The "Fairness Doctrine"

[JohnRich 4]

News:

GOP preps for talk radio confrontation

"House Republican lawmakers are preparing to fight anticipated Democratic efforts to regulate talk radio by reviving rules requiring stations to balance conservative hosts such as Rush Limbaugh with liberals such as Al Franken..."

Source: The Hill

Do you want the government to dictate the content of mass media?

Hey, it's worked well for Russia and China!

I wonder if this would mean that conservative viewpoints would also get equal time in all the liberal-controlled media outlets?

[NCclimber 0]

Sounds like sour grapes.

[Stumpy 284]

Sounds ridiculous. Don't people understand if they don't like the radio they can just switch off??

Never try to eat more than you can lift

[Butters 0]

I believe it's a good idea ... to be fair I also believe it's a bad idea.

"That looks dangerous." Leopold Stotch

[Andrewwhyte 1]

Limbaugh and Franken are both infidel western pigs, just ask any Iranian Mullah; there is no balance there.

[kelpdiver 2]

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Sounds ridiculous. Don't people understand if they don't like the radio they can just switch off??

It has to do with the fact that there is limited airspace. More a problem with the VHF TV space - the people (government) allocate spots with the understanding that the Fairness Doctrine will be adhered to. If the recipient isn't willing, there are others.

[kallend 2,182]

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Sounds ridiculous. Don't people understand if they don't like the radio they can just switch off??

One is not ALWAYS in charge of the on-off switch or the tuning knob.

I suppose we could all carry ear plugs for those times.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[Andy9o8 3]

I've always felt that the Fairness Doctrine statute is basically unconstitutional. I still feel that way.

[mnealtx 0]

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I've always felt that the Fairness Doctrine statute is basically unconstitutional. I still feel that way.

Agreed - I think if they DO push it though, it should apply across the board. TV, radio, newpapers...ALL of them.

Mike
I love you, Shannon and Jim.
POPS 9708 , SCR 14706

[Andrewwhyte 1]

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It has to do with the fact that there is limited airspace. More a problem with the VHF TV space - the people (government) allocate spots with the understanding that the Fairness Doctrine will be adhered to. If the recipient isn't willing, there are others.

Coming soon to a PBS affiliate near you: The Don Imus show.

[BIGUN 1,506]

Let the market bear.

Nobody has time to listen; because they're desperately chasing the need of being heard.

[sundevil777 102]

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I wonder if this would mean that conservative viewpoints would also get equal time in all the liberal-controlled media outlets?

Liberals would never accept that there is unbalanced opinion on those media outlets. Bill Moyers, Travis Smiley, even Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me and the Prarie Home Companion are full of political/editorial content, and we pay for it with tax dollars on PBS/NPR. Dan Rather just about cried when he had to report that the Congress had switched in '94.

People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am

[Amazon 7]

You have to ask youself....

WHY is the Ultra Right.. SOOOO Opposed to anything that diverges from THEIR point of view??

[Butters 0]

You have to ask yourself:

Why does the right take away my freedoms to protect me from others?

Why does the left take away my freedoms to protect me from myself?

"That looks dangerous." Leopold Stotch

[sundevil777 102]

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You have to ask youself....

WHY is the Ultra Right.. SOOOO Opposed to anything that diverges from THEIR point of view??

You say that as if they are unique in their opposition to opposing views. The desire to impose the fairness doctrine is exactly what you are complaining about, but being imposed by the ultra left. Also, I do want to claim that I am not a member of the ultra right. That may surprise you, but I assert it to be true. Hopefully, there will be a viable 3rd or 4th political party before too long.

If only we could take the politics out of politics.

People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am

[NCclimber 0]

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You have to ask youself....

WHY is the Ultra Right.. SOOOO Opposed to anything that diverges from THEIR point of view??

What would you consider right leaning, but not Ultra Right?

I ask because your frequent response to posters offering a right leaning opinion is to paint them as an extremist rightwinger... kind of like that business of "either you're with us or you're with the terrorists".

[kelpdiver 2]

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I've always felt that the Fairness Doctrine statute is basically unconstitutional. I still feel that way.

Agreed - I think if they DO push it though, it should apply across the board. TV, radio, newpapers...ALL of them.

Newspapers don't consume a public good (a frequency) and there's no barrier to entry for a different paper. All the commi papers available at Berkeley prove that.

applying such a doctrine to newspapers makes as much sense as applying it to webservers.

[sundevil777 102]

Under a fairness doctrine principle, the communist, socialist, green, and other political party views (including the silly party) should also have to be fairly represented.

People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am

[DrewEckhardt 0]

As long as the government legislatively blocks direct minority opinion access to the airwaves, free speech mandates other accomodations.

Full-power licenses are no longer granted - the spectrum is sold at auction to the highest bidder which means a media conglomerate that must espouse the Republican and Democratic views of its listeners.

Low Power FM is not an option in population centers because the congomerates lobbied for and got 600KHz of separation to full-power stations when 400KHz would be sufficient. Since no spectrum exists at that spacing, LPFM is not an alternative.

The problem isn't "liberal" versus "conservative" - it's minority vs. majority. Randi Rhodes and Rush Limbaugh are both big radio who don't need to be given access to each others' stations. It's the Communists, Greens, Liberatrians, and Socialists that need protection.