Dear Friends,

Please urge your Congressman to support Rep. Mike Pence's (R-Indiana) petition to discharge H.R. 2905, the Broadcaster Freedom Act.

Some liberals in Congress want to revive the so-called "Fairness Doctrine," a decades-old policy that requires broadcasters to offer airtime to opposing viewpoints. These liberals are livid that conservatives dominate talk-radio and, even though liberals control every other media outlet, they want to completely squelch our voice.

Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-New York) said the rest of the media presented a balanced view of controversial issues, and the "Fairness Doctrine" would simply re-impose that requirement on talk radio. (The Los Angeles Times, July 23)

Senator John Kerry (D-Massachusetts) said, "I think the 'Fairness Doctrine' ought to be there and I also think equal time doctrine ought to come back. I mean these are the people who wiped out one of the most profound changes in the balance of the media is when the conservatives got rid of the equal time requirements. And the result is that, you know, they've been able to squeeze down and squeeze out opinion of opposing views and I think it's been an important transition in the imbalance of our public…" (The Brian Lehrer Show, WYNC, June 26)

In response to this proposed muzzle on our First Amendment rights, Rep.Pence introduced H.R. 2905, which bars the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from spending money to revive the "Fairness Doctrine" or any similar policies. Unable to move his legislation because of Democratic procedural roadblocks, Rep. Pence initiated a discharge petition. We need a majority of Members (218) to sign this petition so that we can ensure that broadcasters can freely express their views.

Please call your Congressman now (House Switchboard: 202-225-3121) and urge him to sign the discharge petition for Rep. Pence's resolution against the "Fairness Doctrine."

Sincerely,

Wendy Wright
President

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