# 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:** 7\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2011, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-time-to-bring-the-fairness-doctrine-back/573236/121 "2011-03-03T04:43:54Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Jennings/Brokaw/Rather were not overtly partisan. You remember what happened to Rather at the end of his career, right? > [@](#): > > Walter Cronkite is rolling in his grave. Were he alive he’d probably kick Roger Ailes in the nuts. I’d pay good money to watch that. ---
**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 3, 2011, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-time-to-bring-the-fairness-doctrine-back/573236/122 "2011-03-03T05:12:20Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > You remember what happened to Rather at the end of his career, right? Yep. But that was one instance in a loooong career. How many FOX newscasters have been ended for getting something wrong? Bit of a difference in my view. > [@](#): > > I’d pay good money to watch that. Me too…and I’ve never done a Pay-per-View thing in my life. This I’d do. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2011, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-time-to-bring-the-fairness-doctrine-back/573236/123 "2011-03-03T05:20:05Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > But that was one instance in a loooong career. > > How many FOX newscasters have been ended for getting something wrong? > > Bit of a difference in my view. That’s not the point, although it was a bigger deal than misleading footage or a reversed graphic. The point is that if Grandma relied on him… he was perfect either. With the Memo story, he was convinced he was right and he led himself into trusting a bad source. I suspect Bush flaked on a few of his weekend assignments. Maybe more than a few. The facts didn’t support the story and Rather trusted his own opinion over the evidence at his disposal. Most bias looks like _that_, not the usually heavy-handed tactics Fox News likes to employ. ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2011, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-time-to-bring-the-fairness-doctrine-back/573236/124 "2011-03-03T16:37:05Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > And while you take issue with the rhetoric the fact is NO ONE should believe the president is a foreigner. That you think it is the role of the government to determine what people should believe or not terrifies me. That you cannot see the possibility of abuse in this is staggering. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2011, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-time-to-bring-the-fairness-doctrine-back/573236/125 "2011-03-03T16:44:58Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > All I can say is it has not resulted in endless lawsuits and it [apparently has stopped](http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/276-74/5123-fox-news-lies-keep-them-out-of-canada) the equivalent of Fox News from setting up shop in Canada because of it.) Fox News itself is available on almost every Canadian cable system. And for that matter, Canada itself is changing its policy from a broadcaster “shall not broadcast any false or misleading news” to a broadcaster shall not broadcast “any news that the licensee knows is false or misleading and that endangers or is likely to endanger the lives, health or safety of the public.”, which is pretty much the current US standard. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2011, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-time-to-bring-the-fairness-doctrine-back/573236/126 "2011-03-03T16:55:00Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Jennings/Brokaw/Rather were not overtly partisan. [BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!](http://www.ratherbiased.com/compare.htm) Regards, Shodan ---
**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 3, 2011, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-time-to-bring-the-fairness-doctrine-back/573236/127 "2011-03-03T17:23:14Z")
> [@villa](#): > > That you think it is the role of the government to determine what people should believe or not terrifies me. That you cannot see the possibility of abuse in this is staggering. And that is the bottom line. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-time-to-bring-the-fairness-doctrine-back/573236.md?page=6)