# Is it time to bring the Fairness Doctrine back? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 2, 2011, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-time-to-bring-the-fairness-doctrine-back/573236 "2011-03-02T17:46:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-time-to-bring-the-fairness-doctrine-back/573236/21 "2011-03-02T18:43:18Z")
> [@villa](#): > > That’s your problem, and explains why you are mistaken here. It can be pretty easy: > [@](#): > > Kilmeade: According To USA Today/Gallup Poll, “61 Percent In Favor Of Taking [Bargaining Rights] Away.” On the February 23 edition of Fox News’ Fox & Friends, co-host Brian Kilmeade discussed the results of a recent USA Today/Gallup poll to falsely claim that “61 percent” of those polled are “in favor of taking [collective bargaining rights] away.” > > \ > > USA Today/Gallup: “61% Would Oppose A Law In Their State Similar To [The] Proposal In Wisconsin.” In the poll conducted on February 21, USA Today and Gallup found that 61 percent of those polled would oppose a law similar to the one Gov. Walker is proposing in Wisconsin. > > SOURCE: [http://mediamatters.org/research/201103020013](http://mediamatters.org/research/201103020013) FOX issued a correction later in the show but that came nowhere near the time given on the bogus number. Deliberate misdirection. Deliberate lying. Getting that right is not hard. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-time-to-bring-the-fairness-doctrine-back/573236/22 "2011-03-02T18:46:55Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Deliberate misdirection. Deliberate lying. You say lie , they say mistake. Good luck proving they lied deliberately rather than screwing up. The correction never gets as much airtime or prominent space as the original error, but Fox did run a corrected graphic and Kilmeade said on air that he’d gotten it wrong. It’s a dumbass error if it was an error, but all you’ve proved is that they’re bad journalists, not that they are liars. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-time-to-bring-the-fairness-doctrine-back/573236/23 "2011-03-02T18:49:40Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > No. The fairness doctrine had, as its effect, the function of chilling poltical speech on the airwaves. Absolutely not true. I was around before it was scrapped. All it did was allow a time for an opposing view to be presented. The idea being that airways are the property of the people , all the people. They are not owned by the corporations who control them. Sometimes a view that I as against presented a good argument. How can that be wrong. Educating the people to other opinions is a good thing. ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-time-to-bring-the-fairness-doctrine-back/573236/24 "2011-03-02T18:49:53Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > It can be pretty easy Yes, it can be. But most of the time it isn’t. And how would an example from Fox News impact a law aimed at broadcast stations? Some people want right wing lies. Even if you are successful preventing them on broadcast channels, you will simply move those who seek such lies towards cable TV and satellite radio. So in essence, all support for the Fairness Doctrine will be is corporate welfare for Comcast and Time Warner. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-time-to-bring-the-fairness-doctrine-back/573236/25 "2011-03-02T18:50:30Z")
> [@Agnostic\_Pagan](#): > > The current policy of print publications publishing corrections is sufficient for them, and media watchdog sites do a fair job of covering broadcast and internet sources. > > Blatant lies are quickly reported on by other members of the media. If a network develops a reputation for distorting the truth, either intentionally or not, their credibility will be decided by the public. Apparently correct information is not working as you would like it to: > [@](#): > > A whopping 58 percent of Republicans either think Barack Obama wasn’t born in the US (28 percent) or aren’t sure (30 percent). A mere 42 percent think he was. > > That means a majority of Republicans polled either don’t know about – or don’t believe the seemingly incontrovertible evidence Obama’s camp has presented over and over and over that he was born in Hawaii in '61. > > SOURCE: [http://www.politico.com/blogs/glennthrush/0709/58\_of\_GOP\_not\_suredont\_beleive\_Obama\_born\_in\_US.html](http://www.politico.com/blogs/glennthrush/0709/58_of_GOP_not_suredont_beleive_Obama_born_in_US.html) > [@](#): > > Poll: Nearly Half Of Americans Believe “Death Panel” Falsehood > > \ > > Nearly half the country believes that the health care proposal would empower the government to withhold medical care for the elderly. As Steve Benen notes, this “points to a political discourse that’s badly broken.” > > SOURCE: [http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/political-media/poll-nearly-half-of-americans-believe-death-panel-falsehood/](http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/political-media/poll-nearly-half-of-americans-believe-death-panel-falsehood/) ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-time-to-bring-the-fairness-doctrine-back/573236/26 "2011-03-02T18:52:29Z")
> [@villa](#): > > And how would an example from Fox News impact a law aimed at broadcast stations? If FOX broadcasts on satellite or Over-the-Air then it applies (using public airwaves). If they want a different show on cable then not much to be done about that. They’ll just have to split their news broadcasts to cable and everything else or give up on the broadcast spectrum. I doubt they would do that. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-time-to-bring-the-fairness-doctrine-back/573236/27 "2011-03-02T18:55:11Z")
> [@villa](#): > > Some people want right wing lies. This is the big problem, and it sucks. More than ever, people want their news to tell them whatever they want to hear. Good luck fixing that, along with the proliferation of blogs, podcasts, and satellite channels, with FCC rules. ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-time-to-bring-the-fairness-doctrine-back/573236/28 "2011-03-02T18:58:52Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > If FOX broadcasts on satellite or Over-the-Air then it applies (using public airwaves). Are you sure broadcast rules (such as _Red Lion_) apply to satellite providers? ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-time-to-bring-the-fairness-doctrine-back/573236/29 "2011-03-02T18:58:59Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Corporate executives (even scumbags like Roger Ailes) are citizens with rights, and people always have the power to vote with their remote controls and wallets. > I didn’t say it was. (I didn’t say it _wasn’t_, but broad generalizations about the media from the left and the right are both way off base most of the time.) I said I don’t want Congress and the FCC to get involved with it on the grounds they are making it politically neutral _because they won’t_. They’ll manipulate the rules to their advantage of their respective parties. Do you think that would improveme things? You’re sidestepping the issue here. Der Trihs is making the claim that the media have a right wing political bias, absent controls from the government, as they are owned by members of the wealthy elite, who tend to be conservative, who use their influence as owners of the media to see that their political views are advanced, and those of others are not. So if there is no government control, the default bias of the media will be conservative, liberal viewpoints or even moderate ones will not get a fair shake. I can see a number of possible responses to his argument that might answer it or at least require him to further support his position, but your argument is not one of them. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-time-to-bring-the-fairness-doctrine-back/573236/30 "2011-03-02T19:04:28Z")
> [@villa](#): > > Are you sure broadcast rules (such as _Red Lion_) apply to satellite providers? Actually no, I am not now I think more about it. They use public airwaves but the signal is encrypted so only available to subscribers. Given that they do allow nudity and swearing on satellite channels I suppose they are not regulated in this fashion. I’d have to look it up. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-time-to-bring-the-fairness-doctrine-back/573236/31 "2011-03-02T19:05:05Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > This is the big problem, and it sucks. More than ever, people want their news to tell them whatever they want to hear. Good luck fixing that, along with the proliferation of blogs, podcasts, and satellite channels, with FCC rules. I would say that more than ever people are influenced by massive media campaigns run through right -wing “news” programs to believe certain things. To deny this is to deny the power of modern advertising techniques. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-time-to-bring-the-fairness-doctrine-back/573236/32 "2011-03-02T19:07:11Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > You say lie , they say mistake. Good luck proving they lied deliberately rather than screwing up. They’ve admitted to being liars; IIRC they were denied a broadcast license in Britain because they lost a court case where they claimed they had a right to lie; the court disagreed. Fox News isn’t considered an actual news organization anywhere outside of the US as far as I know. It’s the American, Republican version of Pravda. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-time-to-bring-the-fairness-doctrine-back/573236/33 "2011-03-02T19:08:44Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > :rolleyes: > > Forget overtly “horrible” things then. > > Can you cite instances where speech was chilled and the public did not get the discussion on issues it deserved because the Fairness Doctrine steered broadcasters away from airing the important issue of the day? I don’t need to. I find it unconstitutional. I don’t care if nothing horrible happened when the FD was in place. I don’t want my news to have a government filter attached to it. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-time-to-bring-the-fairness-doctrine-back/573236/34 "2011-03-02T19:09:39Z")
> [@Icarus](#): > > For me, the issue requires digging one layer deeper than “all speech should be free”. > > My issue is - what is “equitable and balanced”? Who decides? Is it balanced to give 10 minutes to a KKK member, and 10 minutes to Jesse Jackson? Perhaps. What about 10 minutes to a KKK member, and 10 minutes to a Fillipino cross-dressing pole dancer? Or 10 minutes to Jesse Jackson, and 10 minutes to Linday Lohan? I could go on… > > A big issue to me about our current media environment is the editorial narrowmindedness that pre-selects the 2 sides (and only 2) of any issue. I do not see expanding that editorial decision making to the government to be solving anything. This is an excellent point. Our political environment is already polarized. It’s hard enough for opinions not on the left-right axis to get media time. An enforced “fairness” between “the two sides” would prevent them from getting any airtime at all. Let the people say what they want, and let them listen to who they want. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-time-to-bring-the-fairness-doctrine-back/573236/35 "2011-03-02T19:11:28Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > You say lie , they say mistake. Good luck proving they lied deliberately rather than screwing up. The correction never gets as much airtime or prominent space as the original error, but Fox did run a corrected graphic and Kilmeade said on air that he’d gotten it wrong. It’s a dumbass error if it was an error, but all you’ve proved is that they’re bad journalists, not that they are liars. I think you could prove a pattern of falsehoods. It is one thing to get something wrong once a year. It is another when there is a consistent pattern of lies and misdirection which I think should be considered (if sanctions were possible). Look at the link I just gave for that cite. There is a laundry list of misdirection on there. I also would be happy with a rule that any correction be given at least as much time as discussion of the original mistake entailed. If you must issue a correction give it equal time. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-time-to-bring-the-fairness-doctrine-back/573236/36 "2011-03-02T19:13:55Z")
> [@Icarus](#): > > For me, the issue requires digging one layer deeper than “all speech should be free”. > > My issue is - what is “equitable and balanced”? Who decides? Is it balanced to give 10 minutes to a KKK member, and 10 minutes to Jesse Jackson? Perhaps. What about 10 minutes to a KKK member, and 10 minutes to a Fillipino cross-dressing pole dancer? Or 10 minutes to Jesse Jackson, and 10 minutes to Linday Lohan? I could go on… > > A big issue to me about our current media environment is the editorial narrowmindedness that pre-selects the 2 sides (and only 2) of any issue. I do not see expanding that editorial decision making to the government to be solving anything. > [@Pleonast](#): > > This is an excellent point. Our political environment is already polarized. It’s hard enough for opinions not on the left-right axis to get media time. An enforced “fairness” between “the two sides” would prevent them from getting any airtime at all. > > Let the people say what they want, and let them listen to who they want. The Fairness Doctrine _is not_ the same thing as the [Equal Time](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equal-time_rule) rule. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-time-to-bring-the-fairness-doctrine-back/573236/37 "2011-03-02T19:17:58Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > I would say that more than ever people are influenced by massive media campaigns run through right -wing “news” programs to believe certain things. To deny this is to deny the power of modern advertising techniques. I just want to add that Fox and its ilk isn’t telling people what they want to hear so much as they are _telling_ people what they want to hear. Shout the lie and whisper the truth, then claim balance-this works for them. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-time-to-bring-the-fairness-doctrine-back/573236/38 "2011-03-02T19:18:42Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > > [@Pleonast](#): > > > > Also, a self-imposed fairness doctrine is what is giving media time to such nonsense as anti-evolutionists, climate-change-deniers, anti-vaxxers, etc. The media shows “both sides of the story” when one side is complete ignorance. I wish the media would show more bias in those cases, not less. > > That IS bias, right wing bias. It isn’t a “self-imposed fairness doctrine”, it is the desire of the people who run those media organizations to promote right wing issues and beliefs. Then you should be against regulations that mandate media give climate-change-deniers fair media coverage. I don’t want fair and balanced coverage, I want the media to be biased against ignorance. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-time-to-bring-the-fairness-doctrine-back/573236/39 "2011-03-02T19:21:01Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > I don’t care if nothing horrible happened when the FD was in place. I don’t want my news to have a government filter attached to it. So instead you have a Republican, corporate filter. This is an improvement how? ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-time-to-bring-the-fairness-doctrine-back/573236/40 "2011-03-02T19:23:12Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > So instead you have a Republican, corporate filter. This is an improvement how? It’s not, in and of itself… But (isn’t there always a but) if you have government censorship of news it will be censorship by whoever controls government. Which is corporate America. If you have no government censorship, then while mainstream media is seen through a corporate filter, it at least creates the possibility of independent, grass roots media. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-time-to-bring-the-fairness-doctrine-back/573236.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-time-to-bring-the-fairness-doctrine-back/573236.md?page=3)