Dems should back Defund NPR Act, in quid pro quo reviving Fairness Doctrine

Fifth District Congressman Bob Good, who is facing a challenge for the Republican Party nomination, somehow from the right, has introduced a bill called the Defund NPR Act that would, well, you know.

“It is bad enough that so many media outlets push their slanted views instead of reporting the news, but it is even more egregious for hardworking taxpayers to be forced to pay for it,” said Good, the chair of the House Freedom Caucus, the use of the word freedom in the name being tongue in cheek, apparently.

“National Public Radio has a track record of promoting anti-American narratives on the taxpayer dime. My legislation would ensure no taxpayer dollars are used to fund the woke, leftist propaganda of National Public Radio,” Good said.

Good’s bill would prohibit federal funding of NPR and prevent local public radio stations from using federal grant money to purchase content or pay dues to NPR.

NRP, honestly, would be better off without the paltry federal funding that it gets, amounting to about 4 percent of its annual budget, which comes with obvious strings attached, in the form of the frequent threats from the likes of Good anytime Republicans like him get their silk panties in a bunch.

Democrats should make this a bipartisan deal, with this as the quid pro quo: we’ll sign on to ending public support for NPR and PBS, along with a new law re-enacting the Fairness Doctrine that conservatives killed back in 1987.

Remember the Fairness Doctrine? That’s the one that required holders of broadcast licenses to present controversial issues of public importance and to do so in a manner that fairly reflected differing viewpoints.

Conservative talk radio only exists because the FCC, under the direction of Ronald Reagan, abolished the doctrine, and then Reagan and later George H.W. Bush vetoed legislation that would have made it federal law.

NPR, and PBS, would be able to make up the 4 percent that they would lose under efforts like the one that Good pretends to be leading to defund them.

Conservative talk radio goes to the grave the second that President Biden would put pen to paper on a 21st century Fairness Doctrine.

I agree with Bob Good here that the country is better off with NPR being on its own.

And I can’t imagine, given what he had to say about public dollars going to fund leftist propaganda, that he thinks it’s right to allow broadcasters to use the public airwaves to, in effect, fund right-wing propaganda.

I mean, people like Bob Good don’t talk out of both sides of their mouths, do they?