Friday, February 22, 2008

A Defense of Conservative Talk Radio

As I jet off to sunny California where emerald green links, and plenty of mulligans await me, I leave you with my oped in today's Baltimore Sun.

The dénouement:

Not surprisingly, the same crowd that bemoans the loss of public radio favors restoring the "fairness doctrine." They complain that the market has failed to bring diverse (read: progressive) voices to the airwaves. They forget that markets are inherently about consumer choices, and as George Will quipped, liberals define market failure as "consumers' not buying what liberals are selling."

To which I can only add: Ditto.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

While one hesitates to criticize upon your success in getting a letter published (re which: congrats), I would ask: is there a meaningful movement or demand for the institution of the fairness doctrine at this time? In other words, is your major premise dead false? I know lots of people who like public radio and would mourn its passing, but who could not enunciate let alone endorse the fairness doctrine.

Maryland Conservatarian said...

Bruce: Sen. Durbin last June

“It’s time to reinstitute the Fairness Doctrine,” he said. “I have this old-fashioned attitude that when Americans hear both sides of the story, they’re in a better position to make a decision.”

that helped inspire this:

"By a vote of 309-115, lawmakers amended the Financial Services and General Government appropriations bill to bar the FCC from requiring broadcasters to balance conservative content with liberal programming such as Air America."

...if the likes of Kerry, Durbin and Feinstein could, they would.