Fairness Doctrine Introduced & New Litigation in Tennessee

This morning I am still in New York City, as we have just completed our hearing at the United Nations regarding our European Center for Law and Justices application for non-governmental organization status with the U.N.  I will be leaving New York this afternoon and returning to our Virginia office.  In the interim, I received a report last night from Drew Ryun, Director of our Office of Government Affairs in Washington, DC.  As anticipated, members of the House will make a movewhat one member calls an aggressive moveto introduce and pass the Fairness Doctrine.  The Fairness Doctrine was a mandate from the FCC that required both sides of issues to be discussed on radio and television.  This has a dramatic and negative impact on Christian television and Christian radio.  The Fairness Doctrine is anything but fair.  It is a mandatory carriage of views that many would find disagreeable with their faith commitments.  We are already researching the implications of the Fairness Doctrine, as well as setting up a legislative approach to defeat it. 

This morning, our Government Affairs team will be at the Judiciary Committee hearings as the lobbying reform legislation is debated.  We have done a thorough legal analysis and have heard from hundreds of thousands of people around the country who oppose the grassroots restrictions that may be introduced as part of this legislation.  Drew Ryun and Nathan Bennett will be calling into the radio broadcast live at noon today to give a full report. 

I also want to let you know that our legal staff in our Nashville, TN office has begun preparation of a lawsuit on behalf of Teen Challenge.  We will be filing this lawsuit in federal court in Tennessee in order to protect the right of Teen Challenge to continue to maintain and expand its important life-changing ministry.  Negotiations to resolve the matter, which involves zoning issues, have not successfully concluded.  Therefore, I have authorized the filing of a lawsuit in federal court.  We will have more about this lawsuit in the days ahead as the litigation is filed.