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Tom Harkin successfully amended the Senate’s fiscal year 2005 Defense Authorization bill to help ensure that American Forces Radio and Television Service (AFRTS) fulfills its stated goal of providing political balance in its news and public affairs programming.
For some reason, Rush Limbaugh assumed that amendment was all about him. Limbaugh attacked the amendment and claimed it was meant to censor or remove his program.
Of course, Tom Harkin never called for AFRTS to pull Rush Limbaugh’s commentaries from their talk radio service, however off-base or inappropriate those commentaries often are. The Harkin amendment simply calls on AFRTS to meet its own mandate, articulated in Department of Defense Regulation 5120.20R, calling for political programming that is "characterized by its fairness and balance." The regulation requires news programming guided by a "principle of fairness” and “reasonable opportunities for the presentation of conflicting views on important controversial public issues."
Tom strongly supports our Armed Services personnel around the world, and he strongly supports the AFRTS mission to bring them all "a touch of home" through its broadcast services.
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