[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 106 (Thursday, June 28, 2007)]
[House]
[Page H7346]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
NON-FAIRNESS DOCTRINE
(Mr. PRICE of Georgia asked and was given permission to address the
House for 1 minute.)
Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Madam Speaker, freedom is the foundational
principle of our society. Our founders were champions of this God-given
right and charged future generations with eternal vigilance to protect
it.
Now, a handful of people in Washington want Uncle Sam to start
telling radio and TV personalities what to talk about, to limit their
freedom and ours.
Rather than fight in the marketplace of ideas, they want to bring
back a 1929 radio regulation rule known as the ``Fairness Doctrine.''
Now, don't be fooled. There's nothing fair about it.
In the early age of broadcasting, when the majority of news and
information was distributed by one or two outlets, it seemed important
to promote a competition of viewpoints. That was then.
A fairness doctrine today tramples upon freedom of speech and freedom
of the press. It dictates to Americans that in an open, free and
flooded marketplace of ideas, they need Washington politicians to sort
it all out.
Madam Speaker, real freedom means a government that listens to the
people, not one that dictates to the people who they must listen to.
Let's keep the Fairness Doctrine off our airwaves and in the history
books where it belongs.
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