"Fair and balanced"? Yeah, right. Hey, they own the media "weapons of mass distraction" and they are aimed and fired every day at the people by drone commentators loading in unison their Roger Ailes depleted-facts "talking points."
Adding to our misery in this already one party fascist media estate is the recent Supreme Court decision - Citizens v. United - in which the floodgates of corporate, anonymous, money have been opened and the gusher has begun. No unions or any group representing wage-earning people can ever compete with giant corporations armed with billions in profits enabling them to buy up all available air time, and effectively shut down contrary opinions and media access in the networks they own.
If a Fairness Doctrine were restored we would soon see a wider, and more relevant, variety of issues covered by TV and radio media and, hopefully, from a greater number of perspectives. As things stand we only see-hear issues a corporate media world is interested in allowing us to hear, and everything else is covered from a pro-corporate, big business, bankster-friendly, perspective. The public both needs and deserves exposure to a wider variety of opinions on major issues like trade, banking, consumer protection, unions, health care, global warming and energy, religion, environment, constitutional amendments, and a National Initiative process.
As things stand, however, one side gets their opinion to the vast majority while others are locked out by virtue of corporate media ownership and preference. The corporate few decide what the many need to know. They decide, we listen. In addition we have no Editor Freedom Act (see EditorFreedom.com) removing media owner's private power to hire and fire top editors in major media establishments who, in reality, are quasi-public employees with a duty to fairness and truth.
Given this media situation, both democracy and capitalism are damaged, distorted, and plagued by problems which greater information and media access might prevent. The spectacle of people voting against their own interests today, and confusing their interests with those of the richest one per cent of this country, has no other viable explanation than the lack of a Fairness Doctrine in media today.
As the Daily Kos put it: "All public broadcasters are licensed to use OUR airwaves. It used to be that in order to be licensed they were required to serve the public interest. One part of that public interest was to present a balanced view of different political viewpoints and to cover controversial issues of public importance.
This "Fairness Doctrine" requirement was intended to protect the public from the possibility of moneyed interests buying up all of the information sources, leaving the public hearing only their viewpoint.. There was also a personal attack rule, which required stations to notify people or groups who were attacked on their broadcasts and give them the opportunity to respond on the air. And, candidates were given the opportunity to respond to attacks or endorsements of opponents.
Ronald Reagan's FCC stopped enforcing and then got rid of the Fairness Doctrine. Congress restored it but Reagan vetoed that. Under President George HW Bush Congress again restored it but it was vetoed. Then, under President Clinton the House passed it but the Republicans in the Senate blocked it with a filibuster. In the last six years Republicans controlled the House, Senate and Presidency and were quite happy with broadcasters presenting only a narrow corporate viewpoint, and allowing personal attacks to go unanswered. It is time to restore the Fairness Doctrine!
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