Fairness Doctrine Return Doubtful

Rep. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina, the third ranking Democrat in the House, and Democratic Rep. Louise Slaughter of New York have both suggested in the aftermath of the Tucson tragedy that it might be a good idea to revisit the contentious rule.

Despite their standing in the halls of Congress, however, experts say the chances of the rule’s revival are slim to none, according to a story by Amanda Carey at thedailycaller.com.

Practically speaking, bringing back the fairness doctrine could be done one of two ways: either by Congress passing legislation or by the commissioners of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voting on and passing a set of regulations.

“I’m very, very doubtful the FCC would reinstate it,” Jim Harper, Director of Information Policy Studies at the Cato Institute, told The Daily Caller. “If the FCC tries to, it will be hit with lawsuit, and it will lose much of power it already has.”

The day after the Tucson shooting that killed six people and injured 14, Clyburn called for new media standards to guarantee balanced coverage, along with the fairness doctrine. “Free speech is as free speech does,” Clyburn said. “You cannot yell ‘fire’ in a crowded theater and call it free speech and some of what I hear, and is being called free speech, is worse than that.”

Rep. Slaughter promised to look into ways to better control language on the airwaves, saying that the FCC just is “not working anymore.”

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