Biblical Broadcasters Fear Losing Money and Freedom by Giving Time to Opposing Views

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is making Christian broadcasters nervous. Ms. Pelosi recently said she supports resurrecting the Fairness Doctrine, a 1949 Federal Communications Commission policy that required broadcasters who sent out specific messages to set aside time for opposing views.

Such a move would “really make it impossible to preach the whole counsel of God,” said Rich Bott, the owner of Kansas-based Bott Radio Network, which broadcasts Christian programming across 10 states.

It also would, he said, probably put him out of business.

Put in place nearly 50 years ago, the doctrine was an FCC regulation that policed the airwaves at a time when there were few other sources of information. It never carried the full weight of the law.

By the 1980s, with the advent of cable television and multiple opportunities to air differing opinions, the policy fell out of favor and was ditched by the FCC in 1987.

While Ms. Pelosi, D-Calif., hasn’t offered legislation to reinstate the policy, she has signaled that she supports its revival, and said a bill introduced by Rep. Mike Spence, R-Ind., to permanently kill it will not be considered by the Democratic-controlled House.

Among Dallas Christian radio leaders who oppose the policy is Mike Tirone, general manager of KCBI-FM (90.9).

“God’s truth is black and white, period,” he said. “When I consider the battle of the Fairness Doctrine, I’m reminded of the words in one of my favorite chapters in the Bible, First John. The reason I love this passage of Scripture is because it aptly defines right and wrong in black and white. The method of the enemy has always been and continues to be to make things appear gray, with no clear moral boundaries. At KCBI, we will fight the Fairness Doctrine on our knees in prayer.”

If the Fairness Doctrine were to be reinstated by Congress, broadcasters would be legally forced to follow the old protocol: one-third of the airtime given to one opinion must be offered free-of-charge to opponents.

“We’ve been in broadcasting for over 45 years, so we remember what it was like under the previous regime of the so-called Fairness Doctrine,” Mr. Bott said. “What we had to do then would be impossible today.”

A half-century ago, Christians were a distinct cultural and political majority and there were fewer dissenting views to accommodate.

Numerically, they still hold sway, but compete against large numbers of other faiths and points of view.

“If someone were to assert that God has ordained marriage as only between a man and woman that would be a controversial statement today,” he said. “Someone will ask for time.”

Such requests would place a unique strain on broadcasters, said William Van Alstyne, a constitutional law expert at the William and Mary School of Law in Williamsburg, Va.

“A newspaper can print a reply or an op-ed piece, but with broadcasting it’s fixed. It’s 24 hours that are divisible into so many minutes, and if you’re devoting them to X you can’t devote them to Y,” he said. “If a broadcaster has to subsidize its opponents, and the station is listener-funded, they’re going to lose a lot of money.”

Says Mr. Tirone, “At KCBI, we constantly pray for our country’s leaders and the decisions they face. As a Christian radio station, we address the difficult and controversial issues from a biblical standpoint, rooted in the truth of God’s Word. It’s our responsibility and our joy to use these airwaves to point people to Jesus.”

Silencing Christian radio is not the goal of lawmakers who are pushing “fairness. Their target? Rush Limbaugh and friends.

When last year’s immigration bill failed in the Senate, Ms. Pelosi and other Democratic leaders blamed its demise on talk-show hosts such as Mr. Limbaugh, who they said galvanized the public against it.

Liberal groups, however, don’t necessarily support reinstating the Fairness Doctrine either, and say the political right’s hold on the airwaves can be countered with healthy competition.

“It’s not free speech. We don’t support it, and most people on the left don’t support it,” said John Neurohr, press secretary at the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank in Washington.

Most critics say the doctrine probably won’t be reinstated. Still, Christian broadcasters are bracing for its re-emergence, said Frank Wright, president of the National Religious Broadcasters.

“This is not the time to despair,” he said. “If all these bad things happen, we’re going to sue immediately.”

Source: Dallas Morning News