completely outs Obama's secret plan:

"Charles Benton is Chairman of the Benton Foundation, with offices in Obama’s Chicago as well as in Obama’s Washington. Benton proclaims at his Foundation’s web site, “[O]ur number one national communications policy priority must be the eradication of racial and gender discrimination in media and telecommunications. Our shared goal: seeing the day when all Americans possess the tools to compete in commerce, to contribute to and enjoy the fruits of democracy, to receive unbiased and uncensored news and information, to create our culture. “ [emphasis added] The Federal Communications Commission has a vague rule called “localism,” which requires stations to serve the interests of their local communities in order to hold onto their broadcast licenses. Obama, who gets to replace FCC Chairman Kevin Martin right away, needs only three votes from the five-member FCC to define localism his way."