An interesting poll out today by pollster Scott Rasmussen: Asked whether the government should require all radio and television stations to offer equal amounts of liberal and conservative political commentary, 47 percent — nearly half — said “yes.” (39 percent were opposed). Perhaps even more surprising, support has increased since last year, when Americans split evenly (41-41) on this issue.
Perhaps this shouldn’t be a surprise. Americans, after all, have long been lukewarm about the First Amendment, with opinion polls famously (though perhaps apocryphally) have long shown would itself be opposed by most Americans. Moreover, a casual answer to a pollster is a long way from active support of a particular law.
Still, the results of this poll should be troubling for defenders of free speech in general, and opponents of the fairness doctrine in particular. Although an explicit re-institution of the long-dead doctrine is still not likely, this poll underscores the general danger of other content controls that may achieve the same ends under a different name.
Oh, and those of you who get their news from blogs shouldn’t feel too cocky about the dangers faced by the old-fashioned broadcasters. The same Rasmussen poll showed that 31 percent of the public supports Fairness Doctrine controls on blogs, too.
The Technology Liberation Front is the tech policy blog dedicated to keeping politicians' hands off the 'net and everything else related to technology.