FAIRNESS DOCTRINE UPDATE….The conservative Media Research Center, not content with the current state of the art in wacko conspiracy theorizing about the imminent return of the Fairness Doctrine, has decided to create a whole movement to oppose it. The newly created Free Speech Alliance is, they say, “a gathering of a multitude of organizations and hundreds of thousands of individual citizens” designed to prevent the revival of something that no one is working to revive. Alex Knapp explains what’s up:
Given the current political climate, conservative wins in the next two years are going to be few and far between. So conservative lobbying organizations are going to need a lot of funds to get anything accomplished. But it’s hard to raise money when it looks like you’re losing all the time. The solution? Raise money by fighting a policy that nobody supports! The continued lack of a Fairness Doctrine is the MRC’s ticket to “proving” that their being effective with their donations. All they have to do is harp in their fundraising letters that they’re being “successful” in fighting the Fairness Doctrine, and voila! Instant comparative advantage!
That’s pretty much the NRA strategy these days too, and it seems to work pretty well. Maybe it’ll work out for the MRC too.
