Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R., Wa.) alleged that Democrats are attempting to reimplement the Fairness Doctrine, during a Wednesday House hearing on media “disinformation.”
The hearing by the House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology came after two Democratic members sent a letter to U.S. cable providers asking what they have done to curb “disinformation” from right-news outlets, including Fox News, Newsmax, and OANN. The authors, Representatives Anna G. Eshoo (D., Conn.) and Jerry McNerney (D., N.M.), also asked cable providers if they were “planning to continue carrying Fox News, Newsmax, and OANN” and “if so, why?”
Those networks are facing defamation suits by voting machine companies, alleging that the networks falsely claimed that their machines were faulty after the November elections. However, Rodgers blasted the letters in comments during the hearing as an example of government overreach.
“Today’s hearing, along with the majority’s letters…are really a dangerous escalation in the left’s crusade to silence anyone who does not agree with their ideology,” Rodgers said. “It appears to me that the Democrats may want to revive the Fairness Doctrine.”
The Fairness Doctrine, implemented by the Federal Communications Commission in 1949 and repealed in 1987, required broadcasters to present two opposing sides of controversial public issues. Conservatives have historically opposed the policy, which they perceive as stifling to right-wing views.
“It’s un-American when you’re setting control, for you to redefine for yourselves what is true,” Rodgers told Democrats in her opening statement. “You think Republican members of Congress agree with all the content in media? No. Have we sent TV companies threatening letters to stop carrying certain channels? No.”
Rodgers also termed the committee hearing as a “force of a state religion of liberal ideology.”
Correction: A previous version of this article stated that Cathy McMorris Rodgers was a representative of Oregon; she in fact represents Washington’s 5th congressional district. We regret the error.