FCC Says Fairness Doctrine Dead, Conservatives Warn of Back-door Regulation
"The FCC gave the coup de grace to the fairness doctrine Monday as the commission axed more than 80 media industry rules," Politico's Brooks Boliek reported this afternoon:
Earlier this summer FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski agreed to erase the post WWII-era rule, but the action Monday puts the last nail into the coffin for the regulation that sought to ensure discussion over the airwaves of controversial issues did not exclude any particular point of view. A broadcaster that violated the rule risked losing its license.
While the commission voted in 1987 to do away with the rule — a legacy to a time when broadcasting was a much more dominant voice than it is today — the language implementing it was never removed. The move Monday, once published in the federal register, effectively erases the rule.
So the Fairness Doctrine is dead. But the spirit of the same could well live on as a regulatory specter forever.
Regulatory pushes for "localism" and "diversity" requirements could prove to be a back-door reinstitution of the Fairness Doctrine, a Republican FCC commissioner warned two weeks ago.
- Ken Shepherd's blog
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Comments
You always...
Submitted by retrocon on Mon, 08/22/2011 - 5:11pm.
You always dispose of the old living room furniture, before you redecorate to your liking.
GOOD!!
Submitted by OldJarhead77 on Mon, 08/22/2011 - 5:45pm.
The subject says it all
I smell a rat
Submitted by Dave. on Mon, 08/22/2011 - 6:18pm.
A really big furry one.
I just do not see this particular administration not trying to control the media as well as the overall flow of information - and that includes the Internet.
I think retrocon is has a point. This may just be cleaning out the closet in preparation for new and different stuff.
It would probably be a really good idea to keep a very close eye on Obama's FCC.
-Dave
Vote for the American in November
Good Point
Submitted by tcm14 on Mon, 08/22/2011 - 6:32pm.
They are probably just going to rename it and then try to ram the same thing through. Or rename it and accomplish the same objective through different means.
That's what the lefties always do, they rename things. The substance never changes.
Fairness Doctrine Acomplishes Nothing
Submitted by Kingfish17 on Mon, 08/22/2011 - 6:43pm.
Obama's goal is to redistribute the wealth of America, to his political base. The Fairness Doctrine does little to accomplish this goal.
Watch for Obama to try and back door in an executive order that requires radio stations to diversify their holding and require some sort of minority ownership of the local, public airways. This would accomplish two goals at the same time. More favorable "press" and redistribution.
"You can’t go take a trip to Las Vegas...on the taxpayer’s dime." Barack Obama
i hope the folks at NB pay
Submitted by ricklail on Mon, 08/22/2011 - 6:54pm.
i hope the folks at NB pay attention to the brain dead hosts on MESSNBC tonight. Their heads are going to explode over this. Me, I'll be watching the Giants-Bears. I know it is preseason but it is better than anything else on TV.
In MSNBC's view, government
Submitted by tcm14 on Mon, 08/22/2011 - 6:57pm.
In MSNBC's view, government should force people to watch liberal programming, ala A Clockwork Orange.
So now we'll have NO control
Submitted by goldbar on Mon, 08/22/2011 - 7:17pm.
So now we'll have NO control over the liberal media.
So Many Dreams...Gone
Submitted by rammingspeed on Mon, 08/22/2011 - 7:30pm.
Untold numbers of hammers and sickles thudded and clattered to the ground.
Ban coal, dis-charge the internet.
Submitted by upcountrywater on Mon, 08/22/2011 - 7:57pm.
Just Off, the evil coal fired electrons that energize said web grid.
Google got one new server hub that sucks 200 MW = 20 tractor trailer loads of fuel oil to run their back-up generators per day...just to send a 24 hour message .
How long will that "widget" AKA "grid" ...stay workin, for ya?
Pull the Plug.... has just jumped a few magnitudes.
You Didn't Build That.
RIP if it is really the end of this silly doctrine.
Submitted by acaiguana on Mon, 08/22/2011 - 8:40pm.
Of course, we will have to wait and see. I personally think they are going to use 'net neutrality' to achieve the same thing.
One thing about the Left is they try to set things up so that they can control the masses. But they forget the transient nature of power in America.
Three years ago Obama had more power than any first term inexperienced idiot should have and today he can't do anything.
Well, except through fiat.
ACA
...
Quoted from: 'Acaiguana notes from the Underground' (Soon to be at theaters near you)
rope a dope......
Submitted by Dave Scott on Mon, 08/22/2011 - 10:13pm.
1. Everyone is talking about the 80+ rules. What are the other ones. I can not find thm on the FCC site.
2. What did they erase, that we might want?
3. I am really worried now, did you see the new requirements for the 911 systems? joy.
We must
Submitted by CalWasRight on Tue, 08/23/2011 - 6:50am.
be vigilant. They will not give up on this . They'll try an end-around or some other slick leftist maneuver. Keep a close eye on net neutrality.
Color me cynical but I think
Submitted by Beukeboom on Tue, 08/23/2011 - 9:39am.
Color me cynical but I think the likelihood of the fairness doctrine being brought back to the table via the FCC to be rather high. They may call it something else and "back door" it in but I don't think it's completely dead and gone.
The Feds have a history of doing that.
Example: amnesty for illegal aliens -- how many times in the past several years has this been declared "dead and gone" only to have it resurrected by libs in congress?
It's a political George A. Romero-esque production.
Fairness Doctrine Dead and Gone? That should raise red flags!
Submitted by iamsaved on Tue, 08/23/2011 - 10:01am.
The Dems are only loosening their grip in order to get a tighter hold.
ACORN has not gone away.
Submitted by Thalpy on Tue, 08/23/2011 - 3:27pm.
The Left will continue to push for citizen input for license renewal. They will see to it that "localism" is part of the process.