The angry reader railed about the evil nature of the “liberal media“.

“You must agree that the mainstream press is liberal,” she pressed. My answer surprised her. Yes, I told her. I agree the mainstream media is liberal. It’s also conservative. It is black and white and pink and purple polka-dotted.

“If what you say is true, why is President Obama trying to censor conservative talk radio? “

I instantly detected another misinformation campaign being unleashed upon an unsuspecting population.

No question, Barack Obama is not a favorite among conservative talk radio hosts and their followers but the appointment earlier this month of Mark Lloyd as an FCC attorney and so-called diversity officer can hardly be construed as a move to “censor” talk radio. Quite the opposite.

In a 2007 article called “Forget The Fairness Doctrine,” Lloyd flatly rejected any possibility of returning to the Fairness Doctrine. The doctrine, which required broadcasters to offer opposing viewpoints, was fine for its time but opposing viewpoints can now be seen, heard and read across many different media platforms in this country.

Conservatives see a return of the Fairness Doctrine as a liberal conspiracy to kill conservative talk radio. But they overlook the fact that liberals don’t have any particular interest in reinstating the Fairness Doctrine either. Someday, the tables could turn and progressive talk radio could dominate the talk radio world. It could happen.

Under that scenario, my sense is that conservatives would hesitate not one whit to forcefully seek a return to the Fairness Doctrine.

Lloyd is simply suggesting that broadcast stations be encouraged to bring greater diversity of programming, news and commentary to the airwaves so that many viewpoints may be heard.

What’s wrong with that? As a society, aren’t we better off if we consider a wider range of viewpoints? Were not conservatives demanding precisely the same thing at town hall meetings recently?

The current debate on health care has proven that a single view coming from a single mindset can easily confuse and misinform some segments of the population.

But the whole issue raises a very good question. Does any one political stripe on talk radio greatly influence the entire political thinking of a country? The answer is no, not really.

To our collective good, most people are not relying on talk radio to form their political views. For most people, how they view the world is largely influenced by their individual life experiences.

But if you believe guys like talk radio programmer and author Brian Jennings, conservative talk radio is the most influential medium in American politics.

Yes, you can easily argue that conservative talk radio has a greater share of the audience that listens to talk radio. But talk radio audiences tend to be a small part of the so-called “universe” of radio listeners.

For example, the entire talk radio audience in El Paso is estimated by the Arbitron radio rating service to be only about 23,000. That’s in a city with 594,700 residents over the age of 12. At any one time, the vast majority of people are listening to something other than talk radio.

In his 301-page book, "Censorship: The Threat to Silence Talk Radio" published by Simon and Schuster, Jennings acknowledges that only 7 percent of American adults listen to talk radio.

So how can talk radio be a powerful force in politics or anything?

Talk radio certainly has its place in American media and politics, but Jennings highly overstates its power and influence. Further, his claims of pending censorship at the hands of the FCC are completely wrong. Although his fears are unfounded, it is easy to understand Jennings’ assertions given his status as one of the pioneers of the conservative talk radio format who is only trying to protect his “baby.”

Talk radio, regardless of political persuasion, is not destined to be censored, controlled or tightly regulated by the government. There is no threat to silence talk radio. I can assure you conservatives and liberals alike would simply not allow it.

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Roy Ortega is a journalist with more than 30 years in the television, print and online news business. He can be reached at rortega54@elp.rr.com.