Censorship, Brian Jennings
Censorship, Brian Jennings
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Censorship
The Threat to Silence Talk Radio

Author: Brian Jennings

Narrator: Jesse Boggs

Unabridged: 7 hr 20 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 05/05/2009


Synopsis

Freedom of speech. It is our most cherished privilege as Americans, guaranteed by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution since 1791.

But our current presidential administration threatens to sharply curtail or silence altogether the freedom of expression that distinguishes America from the average dictatorship. What is under direct attack? Conservative talk radio.

During the Reagan administration, conservative talk radio burgeoned when the FCC voted to stop enforcing the Fairness Doctrine, which required all licensed broadcasters to present "balanced" viewpoints on controversial issues. The format was a smash hit, attracting an estimated 50 million listeners weekly. Popular, profitable, outspoken, powerful, influential—it’s what the American people wanted, and its success was the Democrats' worst nightmare.

Now, the principles underlying the Fairness Doctrine threaten to be reinstated. Under cover of being "fair," they will be used as a means of censorship, allowing government to influence who owns our airwaves and thus controls the content, a mandate with far-reaching implications for all media—indeed, for freedom of speech for all Americans.

About Brian Jennings

Brian Jennings is one of nation's top talk radio programmers who served as National V.P. of Talk Programming for Citadel Broadcasting, one of the nation's largest radio companies for over a decade and served as programming head to over 40 radio stations nationwide.  According to Talker's Magazine, he is also one of the founding fathers of the conservative talk radio format.  Nominated 5 times as a national talk radio executive of the year by Radio and Records Magazine, Jennings is also a national award-winning journalist.  His many awards include Columbia University's DuPont Award, the National Sigma Delta Chi Award, the Ohio State Award, the National Headliners Award, the National Abe Lincoln Award, and others.  He has also worked as a consultant to national personalites such as Oliver North, Michael Reagan, Alan Colmes, Dick Cavett, and others.  Considered one of the foremost authorities on talk radio today, Jennings resides in the Pacific Northwest and is a frequent guest on radio and television programs throughout the nation and a staunch defender of free speech.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Douglas on October 02, 2009

"Censorship" is an in-depth review of the political left's long running agenda to curb dissent on the airwaves. Ever since the Democrats move to progressivism at the beginning of the 20th century there has been a concerted effort to silence political dissent on the air-waves. Disguised as a noble ca......more

Goodreads review by Mark on April 10, 2010

No, I'm not a rabid foam-at-the-mouth "follow Rush Limbaugh over the cliff" kind of guy... but by the same token, I definitely don't fit well into the "send the government your $ cuz we're smarter than you" crowd either. At the heart of it, I'm for free speech - whether I agree with it or not. Which b......more

Goodreads review by Wendi on January 18, 2017

An important takeaway is that alarming legislation can be mislabeled in soothing, friendly ways like the Fairness Act. Government control of radio stations and their programming is communism and some other -isms. It is not free speech or freedom of the press - two crucial elements our country was fo......more

Goodreads review by Gabriel on March 13, 2017

A very informative read. Perhaps one of the most interesting parts of this book were then Congressman Mike Pence's involvement in the bill to protect free speech on the radio from the new Fairness Doctrine. I think it is safe to say that with this book now being seven years old conservative talk rad......more

Goodreads review by Node on September 07, 2014

Brian Jennings book was often too repetitive. While I find the importance of having radio content not being decided by bureaucrats, who have their own bias and political agenda, this book was weak in rhetoric and felt extremely unstructured. It's a great topic but the author just doesn't deliver.......more