The Fairness Doctrine

Can someone explain to me the point of the “fairness” doctrine? Over at The Weekly Standard, Jaime Sneider notes

Democrats like Sen. Durbin and Sen. Kerry are eager to resurrect the so-called Fairness Doctrine, whereby radio stations will be required to give equal time to liberal talking heads. They know this would kill talk-radio, a traditionally conservative medium, which would instantly become unprofitable if stations were forced to give liberal hosts equal time despite the fact no one would listen to them. I’m sure Sen. Durbin and Sen. Kerry are tickled pink, however, that they get to talk about free speech and compelling government interests even as they gag their political enemies.

If the Fairness Doctrine is justified with the airwaves, why not with newsprint as well? Today Howard Kurtz reports, “With this week’s Newsweek cover story on Obama’s religious beliefs, he has been featured on Time and Newsweek covers 12 times in the past three years, compared with five for McCain.” If Sen. Durbin and Kerry are so preoccupied by the absence of fairness and diversity on radio stations, surely they would agree the same compelling interests apply to print media. No, actually, they wouldn’t, because fair speech is liberal speech in their minds.

How does this doctrine not fall afoul of liberals complaining about restraints on free speech? The government telling you what you have to air is no better than the government banning you from airing certain points of view. This isn’t the era of ABC, NBC, and CBS; there are literally thousands of television and radio stations to choose from. We’re broadcasting on parts of the spectrum we didn’t even know could be utilized back then. The liberals have tried to create a radio station of their own and they failed. Miserably. Consumers aren’t interested.