« Edwards says Dean looked inevitable, too | Main | Tancredo coy about re-election plans »

Thompson: "Fairness Doctrine Makes No Sense"

Democrats led by Rep. Henry Waxman and others are pushing to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine, a federal rule from before the days of wide availability of cable, satellite, and internet. If a broadcaster put on any programming which expressed a "political" opinion, equal time had to be made available for opposing views. The result was to keep political expressions to a minimum, lest the broadcaster end up giving away so much "equal time" that the requests for it dominate their airwaves. It was repealed in 1987.

Fred Thompson responds to the effort on his campaign blog:


The real issue here is not what you "can" see or hear -- which is what the Fairness Doctrine was about originally. It's what you're "choosing" to see or hear.

Insiders say it was the collapse of the radio station "Air America" that led to this attempt to retool the Fairness Doctrine as a form of de facto censorship. I guess the idea is that, if you can't compete in the world of ideas, you pass a law that forces radio stations to air your views. In effect, it would force a lot of radio stations to drop some talk show hosts -- because they would lose money providing equal airtime to people who can't attract a market or advertisers.

The funny thing is that the success of the current crop of radio talk show hosts is due, in part, to a lot of people's perception that broadcast television doesn't give the views of their audience a fair shake. Maybe I shouldn't admit it, since I dabble in radio myself, but this media used to be viewed as a kind of broadcast ghetto. The bicoastal elite had such a grip on the major newspapers and television networks; they pretty much ignored the hinterlands. It was media flyover country.

Now congressional leaders say they want to "level the playing field" there too - meaning they want to diminish the importance of conservative talk radio. In other words, they don't trust the results of freedom and the marketplace. Why am I not surprised?


Read the whole post at the link above. Thanks to Gateway Pundit for the pointer.

  • Currently 4.2/5
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
Rating: 4.2/5 (5 votes cast)


Close

Email this entry to:


Your email address:


Message (optional):


AddThis Feed Button

Comments (12)

Read more about what Thmpso... (Below threshold)

Read more about what Thmpson needs to accomplish in the Michigan Debate at

http://azamatterofact.blogspot.com/2007/10/yabba-dabba-doo-fred-joins-debate.htm

Here's the evil. Populism ... (Below threshold)
kim:

Here's the evil. Populism didn't support the liberal talk radio. Answer: suppress the populism.

I'm tellin' ya. Soros is a monster.
==================================

"I'm tellin' ya. Soros is a... (Below threshold)
bryanD:

"I'm tellin' ya. Soros is a monster."=kim

Mark Steyn at NRO's The *neocon* Corner:
"Sorry, no sale. The Democrats chose to outsource their airtime to a Seventh Grader. If a political party is desperate enough to send a boy to do a man's job, then the boy is fair game."
------------------------------------------------

Thompson: "Fairness Doctrine Makes No Sense"

Amid the Aw-shucksisms Fred's selling counter-conspiracies now.

Have you ever seen "A Face In the Crowd"?


The Frost's Progressive lif... (Below threshold)
kim:

The Frost's Progressive life is not worth living; it is unexamined. Public health is good enough for their children but not public schools? Taxes are for other people?
=============================

Ugh! *sophists: spit!...*<b... (Below threshold)
bryanD:

Ugh! *sophists: spit!...*
45K combined income in MD
(Tony Snow couldn't "survive" there on $160K.)
$55K house at purchase.
2 brain-damaged kids with education scholarships not in government schools (good!).

This pic strikes a popular chord:
http://www.sadlyno.com/archives/7418.html

Positive Ron Paul story in ... (Below threshold)
bryanD:

Positive Ron Paul story in NRO(!!!).

On-topic because it mentions Paul campaign opposition research appetizers vis. Thompson and Romney.

The Romney one is a real OUCH!

The link:<a href="ht... (Below threshold)
bryanD:
Sophists, spits.45... (Below threshold)
kim:

Sophists, spits.

45K combined income. Self-employed with little taxable income. Likely rich tax cheats. What's the house worth now? How much tuition per year. It's 40K. C'mon, bd, you're sounding like a propagandist not a thinker.

Brain damaged? Not in public schools? Sometimes I think you ought to examine your own assumptions just a little more rigourously. All the more reason to think this bit was fed you. Are you feeling useful?
====================================

I'll support the "fairness ... (Below threshold)
P. Bunyan:

I'll support the "fairness doctrine" as long as it's applies to broadcast televsion as well as radio. I'd love it if the CBS Evening News[sic] had 15 mins of Katie Curic's usual communist propaganda and 15 minutes of rebuttal with, say, Ann Coulter at the helm.

When ever I've heard someone ask of a leftist who supports reinstating the fairness doctrine "would you support this being applied to broadcast televsion, such as the network news?" The inevitable reply is "What are you talking about? There's no bias on the network news." And I am reminded that leftist neo-comms exist in their own fabricated reality.

The democrats have to push ... (Below threshold)
Scrapiron:

The democrats have to push the fairness doctrine since they have no one in the entire party that can hold their own in a fight with a goldfish much less on talk radio. Dum De Dum Dum bunch of people, or it could be that the American people catch their lies within minutes when they start slandering and sliming everyone, which is all they know. That puts them in a tough spot.

Frankly, what the Fairness ... (Below threshold)

Frankly, what the Fairness Doctrine supporting lefties should do is what they propose for all other things they do not like - boycott. Simply don't listen. While they wail and wring their hands over this they listen as much as conservatives do. And while they're istening, advertisers are reaching them. Instead, they act as if boycotting the advertisers will work. It doesn't. Advertisers will continue to pay for airtime because conservative radio has the listeners, both conservatives and liberals alike.

'Fairness Doctrine' assumes... (Below threshold)
kim:

'Fairness Doctrine' assumes objective 'fairness'. Ain't gonna happen. Fair is a subjective matter, and something at which humans are pretty good. Humans know that censorship is not 'fair'.
========================




Advertisements






rightads.gif

beltwaybloggers.gif

insiderslogo.jpg

mba_blue.gif

Contact

Send e-mail tips to us:

politicstips@wizbangblog.com

Categories

Monthly Archives

Wizbang Politics Blogroll

Credits

Publisher: Kevin Aylward

Editors: Jim Addison, Bill Jempty

All original content copyright © 2007 by Wizbang®, LLC. All rights reserved. Wizbang® is a registered service mark.

DCMA Compliance Notice

Powered by Movable Type 3.35

Hosting by ServInt

Ratings on this site are powered by the Ajax Ratings Pro plugin for Movable Type.

Search on this site is powered by the FastSearch plugin for Movable Type.

Blogrolls on this site are powered by the MT-Blogroll.

Temporary site design is based on Cutline and Cutline for MT. Graphics by Apothegm Designs.

Site Meter