"Our subcommittee has no plans to reinstate the
fairness doctrine," House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher
(D-Va.) told a group of broadcasters March 2.
Speaking at the National Association of Broadcasters annual Washington
meet-and-greet with legislators and regulators, Boucher said he didn't like
some of the talk on the radio, but that was no reason for the government to get
involved.
"I get irritated sometimes with what I hear,
particularly on the radio. But a government requirement that political
commentary be balanced by an equal amount of time devoted to a view on the
other side is not the right way to address the irritation."
He said he was not sure exactly how to address his
irritation, but that he continued to celebrate it as free speech and "part
of the great American system," even if he sometimes didn't like it.
