The Fairness Doctrine: Part Deux

Tony said:
. . . I do think there should be rules governing media ownership. A singular or a few private interests should not be allowed to dictate what information and views the citizen hears.
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I'll buy that.
I think there used to be rules governing media ownership. If I recall correctly, those rules were relaxed. Gutted actually.
 
I wonder if the fairness doctrine were implemented, how many of the larger market hosts would go the Howard Stern route and take their shows to satellite radio? Could new technologies have made the threat of a fairness doctrine into a paper tiger?

How exactly could the government implement the fairness doctrine? Would they have to quantify each talk radio host on a political spectrum and then find an equal but opposite for "balance"?
 
rtalman said:
I wonder if the fairness doctrine were implemented, how many of the larger market hosts would go the Howard Stern route and take their shows to satellite radio? Could new technologies have made the threat of a fairness doctrine into a paper tiger?

How exactly could the government implement the fairness doctrine? Would they have to quantify each talk radio host on a political spectrum and then find an equal but opposite for "balance"?
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There only 24 hours in a day. If radio stations had to give 50/50 time with so called equal time, they may just change formats. Alot of revenue would be lost and alot less time would be devoted to talk radio at all.
 
Tony said:
That's pretty simple isn't it? Take gay marriage, there are "for" and "against" sides. Those are the relevant opinions, someone denying the holocaust isn't.
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So a population of 300 million people and there are only 2 opinions on gay marriage ? So where are the guys who support civil unions but not full blown marriage get put? How about those us like myself who are against straight marriage?;) I am certain there are more than 2 opinions on gay marriage.

And what if the radio population has no interest in gay marriage and other related issues but wants to hear Holocaust denials? Do they cancel the gay marriage debate to sell some ad placement to stay in business?
 
firecoins said:
There only 24 hours in a day. If radio stations had to give 50/50 time with so called equal time, they may just change formats. Alot of revenue would be lost and alot less time would be devoted to talk radio at all.
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I'm not sure I agree that AM stations would change their formats from talk radio. Maybe they would only make half the money because the opposite side might be dead air, but still it would have to be far more profitable than what was on AM radio before the rise of the talk hosts.

I could see loyal listeners of host X still listening during his 3 hour timeslot and then tuning out while Host Y of the opposite team takes to the airwaves for his 3 hours.
 
Cable TV is full of shows about UFOs, Big Foot, the Yeti, haughtings, psychics, witches, gods, demons, angels... the BURMUDA TRIANGLE!!!


Actors in daytime soaps still get fan mail addressed to their characters and warning them about what other characters in the show are plotting.


What kind of Rorschach is this?


The little bit of talk radio I hear seems to be targeting the same level of intellect and credulity.


But this is America. Even stupid people have rights here.


The Rabble had the Arena; here they have cable and talk radio. Leave them to what makes them feel empowered, or sleeping dogs lie, as the sage once said.
 
Yeah... I wonder If the fairness doctrine would extend to PBS radio and T.V....I think not! Those stations along with most MSM is as liberal as you can get...
 
I’ve never heard it called the “fairness thingy”. It used to be referred to the “equal time thingy”. When you use the “fairness” this spirals into a “who gets to choose what is fair” argument.

I think the rules should be if Bill O spends 30 minutes telling one lie after another about me or anyone, then the person singled out gets 30 minutes to refute what he said. And if the station owner doesn’t like the 30 minutes of "dead air" time, too bad. It was their choice to air it.

An ordinary citizen has no recourse with the current system. Those in power can and do abuse it. Think back to the Terri Shievo(sp?) BS and how it was all one nut case after another telling lie after lie and no one allowed on to refute it.

A mandatory equal time should always be the rule for public airways.
 
Daylight said:
I’ve never heard it called the “fairness thingy”. It used to be referred to the “equal time thingy”. When you use the “fairness” this spirals into a “who gets to choose what is fair” argument.

I think the rules should be if Bill O spends 30 minutes telling one lie after another about me or anyone, then the person singled out gets 30 minutes to refute what he said. And if the station owner doesn’t like the 30 minutes of "dead air" time, too bad. It was their choice to air it.

An ordinary citizen has no recourse with the current system. Those in power can and do abuse it. Think back to the Terri Shievo(sp?) BS and how it was all one nut case after another telling lie after lie and no one allowed on to refute it.

A mandatory equal time should always be the rule for public airways.
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Yeah... I imagine Bill Mayher,,,Keith Olberman...and Al Franken would be big fans of the "Fairness Doctrine"..it would put them right out of business.
 
Comrade Ogilvy said:
Yeah... I imagine Bill Mayher,,,Keith Olberman...and Al Franken would be big fans of the "Fairness Doctrine"..it would put them right out of business.
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Maher and Olberman are on television cable networks, to my knowledge they are not regulated by the FCC (feel free to correct me if I am wrong).
 
Isn't all this talk about the Fairness Doctrine just a bunch of hype about a conversation Sen. James Inhofe supposedly overheard three years ago that has been latched onto by... Talk Radio?

Where are the bill numbers for the supposed legislation?
 
rtalman said:
I'm not sure I agree that AM stations would change their formats from talk radio. Maybe they would only make half the money because the opposite side might be dead air, but still it would have to be far more profitable than what was on AM radio before the rise of the talk hosts.

I could see loyal listeners of host X still listening during his 3 hour timeslot and then tuning out while Host Y of the opposite team takes to the airwaves for his 3 hours.
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why would a radio station lose 3 hours of revenue?
 
Maher is on HBO. He has nothing to worry about. Olberman may not have anything to worry about either but I think the FCC does regulate non premium channels.
 
Comrade Ogilvy said:
Don`t really know...
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Then perhaps you should find out before inserting your little soundbites into the thread.

but I get PBS on cable along with abc..nbc and cbs?
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Cable providers are required, by federal law, to include local broadcast stations, such as your friendly neighborhood PBS, ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX affiliates.
 
Cleon said:
Then perhaps you should find out before inserting your little soundbites into the thread.

Cable providers are required, by federal law, to include local broadcast stations, such as your friendly neighborhood PBS, ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX affiliates.
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Granted....but they are not covered by the FCC...then who is?
 
I think the Fairness Doctrine is basically a good idea, (for the reasons Tony says, more or less) but at the same time I think it's kind of pointless. The amount of media which is broadcast over airwaves is diminishing quite a bit. To force broadcast media to be fair seems like it would be somewhat pointless when broadcast is such a small slice of the media.

A solution which might be a better compromise would simply be to maybe create some federally funded networks which are sort of a cross between PBS and CSPAN which can focus specifically on presenting public affairs in a pretty fair and dry format.
 
Comrade Ogilvy said:
Granted....but they are not covered by the FCC...then who is?
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A network is regulated by the FCC if they broadcast over the airwaves. It is not required that they broadcast exclusively over the airwaves. Thus, PBS, FOX etc are FCC regulated, while say, MTV is not.
 
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