Nothing fair about Fairness Doctrine

Americans are about to learn that when it comes to protecting their civil liberties, they can't relax no matter which party is in power in Washington.

After spending eight years wailing about President George W. Bush's relentless disregard for the Bill of Rights, Democrats are preparing to launch an assault on the most precious individual freedom of all -- free speech.

They are trying to shut down conservative talk radio, the primary source of criticism of their programs and policies.

Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow was reportedly leading the effort, though she now says "that's not my issue." Good thing, since it would have been an obvious conflict of interest. Her husband, Tom Athans, is a co-founder of Air America, the left-wing network that's never caught fire with radio listeners.

Some Democrats want hearings on legislation to revive the ironically named Fairness Doctrine, which requires broadcast stations to provide a balance of opinions in their programming.

While that may sound reasonable on the surface, the reality is that there's little commercial market for liberal talk on radio.

The impact of the Fairness Doctrine would be to drive the Rush Limbaughs, Sean Hannitys, Bill O'Reillys and Frank Beckmanns off the air. Few stations can afford to devote hours to unprofitable liberal programming just to keep the conservative shows on the air.

What's curious about this is that Democrats are just coming off their second straight election of trouncing conservative Republicans, despite being crucified daily by Limbaugh and his ilk.

The attacks on Democrats from conservative talk show hosts barely moved the scales when balanced against the overwhelming media bias toward Barack Obama's candidacy.

Obama beat his Republican opponent, Sen. John McCain, 3-1 in major newspaper endorsements. Time and Newsweek battled tooth and nail to one up each other in deifying the Democratic nominee.

National Public Radio, subsidized by taxpayers, should have been on the Obama campaign payroll. A teeny bopper at a Jonas Brothers concert couldn't have squealed more than MSNBC's Chris Matthews did at the mention of Obama's name.

Against this fierce determination by the rest of the media to get Obama elected, the right-wing blabbers didn't stand a chance.

You'd think the Democrats would savor their victory and ignore their critics.

That they can't suggests an insecurity about the ability of their ideas and policies to hold the hearts and minds of the electorate.

Stifling dissent is a favored weapon of those who are convinced they know what's best for the people and are willing to trample the people's rights to give it to them.

The Fairness Doctrine is right out of the playbooks of Hugo Chavez, Vladimir Putin and others who so value popularity they'll protect it by any means necessary.

This is censorship, poorly masked. And whether you cheer Limbaugh or detest him, if you don't stand up for his right to speak against the tide, you'll ultimately lose your right to do the same.

Nolan Finley is editorial page editor of The News. Reach him at nfinley@detnews.com">nfinley@detnews.com or (313) 222-2064. Watch him at 8:30 p.m. Fridays on "Am I Right?" on Detroit Public TV, Channel 56.