Posted by
Arnie on Friday, June 29, 2007 11:18:30 AM
Now everyone is talking and writing about the Fairness Doctrine. Talk radio is talking about it. The mainstream media is talking about it. The politicians are taking about it. The newspapers are editorializing about it. So, there is no need for me to add my two cents into the fray for the couple of dozens that stop by here.
It was originally created way back in the yesteryear of 1949 and has been somewhat enforced on a case by case basis until 1987 when the FCC abolished the doctrine, “…the intrusion by government into the content of programming occasioned by the enforcement of [the Fairness Doctrine] restricts the journalistic freedom of broadcasters ... (and) actually inhibits the presentation of controversial issues of public importance to the detriment of the public and the degradation of the editorial prerogative of broadcast journalists"
All I can add is that the fairness doctrine is that it is not fair. Hey, life is not fair. It’s not fair that some school children have more crayons than others, so then teachers force all of the students to surrender the supply that mommie bought into a big pile that all the students can use. It’s not fair that some pay taxes at a lower rate than others. It’s not fair that some can be accepted in a college over another just to meet some kind of a perceived balance. It’s not fair that some immigrants have to wait in line in order to enter the US while others just walk across. It’s just not fair that a border agent is in jail while a criminal drug smuggler went free.
Add your own to the list. It’s just not fair. Life is not fair. Congress thinks they are fair, but they are anything but.
But we do have a constitution that says: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
And it’s not fair to all the citizens of the US for Congress to forget this First Amendment, or to think that their desires are not covered by the above. That is what is not fair.