toldailytopic: The Fairness Doctrine. Do you agree or disagree with the recent push t

[Nathon Detroit]

The TheologyOnline.com TOPIC OF THE DAY for January 12th, 2011 11:19 AM

toldailytopic: The Fairness Doctrine. Do you agree or disagree with the recent push to bring it back?

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[Nathon Detroit]

Rep. Clyburn: Bring back Fairness Doctrine

Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C), one of the most outspoken voices in the wake of the Tucson shooting, tells the Charleston Post and Courier that he wants to bring back the controversial Fairness Doctrine.

The shooting is cause for the country to rethink parameters on free speech, Clyburn said from his office, just blocks from the South Carolina Statehouse. He wants standards put in place to guarantee balanced media coverage with a reinstatement of the Fairness Doctrine, in addition to calling on elected officials and media pundits to use 'better judgment.'

'Free speech is as free speech does,' he said. 'You cannot yell ‘fire' in a crowded theater and call it free speech and some of what I hear, and is being called free speech, is worse than that.'

The Fairness Doctrine has been a controversial subject during the Obama administration. The Federal Communications Commission in 1987 stopped enforcing the policy that required the media to present both sides of an issue. Now, with the popularity of partisan cable news, some want the FCC to use the policy to inject balance into heated media discussions.

Clyburn's daughter Mignon Clyburn is an FCC commissioner. She took a stand on the matter during her confirmation hearings, saying she opposed such a policy in 'any way shape or form.'​

source

 

[CabinetMaker]

I think things are fair just the way they are. The air waves are available to anybody who can afford them. If your message is not viable in a free market, why should somebody be forced to carry it in the name of "fairness"? Doesn't sound very fair to me.

 

[Granite]

Forcing people to be "fair" strikes me as the height of unintentional irony.

The Fairness Doctrine's fine in theory but rotten in practice. People can seek out their own news and sources.

 

[chrysostom]

it will never be fair as long as we have FOX
and
they have Town Heretic

 

[Nathon Detroit]

Here is the liberal's mental image of how to implement the Fairness Doctrine....

- Mandate that liberal or left leaning voices be equally heard on conservative talk radio.

- Leave the leftist mainstream media untouched.

:mock: liberals

 

[The Barbarian]

If a person wants to present only one side of a question on his own media, that's his perfect right. But the airwaves don't belong to anyone. Broadcasters are only borrowing them from the public, which has the perfect right to put any conditions they like on the use of them.

Because of the fragmentation of the media, the loss of the fairness doctrine really didn't hurt the public in general, but it did allow various frootloop groups to carve out a niche where they were able to hear only what they wanted to hear without any contradiction.

And that, as the general condition of public discourse has recently shown, is not a good thing.

 

[chrysostom]

If a person wants to present only one side of a question on his own media, that's his perfect right. But the airwaves don't belong to anyone. Broadcasters are only borrowing them from the public, which has the perfect right to put any conditions they like on the use of them.

Because of the fragmentation of the media, the loss of the fairness doctrine really didn't hurt the public in general, but it did allow various frootloop groups to carve out a niche where they were able to hear only what they wanted to hear without any contradiction.

And that, as the general condition of public discourse has recently shown, is not a good thing.

speaking for your kind of course

 

[Nathon Detroit]

Because of the fragmentation of the media, the loss of the fairness doctrine really didn't hurt the public in general, but it did allow various frootloop groups to carve out a niche where they were able to hear only what they wanted to hear without any contradiction.

Do you mean like how ABC, CBS, NBC, and CNN and the rest of the mainstream media is completely liberal?

Would you support forcing those media outlets to voice conservative views?

 

[Nydhogg]

I'm sure as Hell not giving equal consideration to authoritarianism.
Authoritarianism should be crushed, not humored.

 

[Nathon Detroit]

I'm sure as Hell not giving equal consideration to authoritarianism.
Authoritarianism should be crushed, not humored.

You raise another great point about the Fairness Doctrine.

Who decides exactly what types of views will be represented on the air waves? Because clearly not all of them could reasonably be presented.

 

[chrysostom]

You raise another great point about the Fairness Doctrine.

Who decides exactly what types of views will be represented on the air waves because clearly not all of them could reasonably be presented.

I can do that

 

[Granite]

You raise another great point about the Fairness Doctrine.

Who decides exactly what types of views will be represented on the air waves because clearly not all of them could reasonably be presented.

Exactly--someone might consider Pat Buchanan a conservative who "deserves" to be on CNN while somebody else would opt for a guy like Mitt Romney.

There's no excuse these days for not finding some kind of media outlet that caters to your taste. The Fairness Doctrine's redundant and pretty out dated.

 

[TomO]

I'm sure as Hell not giving equal consideration to authoritarianism.
Authoritarianism should be crushed, not humored.

My how.....authoritarian of you. :squint:

 

[Nathon Detroit]

There's no excuse these days for not finding some kind of media outlet that caters to your taste. The Fairness Doctrine's redundant and pretty out dated.

It may be outdated but liberals are on the move and have been making noise about reconstituting the Fairness Doctrine for several years now. After the tragedy in Tuscon the noise is getting louder.

 

[Granite]

It may be outdated but liberals are on the move and have been making noise about reconstituting the Fairness Doctrine for several years now. After the tragedy in Tuscon the noise is getting louder.

Quite true, but with a Republican majority in the House I don't see it gaining much traction. It's a pet project the Dems revisit every so often (like DC statehood) that remains very much a pipe dream.

 

[TomO]

It may be outdated but liberals are on the move and have been making noise about reconstituting the Fairness Doctrine for several years now. After the tragedy in Tuscon the noise is getting louder.

lain: Well that's because we have all this violent rhetoric on the air spurring people to commit acts like this one.....we didn't have things like this happen until the Fairness Doctrine was repealed.......


....except for JFK, RFK, MLK, Ford shot at....Regan shot...etc :squint:

 

[Nathon Detroit]

that remains very much a pipe dream.

Maybe so... but if it meets no resistance, that dream (or should I say nightmare) could become a reality.

 

[Granite]

lain: Well that's because we have all this violent rhetoric on the air spurring people to commit acts like this one.....we didn't have things like this happen until the Fairness Doctrine was repealed.......


....except for JFK, RFK, MLK, Ford shot at....Regan shot...etc :squint:

You beat me to it.:thumb:

Look, I find the rhetoric from all sides to be lazy, half-baked, asinine, vicious, mean-spirited, and inaccurate. And I wish we'd get some civil, rational, well-informed discourse in this country for a change. But at the end of the day, one more talking head on CBS wouldn't have stopped Loughner from doing what he did.

 

[Nathon Detroit]

But at the end of the day, one more talking head on CBS wouldn't have stopped Loughner from doing what he did.

That's for sure. In fact we are now learning that 'He did not watch TV. He disliked the news. And he didn't listen to political radio'.