To ‘Encourage and Promote Diversity’ in Communications
3/6/2009
When the Senate voted last week to prohibit the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from reinstituting the so-called “fairness doctrine,” many folks breathed a sigh of relief. There had been much talk about the Democrats and their effort to bring back the measure which would force radio stations and other media outlets to set aside equal time for programs offering opposing viewpoints. In other words, if a conservative talk show was popular on a particular radio station and a liberal talk show wasn’t, the radio station would be FORCED to broadcast both.
As it turns out, the celebration of the defeat of the fairness doctrine may be premature. Although the Senate defeated the fairness doctrine amendment, it also approved an amendment which is aimed at “encouraging and promoting diversity in communication media ownership.” That’s right… the federal government would be in the business of saying who can own what in America. Does that sound like America to you?
Harold
ACGR's "News with Attitude" 