Why do Democrats and Liberals want to use the Fairness Doctrine to silence AM talk radio?

Question

Liberal news slant and editorial bias permeate and dominate most major news papers, broadcast networks, and PBS. So, why do they want to kill one of the only national media outlets for Conservative opinion? Do they really believe in freedom of speech and expression on the whole or only when it promotes their agenda?

Answer 1

Because they can't compete in the world of ideas.

Trust me, nothing would please me more than to hear a liberal arguing with facts and logic, against a conservative arguing with facts and logic.

However, liberal talk radio fails virtually everywhere it's tried. The ideas don't hold up for more than a sound bite or short interview. Liberals can't back up their ideas for 2 or 3 hours every day.

The Fairness Doctrine will indeed silence conservative AM talk radio, by 50%. It will force conservatives to be silent 50% of the time while liberals speak. Liberals already dominate TV, newspapers, and news magazines. Let us conservatives at least have Talk Radio.

Besides which, what part of "Congress Shall Make No Law abridging the freedom of speech" don't you understand?

To Diogenese - it is not garbage. Liberals do dominate the media. A pew poll some years back found that most journalists identified themselves as liberal. Also a new study released today shows that journalists donate to Dems 9:1 over Republicans. You picked a bad day to deny that truth.

Below are some examples of how liberals try and stifle conservative's free speech

Answer 2

The airwaves are a public trust. A trust held for all. Not a pseudo-conservative trust, granted for the purpose of securing a voice for the neo-con, lunatic fringe.

Returning to the Fairness Doctrine would no more silence AM talk radio than it did when it was in force in the past. While Limbaugh and others claim that they in some way 'invented' talk radio, it's simply not the case. It was around long before they were and managed to present an amazing range of opinion. All the Fairness Doctrine requires is that response time be offered to opposing views. Nothing more or less.

What the proponents of a Soviet-style media that presents only one view and one agenda must answer is, why are they so afraid of the true Conservative concept of a level playing field? Why are they so insecure about competing views if they're sure they're right? The reality is that a legitimate argument will gain greater support when chosen in the presence of contradicting arguments that have been considered and rejected.

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Answer 3

Your question and comments reveal a deep misunderstanding of the Fairness Doctrine, the media, and the nature of political dialogue. The Fairness Doctrine suppresses NO ONE'S ability to express their viewpoint. In point of fact, the Fairness Doctrine helps people get their views an equal airing by requiring that editorial arguments to one side of the political spectrum be balanced with arguments in favor of the other direction. On so-called liberal shows, the Fairness Doctrine would require that the conservative view also be presented. In the case of the conservative shows on AM radio, implementation of the Fairness Doctrine would mandate that the "liberal" viewpoint be aired as well. And, you have conveniently forgotten that it was this Republican White House with a Republican majority in both the Senate and the House of Representatives that did away with the Fairness Doctrine about six years ago. The Democrats only want to bring back what the censorship loving Republicans did away with in the first place.

Secondly, if you have been so indoctrinated that you honestly believe that the Republican and Democrat parties are vastly different in ideology, then you may as well enlist in the military because clearly you will believe anything you're told. Both parties espouse capitalism as a viable economic strategy, and both are totally dependent on and in servitude of major corporations. A more realistic understanding of the political spectrum is in order. The Republicans do represent the conservative and neo-conservative philosophies; however, despite what you might like to argue to the contrary, the Democrats have also drifted increasingly to the right, such that one can accurately say that Democrats are primarily centrists and just left of center philosophically. The actual Left in the U.S. does not have representation under the dictatorship of the two party system. Genuinely left-wing politics can only be found in relatively small organizations like the DSA(Democratic Socialists of America) and the Greens(Green Party USA).

As for media bias, real news about what is really going on in the U.S., in Iraq, and around the world can only be found through international news services like DeutscheWelle and the BBC. In the U.S., corporate media outlets report news as suits the media moguls and their vision of the corporate model: there is media bias, and it ISN'T liberal. It frequently isn't particularly conservative either. The bias is corporate. What is news, how news is reported, and how we are to be made to understand events and issues is shaped by Big Business to suit its whims. And sometimes that's to the left and sometimes that's to the right. Mainly, however, it's in the slant that's good for business, irrespective of whether it's good for the people or not.

Answer 4

I believe you misunderstand the Fairness Doctrine. The necessity for the Fairness Doctrine, according to proponents, arises from the fact that there are many fewer broadcast licenses than people who would like to have them. Unlike publishing, where the tools of the trade are in more or less endless supply, broadcasting licenses are limited by the finite number of available frequencies. Thus, as trustees of a scarce public resource, licensees accept certain public interest obligations in exchange for the exclusive use of limited public airwaves. One such obligation was the Fairness Doctrine, which was meant to ensure that a variety of views, beyond those of the licensees and those they favored, were heard on the airwaves. (Since cable’s infrastructure is privately owned and cable channels can, in theory, be endlessly multiplied, the FCC does not put public interest requirements on that medium.)

There are many misconceptions about the Fairness Doctrine. For instance, 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. Indeed, the talkshow format was born and flourished while the doctrine was in operation. Before the doctrine was repealed, right-wing hosts frequently dominated talkshow schedules, even in liberal cities, but none was ever muzzled (The Way Things Aren’t, Rendall et al., 1995). 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. Over the years, it had been supported by grassroots groups across the political spectrum, including the ACLU, National Rifle Association and the right-wing Accuracy In Media.

Answer 5

I certainly think of that many liberals think of it is going to. certainly what it is going to do is decrease political fact around the board. enormous exhibits like Limbaugh will stay to tell the story without subject, yet there is rather no longer a sort of recent exhibits created, liberal or conservative and various marginal exhibits would be bumped off completely. the reason at the back of it rather is through fact while confronted with attempting to enforce all that the "fairness Doctrine" demands, maximum content textile companies will elect to no longer furnish political content textile in any respect, or will scale it right down to an particularly constrained format, quite than undertake the balancing act and notification tactics required.

Answer 6

because it's exactly that; opinion. who listens to AM radio anyway? conservatives have a tendency to blur facts and opinions. and somehow all the problems of the world can be traced back to the "liberals", especially the conservative anti-christs, the clintons lol. both broadcast networks and talk radio do nothing but deliver talking points and have talking heads spew crazy opinions to divide the nation. lol and conservatives should be last people to trash others on "promoting an agenda" (saddam has WMD and a connection with al-qaeda?, come on dude) lol. that is exactly why we're in this mess you call a war; too much time spreading propaganda, no time spent on an exit strategy, and having their minions hammer their metaphor-laden talking points into our heads telling us that dissent is unamerican. who listens to radio anymore?

Answer 7

Because talk radio is the only part of the media the liberals do not control. Many years ago they tried this fairness doctrine crap, they couldnt get it passed back then. So they thought liberal talk radio would work....it didnt, no one listened. Now they are back to trying to silence any opposition to their socialist causes.

Answer 8

First of all you fall for that garbage about the media being dominated by liberals. Second, a fairness doctrine might allow others to rebut the lies of Bill O, Rush and Sean. Those guys constantly spout lies and they need someone to point out when they do. Try a little fact checking and you might find out what the truth is and who really speaks it.

Answer 9

I would imagine they are just jealous because thier beloved Al Franken-led "Air America" is sucking wind if it is even on the air. By the way, a report was released today that says that 9 out of 10 reporters donate to Democrats' campaigns. Hmmmm.....

Answer 10

Because they don't have a viable voice on talk radio - Al Franken sure ain't it.

Plus, it gives them something to whine about it.