The road to censorship – DeMint bill passes 87-11. The bad news? so does Durbin’s

From Sen. Jim DeMint’s office:

Today, at 2pm, the Senate will vote on two amendments with respect to the Fairness Doctrine.

- The DeMint amendment (Broadcaster Freedom Act) would ban the Fairness Doctrine.

- The amendment by Senator Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) would achieve the same goals of the Fairness Doctrine through backdoor FCC regulations. His legislation forces the FCC to “take actions to encourage and promote diversity in communication media ownership,” an attempt to dismantle successful syndicated radio programs. The Durbin amendment would hurt small, local radio stations who depend on popular syndicated programming for listeners and revenue.

Here’s an article that seems to get at what Durbin’s amendment is about.

Senator DeMint will encourage all senators to OPPOSE the Durbin Amendment.

The Duct Tape Brigade is out there in full force.

Eternal vigilance is required.

***

Update 1:30pm Eastern. The DeMint amendment passes 87-11, but as Sen. DeMint Tweets: “Our ban on Fairness Doctrine passes 87-11. But fight not over, Dems have attacked from back door on media ownership, localism.”

More from The Hill.

Durbin’s measure passed 57-41.

Here are the rolls for DeMint’s and Durbin’s bills; the latter, unsurprisingly, was party-line. Durbin himself voted for DeMint’s amendment, as did Debbie Stabenow — who, you’ll recall, was calling for hearings on bringing back Fairness as recently as three weeks ago.

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February 26, 2009 · Filed Under censorship


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