The Obama administration is working hard to silence political opposition, but not via the so-called Fairness Doctrine. A more hidden effort is under way to destroy conservative and Christian talk radio with “diversity in communication media ownership.” Liberal talk radio hosts have not done very well as far as attracting and keeping an audience compared to their conservative counterparts.

In a free marketplace of ideas liberals tend to lose the debate. So what’s their answer? Destroy the free market. As reported: “The Senate passed an amendment by Sen. Dick Durban (D-Ill.) that seeks to achieve the same goals of the Fairness Doctrine through backdoor FCC regulations…Durbin’s amendment requires the FCC to ‘take actions to encourage and promote diversity in communication media ownership.’”

Forcing broadcasters to give more control of radio stations to minority groups would have the net effect of shutting down conservative and Christian radio programs. The vast majority of ‘minority’ organizations are Democrat supporters, and thus would air liberal programming, even if the ratings dropped substantially.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman has denounced the lack of racial and gender diversity in the broadcast industry as “a shameful state of affairs.” The FCC has put together an Advisory Committee On Diversity For Communications, and unsurprisingly it is made up of entirely liberal special interest/grievance groups such as:

• Emma Bowen Foundation for Minority Interests in Media
• Black Entertainment Television Holdings, Inc.
• Afro-American Newspapers
• National Urban League
• National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters
• Spanish Broadcasting System
• Asian American Justice Center
• American Women in Radio and Television

The above list is just a partial sampling, but there is not a single group involved that can be considered conservative. Ironic for a committee allegedly concerned with ‘diversity’, but of course that is not their true intent.

The Center for American Progress, a far left group headed by former Clinton Administration and Obama Transition Team adviser John Podesta, released a report entitled “Local Media Diversity Matters - Measure Media Diversity According to Democratic Values, Not Market Values [emphasis added].” Undoubtedly this report will be used by the FCC committee. So if natural market forces - meaning what people want to listen to - don’t work out in their favor, then the Left will use government coercion.

Although president Obama, in the usual Orwellian twist, says he won’t support efforts to reinstitute the old Fairness Doctrine, but he won’t have to. It is being done for him through another means, and thus takes the spotlight off Obama. That way he can claim he was being ‘moderate’ by opposing the Fairness Doctrine, but the reality is he supports the same ends, but by different means.

If liberals were truly interested in ‘fairness’ or ‘diversity’, they’d demand that virtually every major newspaper and television station carry an equal amount of conservative reporters and programming. The fact that they don’t is all the evidence you need to know it has nothing to do with fairness or diversity, and everything to do with power. The Left’s version of fairness creates a government-imposed monopoly while silencing opposition - Joseph Goebbels would be proud.

David Limbaugh made an important point that, “conservatives have never tried to use government to shut down the liberal media monopoly in network television and major newspapers, under the deceitful pretense of achieving balance or otherwise.” Yes, but then again conservatives actually value liberty and honest debate, liberals do not.

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