“The Fairness Doctrine and other obsolete provisions are deleted”, says the FCC. A total of 83 “outdated and obsolete media-related rules” have been wiped off the books, says Chairman Julius Genachowski. It’s not a surprise that the Fairness Doctrine, which was shelved back in 1987 but not deleted, is one of them. Genachowski and President Obama have said they weren’t in favor of reviving it, despite the dire warnings of many folks in talk radio.
Just for the record, I never advocated bringing it back. Once the genie was out of the bottle, you couldn't shove him back in. I was just pointing out in my book how bad it has been for this country since it stopped being enforced. In my opinion it's one of the main causes of our inflamed political discourse.
It's very easy to win every argument when you don't have to hear the other side. You start believing that you're always right. You know who is always right? As far as I can tell, there's only been one in history. Plus, some of the less scrupulous broadcasters have realized that you don't even have to tell anything remotely connected to the truth...because no one will call you on it.
Once you're inside the bubble, anything goes, including pushing the bogus notion that the liberals were hell bent on restoring the Fairness Doctrine.
I say getting rid of it was a disaster, but it's been dead and buried now for nearly twenty five years.
