The LeftoBloggers keep telling us that the "Fairness Doctrine" is dead, dead, dead.
And it is.
But there are a lot of ways to skin a cat, folks.
Obama elaborates on the site that his aim is to "encourage diversity in the ownership of broadcast media, promote the development of new media outlets for expression of diverse viewpoints, and clarify the public interest obligations of broadcasters who occupy the nation's spectrum."
"Clarify the public interest obligations" is another way to say that there will be FCC regs which find a way to define "public interest" so as to dump Rush, Sykes, Belling (et al), one way or the other. It doesn't have to be shutting them down.
Or it could be that you're jumping to unwaranted conclusions. Ahem.
ReplyDeleteI'm all for reversing the increasing conglomeration of media outlets into the hands of too few companies. I'm all for "clarifying" what the obligations are to the public good: something beyond refraining from using bad words and putting on EBS beeps. But not a reinstitution of the fairness doctrine or anything like it.