Fairness? A practice, not a doctrine

There was a time, not too long ago, when the FCC had a little rule called “The Fairness Doctrine”. Basically, what this rule did, was cause the broadcasting entities to devote roughly equal time to opposing views. If it aired 30 minutes of “conservative” content, it needed to air 30 minutes of “liberal” content.

Fairness, sounds very American and even-handed, right?

Well, sometime back in the Reagan era, this rule went away. Good news for “conservative” talk-radio, bad news for “liberal” talk-radio.

You see, when left unfettered, “conservative” talk radio like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Neal Boortz and others do well, because they get market share. “Liberal” talk radio, like “Air America” don’t do so well, despite massive infusion of donation from dedicated liberals. It seems in the marketplace of ideas, liberal ideas just don’t sell, while “conservative” ideas do. It is classic free-market economy and capitalism in practice.

Now, many on the left of American politics think the rise of “conservative” talk-radio helped cause the republican take-over of congress in 1994. Perhaps, they are right. Undoubtedly, by comparing and contrasting the two philosophies to a large audience, the American people voted what made sense to them… and brought in a more conservative legislature, and ultimately executive body.

This, of course, alarms the left-leaning portion of the leadership, and now that they are once again in the majority in both houses of congress, they would like to remove this perceived advantage for the conservatives. They want to go back to a version of the “Fairness Doctrine”, a move that would effectively remove “conservative” programming, because no business could survive devoting equal time to a message that doesn’t sell. Just look at the demise of “Air America”. So, as the thinking goes, the conservative voice would be quieted, and only liberal messages, as transmitted via the “liberal media” would be heard. No counterpoint, and no serious ideological debate means liberal views would prevail.

Conservative programming on America’s airwaves, internet, and cable programming is a product, just like cars, TVs and food. Do you want the government telling you that you must buy equally from two vendors? Do you want the government dictating that such a product be removed from the shelf of ideas, because not enough people buy the competition? If not, tell the Congressmen you employ (those that work for you) that you do not want a return to the days of limited viewpoints in our media. Tell them no return to the “Fairness Doctrine”.

Postscript: As with most things, the folks that advocate a return to the “Fairness Doctrine” totally ignore when they get beneficial airplay. John Gibson from Fox News highlights one such occasion in this commentary on the subject.