Worthy Christian News » US Fairness Doctrine "Threatens" Christian Radio

christian news

Do you see an inappropriate ad? PLEASE REPORT IT!

Worthy Christian News - Daily Christian News Service

US Fairness Doctrine "Threatens" Christian Radio

Sunday, February 22, 2009 (1:02 am)

By Joseph DeCaro, Worthy News International Correspondent

Will Christian radio be challenged in the United States?

Will Christian radio be challenged in the United States?

WASHINGTON, D.C., USA (Worthy News) — A high ranking American senator will force a vote next week to prevent the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from reinstating the 'Fairness Doctrine', amid fears it could jeopardize Christian radio and conservative talk shows.

Republican Jim DeMint, who chairs the Senate Steering Committee, said his anti-Doctrine bill would halt attempts by the FCC to "censor" opinionated programs, and suggested the White House supported his proposal, Worthy News learned Sunday, February 22.

"I’m glad President Barack Obama finally confirmed his opposition to the Fairness Doctrine, which attacks the right of free speech on talk radio,” explained DeMint. "But many Democrats in Congress are still pushing [the Doctrine]. With the support of the new administration, now is the time for Congress to take a stand against this kind of censorship."

He added he wanted to push for an amendment within the next few days "so every senator is on record: Do you support free speech or do you want to silence voices you disagree with?"

"CONTRASTING VIEWS"

The 'Fairness Doctrine' mandated from 1949 to 1987 that broadcasters presented contrasting views on controversial issues.

Yet, instead of bringing political diversity to the airways, the Fairness Doctrine had a "chilling effect" on broadcasting debate as many networks  ceased airing controversial opinions to avoid giving opponents free airtime, critics said.

Amid mounting pressure, the FCC determined in 1985 that the Fairness Doctrine may have violated the First Amendment of the Constitution.  Two years later courts ruled that the FCC was no longer obligated to enforce it as it wasn’t mandated by Congress.  Soon after, Congress attempted to pass legislation restoring the Doctrine, but Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush vetoed the bills.

Leading conservative talk-show hosts and their allies in Congress have expressed concerns that the Doctrine may be revived in " camouflaged form" to silence conservative talk radio, including Christian programs.

Although the Obama administration has denied it would pursue the Fairness Doctrine, they recalled that fellow Democrat President Bill Clinton once said: "You either ought to have the Fairness Doctrine, or we ought to have more balance on the other side."

Related News Stories:

  1. No Lack of Issues at Demo Convention: Morality, Pro-Choice, Gay Rights, Christian Radio
  2. "Window on the World" Radio Show Can Now Be Heard On The WorldWide Web
  3. Russia Bans Christian Radio Network
  4. Vietnam Jams Hmong Christian Radio Broadcasts
  5. Belarus President Allows Christian Radio Show
  6. Urgent Appeal For Broadcasting Equipment For New Christian Radio and TV Station on Vanautu
  7. Vietnam Jams Hmong Christian Radio Broadcasts

Copyright 1999-2011 Worthy News. All rights reserved.

  • yong

    What happen to human rights? Are they dead? Isn't your right guarantee whether you are happened to be whatever you are? So keep ask, what is your right…..

  • Phil Sorant

    Remember "The Bill Of Rights" Our fore founders designed the writing of the Constitution with the explicit intention to prevent this from happening.

    Listen to MSNBC, CNN, CBS, or NBC – will they not be censored as well under this change – Are they fair and balanced? No way. They decieve the Ameican citizens every day with distortion or ommission to the actual events transpirering in Politics.
    Phil/Passages for Spiritual Reflection/www.philsorant.com

  • Dianne Kafes

    THE ONES THAT VOTED IN THE DEMOCRATS AND ALOT WERE SO CALLED CHRISTIANS AND I SAY THAT BECAUSE I DO NOT WHAT BIBLE THEY READ BUT IT IS NOT GODS WORD , THEY VOTED IN A MAN WHO MURDERS BABIES , WHO BELIEVES IN SAME SEX MARRIAGES AND EQAL RIGHTS FOR THEM AND NOW HAS A FELLOW DEMOCRAT FROM HIS PARTY WANTING TO STOP THE FAIRNESS DOCTORINE GOD HELP US WE ARE IN TROUBLE PEOPLE AND MOST OF YOU VOTED THEM IN .

  • FresnoJoe

    Presenting Contrasting Views On Controversial Issues

    On The One Hand

    "Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation." 2 Peter 3:3-4\

    And

    "For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:" 2 Peter 3:5-6

    But On The Other Hand

    "But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." 2 Peter 3:7-8

    And

    "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." 2 Peter 3:9

    And

    "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness," 2 Peter 3:10-11

    It's Only Fair You Know!

    >>>>>()<<<<>>>>()<<<<<

    Conclusion

    All Nations Will Face God

    "And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left." Matthew 25:32-33

    The End Of It All

    "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil." Ecclesiastes 12:13-14

    It's Only Fair

    You Know

  • Kevin Williams

    Pretribulation rapture. If I hear that from the pulpit one more time I going to lose my mind! Read the bible, read Fox's book of Martyrs, this web site for example. Do you think there is pretribulation rapture still? This teaching is what is putting the Christians asleep today. How about starting to contend for the faith folks. No where in the bible have I read that the Christian life is going to be a picnic. Being a Baptist minister I have found the best way to lose your church is to not fall in line with pretribulation teaching. Just keep on wishing pretribs, you're in for a rude awakening.

    • Quinn

      RIGHT on bro…the first seals are not GODs wrath any more then Jobs trial was…HE even said "not until the number of those killed was full.."

    • Quinn

      THIS is evil…

      They want to set it up so that they have their influential manipulators are on one side…and some hokey false prophet is on the other…so that people with a little common sense will be driven to there side.

      He who frames the argument seeks unequal advantage to persuade…but what good will all this do cause there is no wisdom, weapon, or counsel that'll work against GOD…they will just deceive more people.

  • Kevin Williams

    You are so right Dianne, It is shocking to me how well Obama did in the election. There are so many different reasons why the Democrats (socialist) won the election when you check into it. Conservative Christians had better wake up.

  • Sparrow

    Pretribulation rapture is not what is putting Christians to sleep today or at any other time in history. According to the sower and the seed parable, one of the seeds was choked with cares of this world, desire for other things and it proved unfruitful. However, the first church, and those through the centuries who looked forward to Jesus coming back at any moment, were and are zealous to make Jesus known so that others could come to know Him as well. It's a motivating factor to believe in pretrib rapture, not a deterrent to zeal! I happen to believe in pre-trib, but I don't frown on Christians who don't agree with me. We'll find out on the way up, won't we? The point is: the mindset of a person who believes Jesus could come back any moment also knows that we must walk the same way He walked, which includes suffering in various ways, through which we learn obedience. We do not believe life is a picnic. A pastor should take a chance and might be surprised at the response he gets from God's church, not the pastor's church, if he spend more time pointing to His return!

  • Angela

    All these disagreements come from (most) men and women believing God's rules are no longer binding. But chaos doesn't work either. deciding disagreements by majority vote works when the issue is finding the most moral/wise interpretation of some rule or law. But this business of whole nations denying God and that He alone knows what is best for us, our families, our nations, only results in these kinds of problems. Fairness Doctrine was put into place to have fairness and balance, to keep us from become a nation censored to like in North Korea and the like. But the fact is, rule of Law can never truely meet the needs of any of us, individually, small group, or nationally. Law is more than blind, it has no soul. The Greeks instituted Democracy and it works best in many a situation. But it can only be as good as the majority voting. While the USA holds to believing mankind is the result of having evolved from some thing lesser, it's people have only devolved. Slaver exists in the US now as much as it ever did. Persecutions of whatever groups abusers can get away with abusing exists. Only the targets have changed. The shackles are less obvious. It is good to try and make sure the Laws on our books are not actually instruments to persecute, but there are not enough people or hours in the day to remove all that already are being used as weapons. This is just one more. God made it simple. It's called Torah. Imagine if we'd put 1/100 of time and effort into making those rules applicable. But then, even Israel doesn't thinks it can make up rules better than God

Worthy News Virtual Tour

Worthy Christian News Virtual Tour


Worthy News is an independent Christian news agency which reports news not covered by other outlets, on key developments in a rapidly changing world. Worthy News reaches both Christians and non-Christians around the globe and strives to be balanced and make a difference in these strategic times.

If you're interested in submitting articles or commentaries for Worthy News, visit Worthy Writers.

Worthy News. Reliable-Trustworthy-Cutting Edge

Worthy Christian News Syndication

We've launched our FREE syndication service. Click here to get our FREE Christian News!

Total Number of websites using Worthy News Syndication service: 2270!

Help others find Worthy Christian News! Use this code to link to Worthy Christian News on your web page:

<a href="http://www.worthynews.com" title="Christian News Service">Christian News Service - Worthy News</a>



Copyright 1999-2011 Worthy Christian News » US Fairness Doctrine "Threatens" Christian Radio