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Former State Rep. Wants Block of Fairness Doctrine Restoration
A former Illinois lawmaker is now waging a campaign to prevent the FCC or Congress from restoring the Fairness Doctrine.

The Fairness Doctrine was an FCC policy dropped in 1987 that required broadcasters to allow fair coverage of all sides of an issue. Former State Sen. Steve Rauschenberger of Elgin, now president of the United Republican Fund of Illinois, says the demise of the doctrine allowed issue-oriented radio talk to flourish, and even though it’s typically conservative, it’s not necessarily Republican.

Rauschenberger says it is Republicans in Congress who brought up the Fairness Doctrine when they were excoriated on talk radio for supporting last year's immigration bill.

Rauschenberger accuses U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) of wishing to restore the Fairness Doctrine to squelch right-wing talk radio, but Durbin's office says the senator was merely giving a flip answer when he was asked about it by Roll Call last year. Durbin has no desire and no plan to reinstitute the Fairness Doctrine, his office says.

Rauschenberger says other reforms to assure varied voices on the airwaves, such as restoring limits on ownership of broadcast licenses, are worth considering.

Rauschenberger was interviewed on this week’s Eye on Illinois program, which airs Sunday mornings at 6 on Galesburg Radio 14 WGIL.

(Illinois Radio Network)
11 22 08 by Newsroom
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