June 27, 2007
Fairness Doctrine aimed at wrong media

Hey, if the left really wanted "fairness" in Talk Radio, they wouldn't be targeting radio at all, but the other media dominated by Liberals. It's the very fact that the left dominates everything "not radio" that has made Talk Radio the powerful political medium it is. After all, where else can non-liberal viewpoints be expressed without the patronizing, biased, or deceptive response that those views receive on the TV networks, in the print media, and throughout our educational system? Where else can half of America tune in to get news and commentary not driven by leftist ideology and propaganda?

I'm all for fairness in the media. The absurdity is that radio is somehow unfair. In fact, radio is the most fair medium today because it is driven by the market that forces it to give audiences what they want. If the left really is concerned with fairness in media, then break open the liberal domination of everything else. That will kill radio, but only because half of this nation will suddenly start reading papers and watching TV news again, where they won't be preached to by liberal propagandists 100% of the time, and they can hear viewpoints from all sides of the political spectrum.

But don't wait for John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, or Barbara Boxer to find unfairness in the liberal media. Bias and filtering is just fine when it promotes the liberal viewpoint. The Fairness Doctrine might as well be called the "Silence Conservative Speech Doctrine" as far as they are concerned.

Posted by mjcostello at June 27, 2007 03:21 PM | Email This
Comments
1. The "Fairness Doctrine" is justified solely on the fact that the public owns the limited broadcast spectrum, and therefore has a right to regulate it for the good of all, which therefore means all views should be presented on controversial issues of public importance.

This does not apply to cable TV or newspapers, only to broadcast TV and radio. So the Fairness Doctrine cannot be applied to the "liberal media" except for the broadcast versions of the networks and PBS and so on. It cannot be applied to CNN, MSNBC, the New York Times, and so on.

Indeed, the Supreme Court has upheld the Fairness Doctrine in the past on the basis of limited broadcast spectrum. And that just doesn't apply to newspapers and cable.

Posted by: pudge on June 28, 2007 08:23 AM
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