Representative Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) plans to introduce a bill that will break up media monopolies and restore fairness doctrine.
He's even talking about it finally putting a stop to America becoming a fascist state. Now, that it's somewhat safer to talk about this outside of Dkos and other blogs it's coming out that more than Sandra Day O'Connor were concerned with the direction the country was taking.
Follow me below but if you'd like to read the whole article here you go. Let me know how I've done with fair use. It's a long article and I left a lot more out then in.
It's like all our biggest complaints about the Right wing noise machine are being voiced by Democrats in a position to do something about it. How many times have we all wished for a chance to counter the blatant lies spewed by Rush, Sean etc? Well, here you go.
"If Rush shoots his mouth off, he must give equal access to our side," Hinchey said. "The American public will begin to get both sides or all sides of an issue. That is basic – fundamental to a democracy."
Hinchey tried to introduce a bill last year H.R. 3302 but Republicans couldn't stand the thought of someone calling them on their lies. Now, they've got the control and will
" be trying hard to get the subcommittee and the full committee chairs to bring this to the House floor," Hinchey pledged.
This will be a two-pronged attack using the Senate also.
A companion bill will be introduced on the Senate side by Bernie Sanders (D-VT), he added.
He does just stop with telling us what he's going to do he jumps all over
"an administration in Washington that has falsified information to people about weapons of mass destruction in order to justify an illegal and unjustified attack perpetrated on Iraq. How was it that Congress voted to give the President that authority? And how was it that so many people just bought into it when Iraq had nothing to do with the attacks on the World Trade Center and whatever weapons they had were given to them by the Reagan administration?"
All this is great stuff but it gets better as he comes right out and talks about what seemed to be clear comparisons with European Fascism.
"Fascist government dominated discussions in Europe. They could now broadcast all over and control all information going out. That’s how they took over governments in Spain and Italy," Hinchey recalled. "The U.S. said the airways should be owned by everyone."
He gets into the nuts and bolts of how this will be implemented and it seems to take into account today's time. One thing I don't see is addressing blogs.
If reinstated by Hinchey’s bill, the Fairness Doctrine would govern all news programs on public airways, including networks as well as cable stations such as Fox or MSNBC, but would not apply to entertainment shows. Thus a broadcaster such as Comedy Central could argue that the Daily Show or Colbert Report is exempt. Requiring multiple viewpoints via a Fairness Doctrine is particularly important in rural areas, where residents may have access to only a single TV station and can’t afford cable, the staffer added.
To be honest, I think it should extend to blogs but I haven't thought about how it would work. Would we sent Big Tent Democrat over to Red State when they get really stupid?
This bill is going to address newspapers but it sounds like it may take a back burner for awhile. In particular they want to deal with blantant partisanship as a case in San Diego when
the San Diego Union-Tribune refused to cover Democratic Congressional candidate Jeeni Criscenza, who was running against Republican incumbent Darryl Issa, the richest member of Congress, despite the fact that Criscenza visited hotspots in the Middle East, traveled to Mexico to observe the vote count, and made numerous high-profile campaign appearances throughout the district she sought to represent.
I'll leave this with a question we all have
With Democrats now in control of the House, Hinchey has been named to a subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee with jurisdiction over the FCC budget. He posed a challenge to members of Congress to pass media reform, asking, "Will we be strong enough to bear this responsibility?"