“The fairness
doctrine flies in the face of the First
Amendment.”
-Sen.
Norm Coleman
Pointing out that the “fairness
doctrine” is not fair at a Heritage Foundation
event today (video posted tomorrow) Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) said “the
fairness doctrine is the biggest misnomer since jumbo shrimp.” He went on to
explain how the fairness doctrine violates the First Amendment’s protections of
free political speech. He asked rhetorically if we really wanted government
regulators monitoring broadcasts with pencil, paper, and stopwatch enforcing
their idea of “fair and balanced.”
Fortunately Sen. Coleman did not
expect fairness doctrine legislation to make any progress in the current
Congress but voiced his fears that a future liberal administration combined with
a liberal Congress would quickly introduce such dangerous
legislation.
Congressman Thomas Price had a
helpful piece published yesterday entitled “The
Left’s Push to Silence Free Speech.”