We have not been living in the same communications environment since 1937.
There were standards before, in many of our lifetimes, and they are gone now. “Fairness” was the aim. There was a limited spectrum that the fairness referred to. “Fairness” is gone, because the spectrum is not precious anymore.
All this 1984 totalitarian stuff you are talking about, it was normal stuff under a limited broadcast spectrum. Do you remember?
The scarcity of the broadcast spectrum was precisely the justification for the Fairness Doctrine. There is no scarcity of cable channels, or scarcity of websites. And the Fairness Doctrine never did apply to newspapers–nowadays, newspapers and “cable” news are all in the same “place”.
Whatever his flaws, Ronald Reagan was no Donald Trump. Howard Baker was no Mitch McConnell.
So, just to be clear, you are advocating that the United States government should promulgate regulations declaring which media channels or organizations are “news” and which are “fake news”?
I’m asking whether you remember any restrictions on broadcasters “news”? How old are you?
We have certainly lived under regulations about what is an opinion, what is news, what is an opposing opinion, etc, for most of our lives, most of us. At that time, it seems to me, democracy was in much better shape.
I do not think giving Donald Trump (and William Barr) the power to officially decide what counts as “news” (and what counts as “fake news”) will improve the health of our democracy.
The majority of what is broadcast today on all news channels is editorial. There is very little true fact reporting, that leaves the viewer to come to their own opinion.