Media Experts Blast Fairness Doctrine May 3 Coral Ridge Hour— Say It Crushes Conservative Voices

April 29, 2009 - PRLog -- CORAL RIDGE MINISTRIES NEWS



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Andrew Scott, (954) 334-5332, a.scott@crministries.org



Media Experts Blast Fairness Doctrine on May 3 Coral Ridge Hour— Say It Crushes Conservative Voices and Is “Patently Absurd”



FORT LAUDERDALE, FL. (April 29, 2009) –Media experts on the May 3 nationally televised Coral Ridge Hour program signal their strong opposition to a proposed regulation that will force Christian broadcasters to air anti-Christian content in the name of “fairness.”



Called the “Fairness Doctrine,” the FCC rule requires that broadcasters provide airtime for opposing viewpoints on controversial issues, such as abortion, evolution, or same-sex marriage. The FCC dropped the rule in 1987.
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But now, “both houses of Congress have signaled it’s time to reimpose the ‘Fairness Doctrine’ because they don’t like what they see on conservative and Christian radio and television broadcasts,” Dr. Frank Wright, president of the National Religious Broadcasters, says on the program. “Everyone needs to understand when they hear the words ‘Fairness Doctrine’ that there’s nothing ‘fair’ about it. It’s neither fair nor constitutional, especially from a standpoint of First Amendment freedoms . . .”



In a media landscape overrun with liberal messages, “the flawed premise of the Fairness Doctrine is that balance is needed, that somehow Christian and conservative talk radio need to be balanced, because they’re dominating the media,” says Robert Knight, Coral Ridge Ministries’ senior writer and Washington, D.C., correspondent. The truth is, “[conservatives] are only a tiny slice of media. So the idea that talk radio has to be balanced by law, that the government has to come in and make sure there’s enough representation of liberal viewpoints . . . is patently absurd.”



Knight, a former Los Angeles Times editor, has written the explosive new book, Not Fair, Not Free: The Fairness Doctrine Campaign to Crush Free Speech, offered on the May 3 broadcast. Along with Knight, the program features Bernard Goldberg, a former CBS news correspondent who has exposed mainstream media’s overwhelming liberal tilt.
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“Inside the [liberal media] bubble, it’s very comfortable, because you don’t find anybody who basically disagrees with you on the issues,” Goldberg notes on the program. “This has become the norm in the elite newsrooms of America, the liberal outlook on things, whether it’s the New York Times or the Boston Globe or the Los Angeles Times or the papers in Chicago or ABC News, NBC News or CBS News.”



A petition opposing the Fairness Doctrine is available on Coral Ridge Ministries’ website.



“The Twilight’s Last Gleaming,” a sermon preached by Dr. D. James Kennedy, precedes the Sunday television feature. Visit The Coral Ridge Hour station log for TV station listings and times. http://www.coralridge.org/stationfinder/default.aspx?cur=crh





INTERVIEW REQUESTS: To request an interview with Robert Knight, senior writer and Washington, D.C., correspondent for Coral Ridge Ministries, please contact Andrew Scott at a.scott@crministries.org, (954) 334-5332.

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Coral Ridge Ministries (CRM) is a media ministry founded over 30 years ago by Dr. D. James Kennedy. Millions of people tune in daily to our broadcasts on radio, television and Internet to hear the Gospel and gain Biblical insight on contemporary issues.