LA Times Falsely Claims Dems Won't Shut Down Talk Radio

AWAITING OBAMA'S ORDERS

Sleazy LA Times Attacks Talkers Over Shutdown Fears







The same publication that actively aided Barack Obama's campaign by suppressing a potentially incriminating video is now leading the charge against the Dear Leader's critics in talk radio.

Far left attack dog James Rainey of the dying Los Angeles Times, who just last week falsely accused hosts of behaving "shamelessly" in the wake of Obama's victory, has followed up with another smear, this time inaccurately claiming Democrats are not planning a Chinese communist-style crackdown on conservative critics.

Despite indications from at least three senators that a clampdown on talk radio is in fact on the way, Rainey instead attacks conservative hosts for daring to worry about it. Hilariously, in the search for evidence to back up his claim, he turns to left-wing Democrat partisan Markos Moulitsas:

If the left wing is gearing up for such a push, I had trouble detecting it. A search of the liberal Daily Kos website turned up almost no mentions of the Fairness Doctrine. And the site's founder, Markos Moulitsas, said by e-mail Thursday that he sensed "zero impetus" to make the change.

"The right is using it as a straw man to build hysteria and opposition to the incoming Democratic administration and Congress," Moulitsas opined. "But there are zero serious efforts to make it happen."

Gosh, if Kos says it ain't so, then he MUST be correct, right? Clearly, the left isn't about to admit they plan to suppress political dissent, hence the mind games.


Meanwhile, the Boston Herald's Jessica Heslam reported Friday evening that one current FCC commissioner does believe the misnamed "Fairness Doctrine" could indeed be on its way to a radio dial near you:

An FCC commissioner visiting the Hub this week didn’t rule out the possibility of a return of the Fairness Doctrine - a scourge on conservative talk jocks - under the Obama administration.

“There has been a lot of talk on Capitol Hill about bringing it back, maybe with a different name, but bringing the idea back,” Robert McDowell of the Federal Communications Commision told the Herald. “I would say stay tuned and see how the next year or two pan out.”

The doctrine required stations to present both sides of an issue. It was repealed in 1987.

Reimposing that FCC regulation, McDowell said, could inhibit radio or TV stations from airing controversial opinion shows altogether because “they would be fearful that the FCC might not renew their license if it was determined they were not complying with the so-called Fairness Doctrine.”

As Ed Morrissey points out at Hot Air, Democrats have included a desire to shut down conservative talk radio in their party platform for a number of years. He correctly calls Rainey's latest smear piece "confused and contradictory".


Meanwhile, continuing the left's trickery on talk radio, Senator Bingaman (D-NM) is now backtracking on the very stance he took just weeks ago. From CNS News:

(CNSNews.com) – Local AM radio stations WMAL and WTNT in Washington, D.C., should not be forced by the federal government to provide equal time for liberal political views to counter the largely conservative views expressed in their daily line-up of talk shows, Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) told CNSNews.com on Wednesday.

The stations WMAL and WTNT broadcast conservative or right-leaning shows. WMAL's lineup includes Fred Grandy and Andy Parks, Chris Plante, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Mark Levin. WTNT's lineup features Bill Bennett, Laura Ingraham, Dennis Miller, Mancow, Michael Savage and Lars Larsen.

Bingaman has indicated he supports reinstating the Fairness Doctrine, a federal regulation abandoned by the Reagan administration in 1987 that required programs using the public airwaves to “afford reasonable opportunity for the discussion of conflicting views of public importance.”

Also noteworthy, former FCC Commissioner Henry Rivera was quietly shifted to another position within Obama's transition team late this week. That occurred after an outcry over his past ties to radical advocacy groups and support for the Fairness Doctrine, though the official reason cited was an undisclosed "conflict of interest".

With a badly damaged and largely ineffective GOP providing little in the way of real opposition, talk radio and blogs have taken on a bigger role in America's political future than ever.

That's why the temptation to clamp down on the Dear Leader's remaining critics will be far too difficult for Democrats to resist.


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