WASHINGTON — There’s nothing fair about the Fairness Doctrine, according to U.S. Rep. Greg Walden, R-Hood River.

The doctrine, which was abolished in 1987, required radio and television networks to provide balanced coverage of issues, or equal time to advocates on opposite sides of an issue. Walden and congressional Republicans argued the doctrine actually would discourage broadcasters from tackling controversial issues and introduced a legislative maneuver to push forward a ban on the doctrine last week, after some Democratic leaders discussed reviving it this summer.

“It would silence talk radio on the right and the left,” Walden said Tuesday, of a revived fairness doctrine. “It’s not what they’re saying, it’s the fact that you silence them all.”

Still, the doctrine is unlikely to be revived in the near future, according to House members from both parties, since President Bush would almost certainly not sign it into law and the Federal Communications Commission chairman currently opposes the doctrine.

But Congress should outlaw the ban anyway, in case Democrats take control of the White House in 2008, said Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., who introduced the bill to ban a revival of the doctrine. Pence is a former talk show host who began his career just after the FCC eliminated the Fairness Doctrine.

“I spent a great deal of time explaining to radio owners that they could air a program like mine, that the Fairness Doctrine had been done away with,” Pence said.

This summer Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Richard Durbin, D-Ill., discussed reintroducing the doctrine, in part to balance right-wing talk radio. But no Democrat has formally proposed making the doctrine law. The offices of Feinstein and Durbin did not respond to calls for comment on the issue Tuesday.

But a spokesman for U.S. Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y., said the congressman will likely introduce a version of the Fairness Doctrine as part of a package to limit consolidation of media ownership.

“Since it is the public’s airwaves, the public is entitled to hear a broad array of ideas that reflect the diverse opinions of Americans across the country,” said spokesman Jeff Lieberson. “The main underlying issue here is media consolidation — as a result of that, corporate interests are infiltrating what is being broadcast.”

But Walden said the doctrine would actually reduce the number of controversial opinions on the airwaves. Broadcasters, especially in small markets, would shy away from those issues rather than comply with federal regulations, Walden said.

“Federal regulation actually had a very chilling effect on free speech, very chilling effect, actually discouraged discussion of public policy issues on the airwaves,” Walden said in a speech Monday night.

Lieberson said Republicans like Pence and Walden are raising the issue now to drum up conservative support, not because there’s a pressing need to outlaw the doctrine.

“It is a pure political stunt by some members of the Republican Party,” Lieberson said. “For them to think they need to institute a law banning the Fairness Doctrine now, when they have a White House and an FCC that clearly is not interested in this at all, shows that they are trying to rally their base and distract the public’s attention from the problems of their own making.”

Mike Cheney, general manager at Bend news-talk station KBND, said listeners just don’t want so-called balanced programming.

“We’ve tried on several occasions to put, let’s say, more liberal programming on at the same time as Rush Limbaugh, and it doesn’t work,” Cheney said.

And for small stations, federal regulation would add an unwelcome amount of paperwork and bureaucracy, he said.

“It’s totally unmanageable. That’s the reason it’s gone,” Cheney said, of the Fairness Doctrine.

In other Washington news, Walden said he planned to meet Tuesday with House Minority Leader John Boehner and White House Office of Management and Budget Director Jim Nussle to discuss a possible compromise over the State Children’s Health Insurance Program.

Last week, the House narrowly failed to override a Bush veto of a bill to expand that program. Walden was the only member of Oregon’s congressional delegation to vote against the measure.