hardly anyone out there knows about this quiet regulation that was in place from the inception of the FCC in 1949, until - yup, you guessed it - the reagan admin, 1987.
he worked tirelessly - correction; his minions worked tirelessly; he was dementing - to be rid of the pesky regulation that required any and all networks that leased airwaves, be they radio or TV, honor the following:
if you accuse or malign any person or group while using national airwaves, you are compelled to give that person or group EQUAL TIME on your network in the same time slot.
many out there likely have no idea where that phrase equal time came from, or even ever heard of it.
however, it marked the meteoric rise of relentless hate-filled screeds - replete with shock jocks and faux snewz, and now the net - and the death-spiral plummet of news quality since.
[as a brief aside, note how these hi-decibel, inflammatory, incendiary rants rile those with too much time on their hands; read, the elderly and those on the road for hour after boring hour. these audiences require some stimulation, and this destructive genre gives it to them; it's all about appealing to the snake brain, and it hooks and addicts just like crack. hand it over to murdoch and ailes, and they broaden the snake brain appeal with bodacious blond babes and flashing lights and sirens, along with all manner of FEAR!! this stuff works; it's like advertising, you just have to know what to target and how. US advertising has been so good at this for so long, goebbels used it as his template for nazi propaganda; now the entire media genre is returning the favor. and because it is so successful, all the other networks have jumped on the bandwagon in order to get in on the cash. and as an aside to this aside, the latest numbers o'really is pushing on his show, showing fox on top? note that it is only with 29% of the market; next in line is 22% and so on. however, taking fox at its word as being the only alternative, when you add up all the other alternatives to the one and only fox, those alternatives get closer to 57% of the market. that's always been the case, but this comparison is never presented. now, tho o'really is enjoying increases in his audience share with this scandal (rubberneckers for the train wreck??), fox overall has been on a downhill slope as their audience dies off. we have to do better than outliving them, tho; dangers are immediate.]
if you don't think this simple little fairness doctrine rule had any such power, consider two things. first, note that, right after obama won in 08, the conservative chatter was all abuzz with the fear the rule would be reinstated. seriously; not many folks were watching for this, but i was, and it struck me as a clear indication that these folks very consciously know of this power, and deliberately rely on it for their propaganda. of course they would.
second, just think about what it would mean to have the fairness doctrine in place again. any time any of these blithering, bullying buffoons made one of their absurd, inflammatory, and/or erroneous remarks - be it hannity, o'really, savage, beck, you name it - they would be required to allow the target of said remarks to have equal time to defend themselves and rebut. seriously; think about how much hot air would be released from that insidious balloon.
and think about how much this powerful yet unassuming rule - embodying a simple courtesy that promotes civilized discourse; who would resist that? (i know; FREEDUMB!!) - would have the most profound and real trickle down effect. these freaks would no longer be able to get away with sliming obama, liberals, blacks, immigrants, the poorz, unions, or the educated; they could no long get away with the lies about banks or voter suppression or the US military or 'intelligence' or climate change. at least, not without open, uninterrupted pushback from those they target.
ben franklin had it right when he recognized that an informed public would make the best decisions for the country. but without the fairness doctrine in place - replaced by propaganda - we are no longer informed, but brainwashed.
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