Politico reported (2/16/09) that a new poll shows that support for the Fairness Doctrine has dropped. Unfortunately, the policy described in the poll question bears no relationship to the Fairness Doctrine as it actually existed.
The Rasmussen polling firm asked respondents whether “the government should require all radio stations to offer equal amounts of conservative and liberal political commentary.” But the Fairness Doctrine never called for equal time for any points of view; it actually required, as codified in a 1959 amendment to the Communications Act of 1934, that “a broadcast licensee shall afford reasonable opportunity for discussion of conflicting views on matters of public importance.”
What was “reasonable” was deliberately left vague; in practice, the FCC interpreted it as requiring something like one hour of rebuttal for every five hours devoted to promoting a particular point of view. In other words, a talkshow where the callers got as much airtime as the host, and where one out of every three callers disagreed with the host, would be perfectly in compliance with the Fairness Doctrine, without any other programming required.
Given that much more extreme and intrusive policy invented by the pollsters was only rejected by a modest plurality, you have to wonder how an honest description of the policy would poll.
See Extra!: “The Fairness Doctrine: How We Lost It, and Why We Need It Back” (1–2/05) by Steve Rendall.
The conservative net casts wide as the misinformation campaign unfairly demonizes the Fairness Doctrine, ignoring the context in which it was framed.
Perhaps a successful tack for progressives interested in fairness should be an effort to bring back the “self-regulation” of the broadcast industry with The Radio Code; seeking a return to decency and civility in public commercial broadcast.
Just last week in Denver, longtime libertarian/conservative talker Peter Boyles repeatedly referred to Denver Democratic Congresswoman Diana DeGette as, “Vagina DeGette.”
In a half-hearted apology on the air (2-23) to the Denver Post reporter who called him out, KHOW’s Boyles asked how he should address her, and suggested “Vagina Green” (Susan Greene).
This isn’t about politics. But rather it is about a commercial radio industry unable to maintain any standards of decency in broadcast, exactly what the self-regulated “Radio Code” addressed from the 1960’s to the mid-80’s.
How things have changed when liberal/progressives call for decency in broadcast, and conservatives resort to crass, tackiness in order to hawk their broadcast of what has become a widespread soiling of the publics airwaves.
Leave a Reply