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Imus Affair: The Left Has Tasted Blood, Conservatives Warn
By Fred Lucas
CNSNews.com Staff Writer
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewNation.asp?Page=/Nation/archive/200704/NAT20070413e.html
(CNSNews.com) - The pressure campaign that led to talk show host Don Imus' ouster this week may embolden liberals to try to muzzle others, conservative analysts have warned.
After Imus' fall this week, the liberal website Media Matters ran the headline "It's not just Imus" over pictures of conservative media personalities, including Rush Limbaugh, Neal Bortz and Bill O'Reilly.
That same day, the liberal Huffington Post blog displayed under the headline "Flashback" perceived bigoted quotes by Limbaugh, O'Reilly and shock jock Howard Stern
Although Imus -- fired for denigrating the Rutgers University women's basketball team on the air -- was no conservative, the row over his remarks could affect conservatives, according to Cliff Kincaid, editor of Accuracy in the Media.
Much of the Rev. Al Sharpton's argument for CBS and MSNBC to sack Imus centered on the need for the Federal Communications Commission to regulate decency on the public airwaves. Empowering the FCC has already been a key argument for bringing back the Fairness Doctrine, Kincaid said.
"This campaign is all about censorship," Kincaid said Friday, addressing a discussion on the Fairness Doctrine sponsored by the conservative Free Congress Foundation. "The left has tasted blood after the Imus affair."
Democrats in Congress want to bring back the Fairness Doctrine, a federal regulation that required broadcasters to present both sides of a controversial issue. The FCC enforced the rule from 1949 to 1987, when it was dropped during the Reagan administration.
Many in the broadcast industry credit the dropping of the rule for the rise of conservative talk radio that has become a booming industry, featuring personalities like Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham.
If passed by Congress, the measure would be codified into law and be stronger than a regulation by the FCC. The chief proponents are Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.), Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) and Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.).
"It doesn't mean that Rush Limbaugh would have to give two sides of the story," Sanders said in a written statement in February. "But it does mean that you can't have what you have now, which is networks in which 95 to 98 percent of the broadcasting is one point of view, usually right wing."
The panelists at the Free Congress Foundation forum were unanimous in their opposition to the Fairness Doctrine, but they differed on the Imus firing.
Former political consultant Dick Morris said it wasn't a matter of free speech or the free market, but a "reformation of matters" that should prevent future influential hosts from slurring ethnic groups.
He mentioned numerous anti-Jewish, anti-black and anti-Hispanic statements made by Imus and said he wondered why "distinguished guests legitimized" his show.
"All the Wall Street yuppies that listen to Imus and talk at the water cooler should know ethnic slurs are not okay," Morris said.
Radio talk show host Alan Nathan was glad Imus was fired, considering what he said was a usual double standard.
"If Imus was a conservative and made those comments, he would have been out years ago," Nathan said.
However, Ken Blackwell, a black former Ohio secretary of state and 2006 GOP nominee for governor, disagreed with firing Imus, even though he said the long-time radio host's remarks were deplorable.
"Liberals went after one of their own so they can go after a true conservative talk show host" in the future, he warned.
Blackwell also faulted Viacom, the parent company of CBS, which fired Imus but still owns Black Entertainment Television, a cable TV channel Blackwell said shows music videos that "denigrate women in general and African-American women in particular."
'Blatantly Unconstitutional'
Although it's currently a proposal before Congress, a single new appointment to the FCC by a Democratic president could impose the Fairness Doctrine by administrative means, panelists said.
But that would be "blatantly unconstitutional" and would likely not survive a court challenge, Blackwell said.
"The FCC determined in 1987 [that the doctrine] violated the First Amendment and contravened the public interest," Blackwell noted. "Since 1987, there has been an explosion in types of media outlets."
That, Morris said, is exactly why the rule would have no relevance today. He pointed out that a decade ago, 50 percent of viewers got their news from ABC, CBS and NBC nightly newscasts. Today, with the explosion of cable news, only 20 percent get their news from those networks.
"The Fairness Doctrine only made sense at a time of scarcity and monopoly of media sources," Morris said.
The political consultant in him advised that language being used in the debate would be important, since "fairness" is a positive word.
"You can't leave it with an argument against the Fairness Doctrine," he said. "It's got to be an argument for the freedom doctrine."
By Fred Lucas
CNSNews.com Staff Writer
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewNation.asp?Page=/Nation/archive/200704/NAT20070413e.html
(CNSNews.com) - The pressure campaign that led to talk show host Don Imus' ouster this week may embolden liberals to try to muzzle others, conservative analysts have warned.
After Imus' fall this week, the liberal website Media Matters ran the headline "It's not just Imus" over pictures of conservative media personalities, including Rush Limbaugh, Neal Bortz and Bill O'Reilly.
That same day, the liberal Huffington Post blog displayed under the headline "Flashback" perceived bigoted quotes by Limbaugh, O'Reilly and shock jock Howard Stern
Although Imus -- fired for denigrating the Rutgers University women's basketball team on the air -- was no conservative, the row over his remarks could affect conservatives, according to Cliff Kincaid, editor of Accuracy in the Media.
Much of the Rev. Al Sharpton's argument for CBS and MSNBC to sack Imus centered on the need for the Federal Communications Commission to regulate decency on the public airwaves. Empowering the FCC has already been a key argument for bringing back the Fairness Doctrine, Kincaid said.
"This campaign is all about censorship," Kincaid said Friday, addressing a discussion on the Fairness Doctrine sponsored by the conservative Free Congress Foundation. "The left has tasted blood after the Imus affair."
Democrats in Congress want to bring back the Fairness Doctrine, a federal regulation that required broadcasters to present both sides of a controversial issue. The FCC enforced the rule from 1949 to 1987, when it was dropped during the Reagan administration.
Many in the broadcast industry credit the dropping of the rule for the rise of conservative talk radio that has become a booming industry, featuring personalities like Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham.
If passed by Congress, the measure would be codified into law and be stronger than a regulation by the FCC. The chief proponents are Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.), Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) and Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.).
"It doesn't mean that Rush Limbaugh would have to give two sides of the story," Sanders said in a written statement in February. "But it does mean that you can't have what you have now, which is networks in which 95 to 98 percent of the broadcasting is one point of view, usually right wing."
The panelists at the Free Congress Foundation forum were unanimous in their opposition to the Fairness Doctrine, but they differed on the Imus firing.
Former political consultant Dick Morris said it wasn't a matter of free speech or the free market, but a "reformation of matters" that should prevent future influential hosts from slurring ethnic groups.
He mentioned numerous anti-Jewish, anti-black and anti-Hispanic statements made by Imus and said he wondered why "distinguished guests legitimized" his show.
"All the Wall Street yuppies that listen to Imus and talk at the water cooler should know ethnic slurs are not okay," Morris said.
Radio talk show host Alan Nathan was glad Imus was fired, considering what he said was a usual double standard.
"If Imus was a conservative and made those comments, he would have been out years ago," Nathan said.
However, Ken Blackwell, a black former Ohio secretary of state and 2006 GOP nominee for governor, disagreed with firing Imus, even though he said the long-time radio host's remarks were deplorable.
"Liberals went after one of their own so they can go after a true conservative talk show host" in the future, he warned.
Blackwell also faulted Viacom, the parent company of CBS, which fired Imus but still owns Black Entertainment Television, a cable TV channel Blackwell said shows music videos that "denigrate women in general and African-American women in particular."
'Blatantly Unconstitutional'
Although it's currently a proposal before Congress, a single new appointment to the FCC by a Democratic president could impose the Fairness Doctrine by administrative means, panelists said.
But that would be "blatantly unconstitutional" and would likely not survive a court challenge, Blackwell said.
"The FCC determined in 1987 [that the doctrine] violated the First Amendment and contravened the public interest," Blackwell noted. "Since 1987, there has been an explosion in types of media outlets."
That, Morris said, is exactly why the rule would have no relevance today. He pointed out that a decade ago, 50 percent of viewers got their news from ABC, CBS and NBC nightly newscasts. Today, with the explosion of cable news, only 20 percent get their news from those networks.
"The Fairness Doctrine only made sense at a time of scarcity and monopoly of media sources," Morris said.
The political consultant in him advised that language being used in the debate would be important, since "fairness" is a positive word.
"You can't leave it with an argument against the Fairness Doctrine," he said. "It's got to be an argument for the freedom doctrine."
I'll continue this later