President Warns Broadcasters of Fairness Doctrine

In a speech to the National Religious Broadcasters convention in Nashville today, President Bush warned that religious expression could be in jeopardy. A proposal is floating among Democrats in Congress to re-instate the ‘Fairness Doctrine.’

President Bush says the rule would require equal time on public U-S airwaves for all sides of a controversial issue. It would mean calling homosexual behavior a sin on the air might require a rebuttal.

“We know who these advocates of so-called ‘balance’ really have in their sights – shows hosted by people like Rush Limbaugh or James Dobson or many of you here today.”

Dobson, of Focus on the Family, happened to be sitting on the front row. He says debate over reviving the ‘Fairness Doctrine’ has been relatively quiet, but televangelists and Christian radio broadcasters won’t stand for it.

“All those who have the freedom of speech are threatened, and if the Democrats should try to deliver on their promise to roll back and return the fairness doctrine, I think you’re going to hear a lot about it.”

While the push for fairness is meant to increase balance, Bush said religious broadcasters are the balance to mainstream media and vowed to veto anything that prevents free expression of Christian views.