Fairness Doctrine

"I fear three newspapers more than a hundred thousand bayonets." Napoleon Bonaparte

There are countless reasons as to why I wouldn’t want to live in China. I would not have my siblings due to their one-child policy, government dissent is met with imprisonment, and golden retriever spring rolls seem to have a negative effect on my cholesterol!

Not to mention the fact that the government monitors the airwaves in an attempt to balance out opinion. Scary, huh?

Well, what would you say if you knew that certain elements of our government have been discussing the possibility of regulating OUR airwaves? This is not a new idea. In fact, the U.S. had a policy of “balancing” opinion on the radio airwaves back in the 70’s. This was overturned by the FCC under Reagan.

“The Fairness Doctrine was a policy of the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that required the holders of broadcast licenses both to present controversial issues of public importance and to do so in a manner that was (in the Commission's view) honest, equitable and balanced”

Talk radio has been a popular platform for Conservative voices for the past 20 years. Liberals have attempted to gain a share of the market, but have been unable to penetrate (that’s what she said)….But not to fear. Since liberals have a habit of rewarding failure and dismissing property rights, it's only natural they would want to dictate the content a station owner is able to air.

This concept is frightening, since 2 major tenets of living in a free society are Freedom of the Press and Freedom of Speech. The thought of government controlling the content on the airwaves is Orwellian in its core.

Another effect of this “seizure” is the fact that government is encroaching on ownership rights. This is no different than the government going into a Chipotle and telling them they need more burgers……or that Fantastic Sam’s is not cutting enough mullets! Rush Limbaugh has been a cash cow for 2 decades, and so have many of his conservative competetors like Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, Michael Savage, and Dennis Miller. Having these guys in your lineup makes for a profitable venture. Can you imagine having purchased a station, in order to make a profit from the aforementioned commentators, and then being told by the government that you must replace two of them with Liberal voices?

Not only would that cause an immediate loss of ad revenue, it flies in the face of basic civil liberties.

There has been plenty of chatter from the left recently regarding a reinstatement of the Fairness Doctrine:

Sen. Dick Durbin - "It’s time to reinstitute the Fairness Doctrine”

Rep. Nancy Pelosi - When asked, “Do you personally support revival of the ‘Fairness Doctrine?’”, the Speaker's answer was "Yes."

Sen. Jeff Bingaham - "I would want this station and all stations to have to present a balanced perspective and different points of view," and "All I’m saying is that for many, many years we operated under a Fairness Doctrine in this country, and I think the country was well-served. I think the public discussion was at a higher level and more intelligent in those days than it has become since."

Sen. Debbie Stabenow - "I think it's absolutely time to pass a standard. Now, whether it's called the Fairness Standard, whether it's called something else – I absolutely think it's time to be bringing accountability to the airwaves."

Sen. Tom Harkin (2 weeks ago) - "..we gotta get the Fairness Doctrine back in law again."

Bill Clinton (last week) - "Well, you either ought to have the fairness doctrine or you ought to have more balance on the other side, because essentially there has always been a lot of big money to support the right wing talk shows."

Barack is still trying to figure out what he believes.......we'll see which way the wind is blowing when that day comes!