How The Far Left plans to muzzle conservative speech

A Frontpage Interview with co-author Brian Anderson on the new book “A Manifesto for Media Freedom”. Brian Anderson tells us how the prospect of an Obama presidency and a Democratic Congress threaten all conservative media.

FrontPage Magazine

Frontpage Interview’s guest today is Brian Anderson, author of South Park Conservatives, Democratic Capitalism and its Discontents, and co-author with the Progress and Freedom Foundation’s Adam Thierer of the new book, A Manifesto for Media Freedom.

FP: What inspired you to write this book?

Anderson: A sense of growing concern that the Left—with some help from a handful of Republicans—is keen on shushing right-of-center political speech. America in 2008 enjoys a remarkable, historically unprecedented abundance of new and old media outlets for obtaining news, information, and entertainment—something we celebrate as “the media cornucopia.” Think about it: newspapers (still) and magazines (more in existence than ever before); radio and television both broadcast and cable and satellite; DVDs; and of course the wild, dazzling, endlessly mutating Internet. As I argued in an earlier book, South Park Conservatives, this cornucopia has allowed viewpoints long downplayed or excluded in the mainstream, including conservative and libertarian ideas, to get a much wider public hearing, especially via political talk radio and the blogosphere.

Many people—incumbent politicians in general, but above all the political Left—hate this profusion and are keen to contain it, pare it back, get rid of it. Our book documents the most dangerous regulatory measures being brewed up in Washington, or already in place, to do this: a new Fairness Doctrine, or regulatory analogue; “network neutrality”; and the extension of campaign finance restrictions to cover media. The book tries to alert Americans to a danger to their political liberties and explain, in a clear a way as possible, the way complex media regulations work in practice in ways that have profound political implications.

FP: Overall, what do you think is new and fresh about your book and what do you hope it will achieve?

Anderson: I think our book is the first to explain, in as clear and systematic a way as possible, the extent of the threat to political speech being cooked up in Washington as we do this interview—and with the prospect of an Obama presidency and a Democratic Congress, the time is now to understand what’s at stake and fight back. It is also encourages conservatives to embrace media freedom rather than pursue their own regulatory crusades on things like cleaning up cable television. The Right has benefited hugely from the proliferation of outlets and media in recent years and should recognize that fact.

Full interview