Manassas, VA – It’s about time.
NRB is delighted with FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski’s announcement this week that he supports deleting the Fairness Doctrine from the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR).
“Since 2003, NRB has been warning Congress that the Fairness Doctrine was not dead, and if ever revived it would be the death knell of religious broadcasting,” said Dr. Frank Wright, NRB President & CEO. “NRB has long opposed this pernicious rule, which enabled the FCC to compel broadcasters to air opposing viewpoints on controversial issues that the government decided to be of public importance. Yet reasonable people from every political persuasion agree that the Fairness Doctrine is an idea whose time has long since passed. The fundamental objective of the First Amendment is to protect the free marketplace of ideas from interference by the government itself. Our nation’s religious liberties are far too fragile, and too precious, to be left at the mercy of a government bureaucracy. With the much needed action by the FCC, the next critical step in the defense of free speech rests with the Congress. The passage of the Broadcaster Freedom Act will ensure that no future FCC administration will abridge free speech by reinstating another fairness doctrine-type regulation.”
“It is encouraging news that the FCC Chairman is willing to call for the removal of the long-abandoned and totally discredited ‘Fairness Doctrine’ rule, including all of its subparts, from the Code of Federal Regulations,” added Craig Parshall, NRB Sr. Vice President & General Counsel. “The failure to have removed it by now appears to have been be an anomaly, but it continued to fuel justified suspicions that the free-speech-strangling rule was not really dead after all. We look forward to the Chairman launching an immediate Commission action to make his intent official. We also urge Chairman Genachowski to advise House Energy & Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) on the timetable for this important technical correction. Protection of First Amendment rights requires that the FCC act with all deliberate speed.”
