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FAIRNESS_GLOW_OF_HINDSIGHT

                                             February 18, 2021

In a piece on the Fairness Doctrine
from 2005 up at the fair.org site,          https://fair.org/extra/the-fairness-doctrine/
Steve Rendall tries to correct some
misconceptions, but I think he misses
the mark in some places.


    "... it did not require that each program be
    internally balanced, nor did it mandate equal
    time for opposing points of view. And it didn’t
    require that the balance of a station’s program
    lineup be anything like 50/50."


    "Nor, as Rush Limbaugh has repeatedly claimed,
    was the Fairness Doctrine all that stood
    between conservative talkshow hosts and the
    dominance they would attain after the
    doctrine’s repeal. In fact, not one Fairness
    Doctrine decision issued by the FCC had ever
    concerned itself with talkshows."


    "The Fairness Doctrine simply prohibited
    stations from broadcasting from a single
    perspective, day after day, without
    presenting opposing views.


    "Indeed, when it was in place, citizen groups
    used the Fairness Doctrine as a tool to expand
    speech and debate.  For instance, it prevented
    stations from allowing only one side to be
    heard on ballot measures."


    "As a guarantor of balance and inclusion,
    the Fairness Doctrine was no panacea. It was
    somewhat vague, and depended on the vigilance of
    listeners and viewers to notice imbalance."


I think Steve Rendall underplays the inevitable
chilling effect of a vague rule that requires
"voluntary compliance".

My impression of those days was the networks did
their best to not say very much-- you don't have       It could easily be
to worry about contrasting views if you don't          that Limbaugh was
have any view in the first place.                      right on this one.

                                                            Certainly the
                                                            timing supports
                                                            that thinking:
                                                            the Fairness
                                                            Doctrine was
                                                            dropped in 1987,
                                                            and Limbaugh was
                                                            picked up by a
                                                            New York station
                                                            in 1988.




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