In his passionate advocacy of the Fairness Doctrine on April 24, Mark Tardif conveniently ignores some economic realities, not at all unusual in government and among those who desire more government control of anything – and especially among those who hear a vast right-wing conspiracy in every radio.

A private radio station derives its income from commercials. The station then pays some of that income in subscription fees to carry a show like Sean Hannity or Laura Ingraham. If listeners object to those shows in significant numbers, the sponsors will soon know it and take their business elsewhere – or the station will change its lineup. However, these shows are extremely popular; liberal talk radio shows in general are extremely unpopular.

A public radio station is funded by my tax dollars and no government, left or right, has ever given me a choice in the matter. When PBS puts on another show about the imminent disaster of global warming, about which there is of course a consensus, will they have to give equal time to opposing views? I bet the fine print says the doctrine applies only to private broadcasting.

The Fairness Doctrine, a first-class misnomer, would make an end-run around these pesky issues of free expression of opinion through economics. Here’s a better name: Affirmative Action for Bad Talk Radio Hosts.

Michael LeBlanc, East Wilton