Last week, “new media” took a hit as domestic terrorist-turned university professor William Ayers, in his much anticipated interview on ABC-TV’s “Good Morning America,” explained-away both his terrorist background AND his personal friendship with President-elect Obama. Why did he wait until after the election to answer questions about he and Obama? Because, he explained, he didn’t want to give credence to the “dishonest narrative” that was being spread around about him by internet bloggers.

Additionally, Ayers claimed in a written essay last week that John McCain didn’t participate in that “dishonest narrative” that tied Obama to his terrorist past, until McCain did a one-on-one interview with Sean Hannity. From there, the presidential campaign turned vitriolic - - all because of Hannity and the Fox Newschannel.

Additionally, Media Matters, a liberal, Washington, DC-based think tank group has for some time been compiling and publishing “research” on both local and national conservative talk radio hosts. Last week, Media Matters released a report documenting how conservative radio’s “vitriol” has not been “reserved for Obama,” and has targeted women, minorities, “immigrants,” and “autistic children.”

None of the incidents that they sight rise to the level of libel, or would be legally actionable, and are all based on individual hosts’ opinions. Yet they are nonetheless characterized as “attacks” that are intended to “foment hate and suspicion.”

The “Fairness Doctrine,” as it was once known, may or may not be on the horizon. But a plea to "stop the hate" is almost certainly in the works, and a call for “media reform” will necessarily follow.

Constitutionally protected “free speech” doesn’t matter nearly as much as people’s ability to create perceptions about that speech, and the stage is set for a full-scale demonization of conservative talk media on Capitol Hill.