FCC Chair: Fairness Doctrine Not Needed

Pence and other Republicans in both the House and Senate countered by introducing legislation to bar the FCC from reinstating the rule.
July 26 10:43 AM US/Eastern
By JIM ABRAMS
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Federal Communications Commission has no intention of reinstating the Fairness Doctrine imposing a requirement of balanced coverage of issues on public airwaves, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said.
Martin, in a letter written this week to Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., and made public Thursday, said the agency found no compelling reason to revisit its 1987 decision that enforcing the federal rule was not in the public interest.
Several Democratic lawmakers suggested that Congress take another look at the doctrine after conservative radio talk show hosts aggressively attacked an immigration reform bill when it was on the Senate floor, contributing to its defeat.
---cut---
Martin, in his letter, said government regulation was not needed to ensure public access to a wide range of opinion. "Indeed, with the continued proliferation of additional sources of information and programming, including satellite broadcasting and the Internet, the need for the Fairness Doctrine has lessened even further since 1987," he wrote.
Pence, in a joint statement with Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., welcomed Martin's position but said Congress should still pass his legislation so that no future administration or FCC chairman could revive the doctrine without an act of Congress.
LinkHere

Senate Democrat Norm Coleman Blocks Fairness Doctrine Foiler

(Broadcasting & Cable) _ House Democrats have labeled the reintroduction of the FCC's fairness doctrine a non-issue and grandstanding by talk radio, but on Friday Senate Democrats blocked an amendment to an appropriations bill similar to one that passed without incident in the House. Senator Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) tried Friday to amend a defense appropriations bill to insure that the FCC could not reinstate the doctrine. Scrapped by the FCC as unconstitutional in 1987, the doctrine required broadcasters to provide the other side on issues of public importance. It's disappearance from the FCC rulebook helped spur the rise of primarily conservative talk radio.