The Democrats are not pushing this to return broadcast media to "what was once a pretty balanced source of facts and ideas." They're doing this because Air America failed, and Rush, Hannity, O'Reilly are successful. If you can't beat them, abuse your power to beat them.
If by successful you mean subsidized by rich conservative money, then you're correct that they are successful. Air America was simply frozen off the airwaves when they could not get picked up by conservative controlled stations, which includes pretty much the entire industry. Paying to suppress Free Speech in this manner is what the Fairness Doctrine prevented in the past, and will prevent in the future.
Commrade Barack vill decide what's fair! Da, commrade! Ve vill huddle around a radio after vorking in the fields all day and listen to our god. The great god Barack! Da!
LOL Classic denial. Or, what you described above is known as the free market, where ideas with a market thrive and those without a market die. I suggest you listen to NPR, which I help pay for, and where not a single voice from the right is on-air.
DA!, Commrade! Ze great conservatist beast has choked us all! Da millionaires (ie, those making $250,000 per year or more) have stolen our minds! Ve MUST return to the great liberal gods! Hiel, Barack!
So you're saying the best way to protect free speech is to have a government authority monitor what's being said closely and then try to ensure that there's an opposing view? So, when someone says bringing back slavery is a bad idea, we should make sure they have someone else saying that slavery kicks ass? How about standing against child molestation? In response, do we have the NAMBLA Hour? I agree with you about slant however--television is dominated by the left.
"Frozen off"? http://airamerica.com/stations It seems pretty easy to get AA to me. And if you have an internet connection, you're dancing! If you're really interested in listening to AA, check out the Lionel Show. I used to listen to him when he was on "conservative controlled stations" but went to AA to reach aider audience. The result will be that station managers simply wion't have political talk shows--which is the result the Left is hoping for. It can't win in the marketplace, so it tries to legislate out the competition. Typical.
So, let me get this straight...there are too many right leaning shows on the airwaves, so the government is going to mandate...err....regulate that more left leaning shows are on the radio....but on TV, the far bigger medium IMO...where the exact opposite is true...well, the Democrats are going to leave that alone because that medium is "working as intended" from thier perspective..... What a joke....
I don't think you have that right, at least I don't see any indication that it has been proposed to apply to radio only. barfo
Mostly, the doctrine was used to allow victims of slander equal time to respond to charges. So if Hannity or Limbaugh made up some outlandish charge (I know, I know, they would never spread lies about someone), or if a left-wing radio host (they used to exist before the doctrine was scuttled) did the same, that person would be provided the opportunity to come on the same station and defend themselves. We certainly had less lying BS polluting the airwaves back then. For the record though, Wkik has a pretty nice history of the pros and cons of it and here's what they say is Obama's take: Presidential candidate Barack Obama has expressed his opposition to the Fairness Doctrine; an aide to Senator Obama described the debate surrounding it as "a distraction from the conversation we should be having about opening up the airwaves and modern communications to as many diverse viewpoints as possible," and cited Obama's support for other proposals such as media-ownership caps and network neutrality. As usual, he cuts through the distractions and gets to the heart of the matter, which is to prevent an Ownership Monopoly of the airwaves by either side. Smart guy.
MOST of America does not have an internet connection. Many who do have one probably will have to let it go to be able to pay for more important things as our economy goes down the tube. That leaves radio, and Air America is not carried on even 1 station in the "liberal" State of Oregon. Compare ZERO representation of viewpoint to the constant 24-hour, multi-band, multi-station barrage of Right-wing pundits and it amounts to nothing short of a government-enabled, conservative-funded dumbing-down and brainwashing of the American People. The results will eventually mirror the size of the disaster that de-regulation of Wall St. has brought us, that de-regulation of Big Oil has brought us. Empty minds to match our empty retirement accounts.
http://www.620kpoj.com/main.html http://www.kkee1230.com/pages/623991.php That took me less than 30 seconds to find. And for the record, if there were really a call for left leaning radio, Air America wouldn't be losing stations all over the country.
What are those links are supposed to prove? Not sure what "a call for" means to you, but when outarged citizens have mobilized their representatives to enact law by bringing back the Fairness Doctrine, I see that as "a call for" of historic proportions.
Um, those are links for progressive radio stations. Does it need to be "Air America" for it to receive your endorsement? Aren't Ed Schultz, Stephanie Miller, Randy Rhodes (the talk show host, not Ozzy's dead guitarist), etc. enough of a link? I guess if you really do want government involvement in every nook and cranny of our lives, the brand really is important to you. And if you want the "Fairness Doctrine" on the ballot, I'm fine with a vote for it. What's next? Can Betamax have this idea extended to VCRs?
at issue is that the spectrum is licensed from the government. It is a limited government resource, and the government can place conditions on the right to use it. cable TV content is NOT regulated by the government (other than possibly regulations relating to carriage of particular stations by cable service providers).
The whole liberal media thing is a bunch of sour grapes by Repuglicans who feel like they can trump it out when they feel they are being treated unfairly. When in reality, they are being treated fairly, its just clear as day that the country wants something fresh in the White House, not the same old policies as the joke of an administration as we have in there right now. Its not bias, its reality. There's nothing good to talk about with the Repuglican party right now. Anybody who knows a lick about politics realizes that most Repuglicans that you come across these days are ashamed to admit their affiliations. Even more are starting to distance themselves from the party. This circus of a campaign that the current Repuglican nominee has been running hasn't done much to change those feelings. North Carolina, Virginia, Montana ? I mean c'mon its blatantly obvious that the current Repuglican party has alienated its base by thinking the same smear tactics, along with picking Caribou Barbie isn't going to energize an already deflated party. In reality it has peeled away even more people who have voted mostly Repuglican in the past (my dad included). I mean Obama a socialist, terrorist who is stealing the election with ACORN? Is this the best you can do? Not to mention while people are losing their jobs and the stock market in a downward spiral on a daily basis your candidate comes out and says the economy is fine. This isn't rocket science. Over the past 8 years the Repuglican party has shot itself in the foot (no pun intended VP Dick) more times than I have fingers left. This has nothing to do with media bias its reality. In the day of Youtube, you can't go around trumping out lies as though they are facts. So there's some kind of media bias where all major outlets and even the BBC for that matter have gotten together behind closed doors and decided that they are all head hunting the Repuglican party. C'mon folks, your smarter than this. Its not just the economy, stupids.
How so? One side presented a product that draws listeners and advertisers and the other side can't meet its payroll. I understand from your view the market can be a little rough.
