Monday, February 13, 2012

Why is an Obama czar talking about censoring fox news and talk radio? What happened to the 1st amendment?

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view%26amp;pageId=116952





TEL AVIV 鈥?Websites should be obliged to remove "false rumors" while libel laws should be altered to make it easier to sue for spreading such "rumors," argued Cass Sunstein, Obama's regulatory czar.





In his recently released book, "On Rumors," Sunstein specifically cited as a primary example of "absurd" and "hateful" remarks, reports by "right-wing websites" alleging an association between President Obama and Weatherman terrorist Bill Ayers.





He also singled out radio talker Sean Hannity for "attacking" Obama regarding the president's "alleged associations."





Ayers became a name in last year's presidential campaign when it was disclosed the radical worked closely with Obama for years. Obama also was said to have launched his political career at a 1995 fundraiser in Ayers' apartment.





As WND reported, Obama and Ayers sat together on the board of a Chicago nonprofit, the Woods Fund. Ayers also was a founder of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, where Obama was appointed as its first chairman in 1995.





Ayers reportedly was involved in hiring Obama for the CAC 鈥?a job the future president later touted as qualifying him to run for public office.





WND columnist Jack Cashill has produced a series of persuasive arguments that it was Ayers who ghostwrote Obama's award-winning autobiography "Dreams from My Father."





However, such reports were characterized by Sunstein as "absurd" charges for which corrective measures can be taken.





Sunstein's book 鈥?reviewed by WND 鈥?was released in September, after he was already installed as the administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.





"In the era of the Internet, it has become easy to spread false or misleading rumors about almost anyone," Sunstein writes.





"Some right-wing websites liked to make absurd and hateful remarks about the alleged relationship between Barack Obama and the former radical Bill Ayers; one of the websites' goals was undoubtedly to attract more viewers," he writes.





Sunstein continues: "On the Internet as well as on talk radio, altruistic propagators are easy to find; they play an especially large role in the political domain. When Sean Hannity, the television talk show host, attacked Barack Obama because of his alleged associations, one of his goals might have been to promote values and causes that he cherishes."





Sunstein presents multiple new measures he argues can be used to stop the spread of "rumors."





He contends "freedom usually works, but in some contexts, it is an incomplete corrective."





Sunstein proposes the imposition of a "chilling effect" on "damaging rumors" 鈥?or the use of strong "corrective" measures to deter future rumormongers.





For websites, Sunstein suggests a "right to notice and take down" in which "those who run websites would be obliged to take down falsehoods upon notice."





Sunstein also argues for the "right to demand a retraction after a clear demonstration that a statement is both false and damaging." But he does not explain which agency would determine whether any statement is false and damaging.





Sunstein further pushes for "deterrence" through making libel lawsuits easier to bring.





Sunstein drafted 'New Deal Fairness Doctrine'





Sunstein's proposals outlined in his book "On Rumors" were not the first of his writings to recommend regulating talk radio or the news media.





WND previously reported Sunstein drew up a "First Amendment New Deal" 鈥?a new "Fairness Doctrine" that would include the establishment of a panel of "nonpartisan experts" to ensure "diversity of view" on the airwaves.





Sunstein compared the need for the government to regulate broadcasting to the moral obligation of the U.S. to impose new rules that outlawed segregation.





Sunstein's radical proposal, set forth in his 1993 book "The Partial Constitution," received no news media attention and scant scrutiny until the WND report.





In the book, Sunstein outwardly favors and promotes the "Fairness Doctrine," the abolished FCC policy that required holders of broadcast licenses to present controversial issues of public importance in a manner the government deemed "equitable and balanced."





Sunstein introduces what he terms his "First Amendment New Deal" to regulate broadcasting in the U.S.





His proposal, which focuses largely on television, includes a government requirement that "purely commercial stations provide financial subsidies to public television or to commercial stations that agree to provide less profitable but high-quality programming."





Sunstein wrote it is "worthwhile to consider more dramatic approaches as well."





He proposes "compulsory public-affairs programming, right of reply, content review by nonpartisan experts or guidelines to encourage attention to public issues and diversity of view."





The Obama czar argues his regulation proposals for broadcasting are actually present|||Cockroaches hate light. Fox News and talk radio produce a lot of light.|||LMAO. From WMD, wingnut central. Legitimate news sites don't quote themselves quoting themselves in their articles.





Just sayin.|||Shouldn't the Rumors restrictions apply to the White House Press Releases also? We created or saved over 640,000 jobs??|||Obama is really Chavez's twin, they were separated at birth.|||Are you under the impression that libel and slander are brand new exceptions to the First Amendment created by Cass Sunstein??|||They can try, but all those places have lawyers waiting to go to court on first amendment grounds. If they pass a law, it will be challenged, and thrown out.|||Free speech only exists for liberals. Dont you know that.|||you dont think anyone is gonna read all that do you?|||You will get three (and ONLY 3) sorts of Democrat responses.


%26gt; Overlooking that the White House ITSELF is your source and that WND is only reporting the story. They'll "call BS" simply because you cited a "source" that is not overtly hostile to the U.S.


%26gt; Huh?


%26gt; So what? Freedom sucks.|||This is all old news. Find something real and recent to complain about. No one is censoring your beloved Fox News. The fact that they have to declare themselves to be "fair and balanced" is enough to alert intelligent people that they probably not.


They ran footage of Palin during the election campaigning and claimed it was footage of her book signing to make it look like she had a huge turn out. lol|||Apparently, Liberal Fascism is becoming more acceptable.





Maybe those rules should apply to Democrats, as well. Remember how they planned to lower Health Care costs? Looks like they simply shifted them.|||One the first main objectives an aspiring dictator will try to accomplish is to gain absolute control over the media. In so doing, they have total control over the message going out to the sheep.





Castro did it in Cuba, Kim Sung Il in N Korea did it, and Chavez has done it in Venezuela.





Fox is really the only dissenting voice out there and is a pain in the side of the O administration.|||I especially like the remark in there, "freedom usually works, but in some contexts, it is an incomplete corrective." This is what they have allowed to take control of our country.|||Since Obama feels that our Constitution is "flawed", do you really think that any of his Marxists Czars would honor it?





Not one time did I read any mention of the very hateful left-wing sites. Gee, wonder why?

No comments:

Post a Comment