Protecting Free Speech on the Airwaves

By 

Jay Sekulow

|
June 21, 2011

2 min read

Free Speech

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With the new Congress just being seated, there's already important legislation that's been introduced that will help protect the free speech rights of Christians.

 

As you may recall, we heard from nearly 135,000 supporters last year calling for Congress to pass the Broadcaster Freedom Act, legislation that would ban the return of the troubling Fairness Doctrine.

 

Now, the Broadcaster Freedom Act of 2009 has been introduced in both the House and Senate and once again, the need to move forward with this legislation is very apparent.

 

A return of the Fairness Doctrine would be devastating to Christian broadcasters by putting the federal government in charge of telling broadcasters what to air.  Such a move would put the federal government in control of dictating the content of whats aired, effectively muzzling Christian broadcasters.  Thats precisely why the Broadcaster Freedom Act is so important. 

 

The Broadcaster Freedom Act of 2009 was introduced yesterday into the House (H.R. 226) and Senate (S. 34) by Congressman Mike Pence (R-IN), Chairman of the House Republican Conference, Congressman Greg Walden (R-OR), Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC), Chairman of the Senate Steering Committee, and Senator John Thune (R-SD), Vice Chairman of the Senate Republican Conference.  The DeMint-Thune Senate bill has 24 co-sponsors, and the Pence-Walden bill in the House already has more than 100 co-sponsors.

 

I want to thank the many House and Senate members who have introduced and co-sponsored the critical measure.  We believe passage of this measure is paramount to protecting free speech.  The Broadcaster Freedom Act would permanently prohibit the Federal Communications Commission and President-elect Obama from reinstating the Fairness Doctrine. 

 

While we heard from nearly 135,000 Americans on this issue last year, we will once again mount an aggressive campaign to generate support for the Broadcaster Freedom Act.  I will let you know how you can help in the weeks and months ahead.