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Eeek! Return of the Fairness Doctrine

January 16, 2007, 8:29 am

QandO reports that Dennis Kucinich is trying to resurrect the fairness doctrine in media, reassigning the FCC the task of policing political speech in broadcast media:

The Presidential candidate said that the committee would be holding
"hearings to push media reform right at the center of Washington." The
Domestic Policy Subcommittee of the House Government Reform Committee
was to be officially announced this week in Washington, D.C., but
Kucinich opted to make the news public early.

In addition to
media ownership, the committee is expected to focus its attention on
issues such as net neutrality and major telecommunications mergers.
Also in consideration is the "Fairness Doctrine,"
which required broadcasters to present controversial topics in a fair
and honest manner. It was enforced until it was eliminated in 1987.

Usually, you can be sure that when a politician talks about the government intervening for "fairness" in free speech, it means that he wants the government to push his political point of view and squash others.  The only surprise is that Kucinich is totally up front about this:

Kucinich said in his speech that "We know the media has become the
servant of a very narrow corporate agenda" and added "we are now in a
position to move a progressive agenda to where it is visible."

So, having failed in the marketplace, and with well-funded entrants like Air America, Kucinich wants the government to force media companies to promote a progressive agenda on the airwaves.  Yuk.

Update: Q&O is on fire, with a great followup post here.

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Category: Media and the Press

One Comment

  1. DaveJ:

    While I greatly dislike the Fairness Doctrine, if it were evenly applied we might get:

    Equal time to argue that drugs can be used responsibly for EVERY mention that drugs are bad.

    Equal time to argue the corrosive effects of positive rights for EVERY presumption of positive rights being good.

    Equal time to present freedom of choice for EVERY PSA against smoking / drinking.

    Equal time to present the ridiculousness of current BAC thresholds in law EVERY time MADD gets another media high-five.

    Of course, this only shows that the Fairness Doctrine is certain to be applied unfairly. We're better off without it.

    January 16, 2007, 11:38 am