No Fair?

The ominous warnings have been emanating from right-wing world: The Democrats are planning to muzzle them.

This nefarious plot is said to involve reviving the Fairness Doctrine, a federal rule that was abolished 21 years ago.

My reporting skills must have atrophied, I thought, because I've detected no sign that anyone is making a serious push to bring back the largely discredited regulation.

And yet, as the L.A. Times recently noted, "Newt Gingrich asserted not long ago that the Democrats certainly would mount 'an effort to eliminate freedom of speech for Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity.' Limbaugh responded, 'It's going to be more than just me and Hannity whose freedom of speech will be done away with via the Fairness Doctrine.' "

But Obama says he doesn't support such an effort. A handful of Democrats have made noises about bringing back the rule that Ronald Reagan abolished, but I've heard nothing about even scheduling a committee hearing. So could this be so much hot air?

Even if the new president didn't have a financial calamity and two wars to deal with, it's hard to imagine this would make any list of his top 100 priorities. First of all, it's totally unworkable. The government is going to get into the business of monitoring radio stations and demanding that opposing voices be aired for every Rush, Sean or Laura show? It would be a nightmare. And in an era of a zillion media outlets, why exactly is this a good idea?

Second, the firestorm that would erupt would make the doctrine a likely loser, and hardly worth the political capital. Does the Obama administration want to be spending day after day explaining that it's not trying to send Rush back to Cape Girardeau?

Third, although conservatives dominate talk radio, there are some liberal shows, and I can't imagine those hosts would be wild about the idea either.

Bill O'Reilly devoted his leadoff memo to the issue last night. "Some liberal politicians hate conservative talk radio," he declared. And his producer did coax a few words in support of the equal-time rule from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Jeff Bingaman. But even O'Reilly had to conclude, "The good news is the Fairness Doctrine will never happen." So why trumpet it at the top?

This New Republic piece by Marin Cogan blames the right for stirring things up:

"Rush Limbaugh, Fox News, and other friends have spent the past year screaming about the horrors of Barack Obama. And, while it's true that they talked ad nauseam about socialism and the Weathermen and Jeremiah Wright, careful listeners would have noticed a recurring theme of anxiety: that Obama was going to use the newly acquired levers of government to destroy them.

"Specifically, conservative paranoia over the possible reinstatement of the 'fairness doctrine,' a defunct policy requiring that broadcasters allow opposing points of view to be heard over the airwaves, has reached a fevered pitch. In September, George Will was warning his readers that, '[u]nless McCain is president, the government will reinstate the . . . "fairness doctrine.'' ' In October, The Wall Street Journal's editorial page chimed in, predicting that under the spooky-sounding 'liberal supermajority,' the fairness doctrine was 'likely to be reimposed,' with the goal being 'to shut down talk radio and other voices of political opposition.' And, two weeks before the election, the New York Post blasted: 'Dems Get Set to Muzzle the Right.'