Yesterday it was reported that a return of the fairness doctrine could lead to the government requiring balance on web sites as well.

FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell raised that as a possibility after talking with bloggers at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C. McDowell spoke about a recent FCC vote to bar Comcast from engaging in certain Internet practices – expanding the federal agency’s oversight of Internet networks.

The commissioner, a 2006 President Bush appointee, told the Business & Media Institute the Fairness Doctrine could be intertwined with the net neutrality battle. The result might end with the government regulating content on the Web, he warned. McDowell, who was against reprimanding Comcast, said the net neutrality effort could win the support of “a few isolated conservatives” who may not fully realize the long-term effects of government regulation

Today Drudge has a news flash indicating the release of a Rasmussen poll at noon eastern which shows:

• 47% Favor Fairness Doctrine for Radio, TV
• 31% Want Government Requirement for Bloggers to Abide by Guidelines

I am certainly not surprised that 47% favor the fairness doctrine for radio, after all Conservatives dominate the airwaves. Last year when the issue of the fairness doctrine came up, a senior advisor to Nancy Pelosi acknowledged as much, even going so far as to say the fairness doctrine was necessary because no one wanted to listen to liberal talk shows.

The decision to press for re-establishment of the Fairness Doctrine now seems to have developed for two reasons. “First, [Democrats] failed on the radio airwaves with Air America, no one wanted to listen,” says a senior adviser to Pelosi. “Conservative radio is a huge threat and political advantage for Republicans and we have had to find a way to limit it. Second, it looks like the Republicans are going to have someone in the presidential race who has access to media in ways our folks don’t want, so we want to make sure the GOP has no advantages going into 2008.”

What is very surprising however is that 31% want bloggers to abide by government regulations. It is frightening that such a large share of Americans would actually believe that governmental control over internet content would be a good thing. Applying the fairness doctrine to the blogsphere would mean that everytime I posted an article about illegal immigration, I would be required to post a liberals opinion along side of it, presumably with the typical racist insults included.

Update: Here is the actual polling question:

“Should the government require web sites and bloggers that offer political commentary to present opposing viewpoints?”

It is scary to think that in a free country, 31% of people could answer yes to such a question.

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