Posted on 02/14/2009 9:09:09 PM PST by This Just In
The Fairness Doctrine Is NOT the Equal Time Rule and Stop Saying It Is or I Will Demand Equal Time for the Sake of Fairness
Posted by Anthony Sacramone on February 14, 2009
Over at Get Religion, Mollie Hemingway parses a recent news story about a discussion of the Fairness Doctrine at the National Religious Broadcasters Convention. Tangentially related is the tendency to confuse that doctrine with the Equal Time Rule, which has to do with elections and candidates’ having access to, you guessed it, equal time.
Former President Bill Clinton recently opined about his desire to see the Fairness Doctrine revived or more “balance” on talk radio.
Now how would this work? Take ABC radio in New York. ABC airs Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Joe Scarborough (and chat partner Mika Bzrezinski), not to mention Don Imus & Co. If the Fairness Doctrine were revived, would some host from Air America be able to force ABC to air his or her show somewhere in that lineup? Would there have to be an equal number of lefties as righties? Who decides how right wing someone is in order to determine how left wing the balance should be? What if the left-winger’s ratings are in the tank, but the ring-wing host he or she replaced had been a moneymaker?
Look, Rachel Maddow seems to be pulling ratings that previous hosts in that MSNBC time slot failed to pull. Obviously there is a market for what she brings to the table, however relatively small compared with, say, O’Reilly. Why can’t the left simply compete for air time with the right in the only way that really matters — ratings and ad dollars?
Or are Maddow and Olbermann anomalies: big fish in small ponds?
And is there a difference when comparing media? Is TV more amenable to liberal views, whereas radio is a natural home for conservatives? If left-wing radio can’t get ratings or sponsors, there’s always the public arena, where they dominate. Think NPR and Pacifica.
All I know is that I remember a time when the only conservatives on TV were George Will on Agronsky & Co. and Bill Buckley’s Firing Line — public television’s idea of balance. And while talk radio goes back to Joe Pyne, Long John Nebel, Barry Farber, and even Jean Shepherd, what we really mean when we use the phrase today is the relatively recent phenomenon that can be summed up in a single syllable — Rush.
Who will be the counter-Rush? The first left-winger who can garner Limbaugh’s ratings and ad dollars. No prospects? Well, there’s always the Fairness Doctrine …
And as for the religion question: If a radio network airs a Billy Graham crusade or even live broadcasts of church services on Sundays, will atheists be able to demand shows of their own to provide balance on such controversial issues as evolution, gay rights, church-state relations — even the very notions of salvation and damnation?
Yeap, that one syllable about sums it up alright!
No, they're pond scum.
Immediatly fire all but 5% of the liberal profeesors, and replace them with conservative proffesors for the next 40 years. Then after 40 years of 95% conservative faculty pushing a conservative world view on college students, we cut it back to 50/50...to be "fair".
I’d like to see greater balance in our Congress.
Force out Dems and balance with more Republicans.
Definition of the “Fairness Doctrine”-
To silence all opposing conservative views.
On the converse, for every Will and Grace, Queer eye for whoever and the rest...Network TV should be required to put on something equivalent to a Billy Graham crusade.
Yes, these programs can be titled:
Will Not and Hope
Straight Eye, Not Queer Guy
the fairness doctrine? isnt this the deal where rush, beck, savage, lavin, malikin, coulter and hanity will get time on npr and air america and the like?
As well as CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, NYT etc, etc. Like that'll ever happen. Liberals have zero interest in fairness...they want to silence any and all voices that disagree with them.
To silence all opposing conservative views.
Mostly, the good ones, the ones liberals hate. That's why they love the Fairy Doctrine.
“Mostly, the good ones, the ones liberals hate.”
One of fascism’s key components is to silence opposition completely. In this country, denying people “free speech” isn’t very popular, so Socialists/Communists must resort to ulterior tactics.
In this following document, note #’s 17, 18, 20, 21, and 24:
Communist Goals (1963)
Documention below
Congressional Record—Appendix, pp. A34-A35
January 10, 1963
Current Communist Goals
EXTENSION OF REMARKS OF HON. A. S. HERLONG, JR. OF FLORIDA
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Thursday, January 10, 1963
Mr. HERLONG. Mr. Speaker, Mrs. Patricia Nordman of De Land, Fla., is an ardent and articulate opponent of communism, and until recently published the De Land Courier, which she dedicated to the purpose of alerting the public to the dangers of communism in America.
At Mrs. Nordman’s request, I include in the RECORD, under unanimous consent, the following “Current Communist Goals,” which she identifies as an excerpt from “The Naked Communist,” by Cleon Skousen:
[From “The Naked Communist,” by Cleon Skousen]
CURRENT COMMUNIST GOALS
1. U.S. acceptance of coexistence as the only alternative to atomic war.
2. U.S. willingness to capitulate in preference to engaging in atomic war.
3. Develop the illusion that total disarmament [by] the United States would be a demonstration of moral strength.
4. Permit free trade between all nations regardless of Communist affiliation and regardless of whether or not items could be used for war.
5. Extension of long-term loans to Russia and Soviet satellites.
6. Provide American aid to all nations regardless of Communist domination.
7. Grant recognition of Red China. Admission of Red China to the U.N.
8. Set up East and West Germany as separate states in spite of Khrushchev’s promise in 1955 to settle the German question by free elections under supervision of the U.N.
9. Prolong the conferences to ban atomic tests because the United States has agreed to suspend tests as long as negotiations are in progress.
10. Allow all Soviet satellites individual representation in the U.N.
11. Promote the U.N. as the only hope for mankind. If its charter is rewritten, demand that it be set up as a one-world government with its own independent armed forces. (Some Communist leaders believe the world can be taken over as easily by the U.N. as by Moscow. Sometimes these two centers compete with each other as they are now doing in the Congo.)
12. Resist any attempt to outlaw the Communist Party.
13. Do away with all loyalty oaths.
14. Continue giving Russia access to the U.S. Patent Office.
15. Capture one or both of the political parties in the United States.
16. Use technical decisions of the courts to weaken basic American institutions by claiming their activities violate civil rights.
17. Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers’ associations. Put the party line in textbooks.
18. Gain control of all student newspapers.
19. Use student riots to foment public protests against programs or organizations which are under Communist attack.
20. Infiltrate the press. Get control of book-review assignments, editorial writing, policymaking positions.
21. Gain control of key positions in radio, TV, and motion pictures.
22. Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all forms of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was told to “eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings, substitute shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms.”
23. Control art critics and directors of art museums. “Our plan is to promote ugliness, repulsive, meaningless art.”
24. Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them “censorship” and a violation of free speech and free press.
25. Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio, and TV.
26. Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as “normal, natural, healthy.”
27. Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with “social” religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity which does not need a “religious crutch.”
28. Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the ground that it violates the principle of “separation of church and state.”
29. Discredit the American Constitution by calling it inadequate, old-fashioned, out of step with modern needs, a hindrance to cooperation between nations on a worldwide basis.
30. Discredit the American Founding Fathers. Present them as selfish aristocrats who had no concern for the “common man.”
31. Belittle all forms of American culture and discourage the teaching of American history on the ground that it was only a minor part of the “big picture.” Give more emphasis to Russian history since the Communists took over.
32. Support any socialist movement to give centralized control over any part of the culture—education, social agencies, welfare programs, mental health clinics, etc.
33. Eliminate all laws or procedures which interfere with the operation of the Communist apparatus.
34. Eliminate the House Committee on Un-American Activities.
35. Discredit and eventually dismantle the FBI.
36. Infiltrate and gain control of more unions.
37. Infiltrate and gain control of big business.
38. Transfer some of the powers of arrest from the police to social agencies. Treat all behavioral problems as psychiatric disorders which no one but psychiatrists can understand [or treat].
39. Dominate the psychiatric profession and use mental health laws as a means of gaining coercive control over those who oppose Communist goals.
40. Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce.
41. Emphasize the need to raise children away from the negative influence of parents. Attribute prejudices, mental blocks and retarding of children to suppressive influence of parents.
42. Create the impression that violence and insurrection are legitimate aspects of the American tradition; that students and special-interest groups should rise up and use [”]united force[”] to solve economic, political or social problems.
43. Overthrow all colonial governments before native populations are ready for self-government.
44. Internationalize the Panama Canal.
45. Repeal the Connally reservation so the United States cannot prevent the World Court from seizing jurisdiction [over domestic problems. Give the World Court jurisdiction] over nations and individuals alike.
I just don’t understand how you can have a Fairness Doctrine if people on the left are not interested in listening to the radio. Haven’t they had numerous lefties on the radio and they don’t make it because they are not listened to? The left uses different vehicles to get their information...tv and internet. They don’t seem to want to listen to the radio...why push it???
Every station we can get that has gone to bland and safe cannot possibly be as profitable as political talk radio.
This is hilly country. You can put up with some static for a minute or two with talk, You usually don’t miss that much and transcripts are usually available online, if it was that important. But music? It can sound like something from outerspace if you cut out various frequencies for a second or two. It is very annoying and I will always just turn it off. I can play my own music in my car, get good sound and the tunes I like without using the radio at all.
How many sports stations can there be? How many sports fans are there? If it was as popular as talk, it would be as profitable. I doubt it is.
Even *localized* talk can be better than distorted music or play-by-play of some game or repeat broadcast of some game no one cares about. My local *community* talk radio is awful. No talent, bland topics, lame comment, with only the weather or perhaps a local scandal, which is handled *delicately* around here, to make it interesting. Most of it is the disguised advertising of the puff piece review of local restaurants you might find in the local shopper. Soon, they will have to resort to radio infomercials to fill the time available and make some money at it.
This is going to kill radio. It is going to impact advertising and therefore local business.
Will it stop people from having conservative thoughts? NO! It will simply force such thinking into other venues, like books, blogs or podcasts. Did Rush make me a conservative? NO! I didn’t care for him when my husband made me listen 20 years ago. But DH said, give him a chance, he sounds like what you are already saying. So, once I got beyond the bombast and self-promotion, I found out that I agreed with him. But I already agreed with him, I just found it comforting to know I wasn’t as alone as I had thought.
I think I will start using the shortwave if this happens. It is more interesting than sports or local blather or distorted music that I can hear better on my CD player.
Stop using leftist words. It is THE CENSORSHIP DOCTRINE.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2172649/posts
it is important not to let leftists frame the argument. ask the mod to put “censorship doctrine” in parentheses next to the title.
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