Free Speech Litmus Test Proposed

By Bob Unruh, World Net Daily

Free speech advocates have raised alarms over the possibility of a new so-called “Fairness Doctrine” that would regulate speech over the radio airwaves, and now one media leader has suggested a litmus test is needed to protect First Amendment rights from President Obama and his appointees.

Obama’s nominees for Federal Communications Commission and other key posts should pledge to preserve the First Amendment freedoms of conservative and Christian talk radio, contends L. Brent Bozell III, president of the Media Research Center.

Without that pledge, they simply shouldn’t be confirmed for their posts, he said.

“The time has come for all of President Obama’s nominees, and Obama himself, to publicly vow to protect conservative and Christian talk radio from ALL forms of government censorship. So far their silence has been deafening. Should Mr. Genachowski and Company not vow to protect the First Amendment freedoms of talk radio, the Senate should refuse to confirm them,” Bozell said.