January 26, 2007
Stifling Free Speech
—Michael Medved
A recent Memphis conference on so-called "Media Reform" drew 3,500 participants joining in demands for more government-funded TV and radio programming--and more government control. The leftist activists want to re-impose "The Fairness Doctrine" forcing any station with conservative talk shows to "balance" that programming, hour by hour, with liberal hosts.
Meanwhile, leftist Air America radio would be forced to devote half its schedule to conservative programming. Now, this amounts to a stifling ban on stations with a forceful, openly acknowledged point of view--even if consumers choose to support such stations.
Today, with more political programming on cable TV and radio than ever before, and nearly unlimited information and opinion available on the Internet, we should trust the people to make their own choices from all the varied options. Instead, the left reacts to the public preference for conservative talk shows by demanding that bureaucrats limit the available choices.
Michael Medved is the host of The Michael Medved Show.
Michael Medved is the author of Right Turns: Unconventional Lessons from a Controversial Life.
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