Americans for Reciprocal Fairness
Whether Senator Kerry and Senator Schumer are successful in establishing a foothold for the reimplementation of the Fairness Doctrine is yet to be seen. The only certainty is that they will attempt to quiet the voices of conservatives heard on talk radio.
The Fairness Doctrine was never law, but rather composed of the policies and guidelines of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for broadcasters. Most of the early fairness policies were based on the “scarcity” of outlets.
During the 1980s, the “scarcity” argument became moot. The abundance of news outlets, including cable TV, the popularity of FM broadcasting, and access to the Internet opened an incredible array of vehicles for information dissemination.
The FCC issued a Fairness Report in 1985, which concluded the doctrine might actually have a "chilling effect" on news reporting, and could be in “violation of the First Amendment.”
It’s common knowledge that liberal radio talk programs rarely raise or sustain an audience. Why? More than likely because the liberal viewpoint is readily available in most every newspaper, weekly magazine, on the network news broadcasts and on most cable news programs. Plus, the left’s viewpoint dominates most Internet political blogs.
Conservative talk radio's success is the natural outcome of the liberal domination of other mediums which express political viewpoints. Balanced news reporting in the other sectors would dramatically shrink its impact.
It’s obvious that Kerry, Schumer, Pelosi and Reid want to stamp out the loudest voice of their opposition. Because the Fairness Doctrine only includes information disseminated across the airwaves, their biased, liberal friends controlling the print media would not be scathed by this censorship.
The existence of privately owned radio stations is fueled by advertisers who purchase time to promote their wares and services. The fees are based on the size of the listening audience when the ads are run.
The goal of Kerry and Schumer has nothing to do with the dissemination of liberal views. The media is already satiated with those who promote liberal causes. Forcing radio broadcasters to provide equal airtime for programs which express liberal opinions would decimate the revenue stream required to keep the conservative stations operating. That’s their goal.
The Fairness Doctrine is an end-run around the First Amendment to silence the opposition. The efforts of Kerry and Schumer, et al., can be stopped by the fans of talk radio.
We have a president elect who takes office on January 20, 2009. Every time a liberally biased broadcaster runs video of him (live or a video recap), or features his picture on a magazine or on a newspaper front page, immediately change the station, or refuse to buy a print copy.
Once the advertisers realize the public is tuning out these forums en masse, they will abandon them. The loss of revenues will encourage the liberal media outlets to stop the drumbeat for the Fairness Doctrine.
This opposition should be called Americans for Reciprocal Fairness. President Obama’s State-of-the-Union address would be a great time to start defending the First Amendment.
The Fairness Doctrine was never law, but rather composed of the policies and guidelines of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for broadcasters. Most of the early fairness policies were based on the “scarcity” of outlets.
During the 1980s, the “scarcity” argument became moot. The abundance of news outlets, including cable TV, the popularity of FM broadcasting, and access to the Internet opened an incredible array of vehicles for information dissemination.
The FCC issued a Fairness Report in 1985, which concluded the doctrine might actually have a "chilling effect" on news reporting, and could be in “violation of the First Amendment.”
It’s common knowledge that liberal radio talk programs rarely raise or sustain an audience. Why? More than likely because the liberal viewpoint is readily available in most every newspaper, weekly magazine, on the network news broadcasts and on most cable news programs. Plus, the left’s viewpoint dominates most Internet political blogs.
Conservative talk radio's success is the natural outcome of the liberal domination of other mediums which express political viewpoints. Balanced news reporting in the other sectors would dramatically shrink its impact.
It’s obvious that Kerry, Schumer, Pelosi and Reid want to stamp out the loudest voice of their opposition. Because the Fairness Doctrine only includes information disseminated across the airwaves, their biased, liberal friends controlling the print media would not be scathed by this censorship.
The existence of privately owned radio stations is fueled by advertisers who purchase time to promote their wares and services. The fees are based on the size of the listening audience when the ads are run.
The goal of Kerry and Schumer has nothing to do with the dissemination of liberal views. The media is already satiated with those who promote liberal causes. Forcing radio broadcasters to provide equal airtime for programs which express liberal opinions would decimate the revenue stream required to keep the conservative stations operating. That’s their goal.
The Fairness Doctrine is an end-run around the First Amendment to silence the opposition. The efforts of Kerry and Schumer, et al., can be stopped by the fans of talk radio.
We have a president elect who takes office on January 20, 2009. Every time a liberally biased broadcaster runs video of him (live or a video recap), or features his picture on a magazine or on a newspaper front page, immediately change the station, or refuse to buy a print copy.
Once the advertisers realize the public is tuning out these forums en masse, they will abandon them. The loss of revenues will encourage the liberal media outlets to stop the drumbeat for the Fairness Doctrine.
This opposition should be called Americans for Reciprocal Fairness. President Obama’s State-of-the-Union address would be a great time to start defending the First Amendment.
Labels: Fairness Doctine, talk radio
posted by David at
6:57 AM
