The "Fairness Doctrine"

A lot of people in the media at least have been concerned about a possible resurrection of the so-called "Fairness Doctrine" - that old saw that government intervene to ensure "diversity" in the media.

In this Jan. 23 report on National Review Online, Michael G. Franc talks about how he believes President Obama is trying to revive the doctrine (even though Obama said during his campaign that he would not; and that was reinforced by a White House spokesman on Feb. 18). The following was during Attorney General-Designate Eric Holder's confirmation hearings:

Holder’s evasive responses represent the first hint that the new Administration may re-open what has been “settled doctrine” within the Department of Justice and in the courts for over two decades; namely, that the old Fairness Doctrine is an unconstitutional restraint on free speech. Not to mention that the original argument used to justify these restrictions—that the scarcity of media outlets required the government to intervene in order to guarantee a "diversity" of political opinion—has long since been overwhelmed by the proliferation of cable channels, web sites, blogs, and so on.

Basically, it boils down to a policy, abolished in 1987 by the FCC, "which dictates that public broadcast license-holders have a duty to present important issues to the public and — here's the "fairness" part — to give multiple perspectives while doing so." (Dan Fletcher, Time, Feb. 20, 2009)

The policy came out of the 1940s, when there was only ABC, NBC and CBS to present news.

The Fairness Doctrine, which mandated that broadcast networks devote time to contrasting views on issues of public importance, was meant to level the playing field. - Dan Fletcher, Time, Feb. 20, 2009

I thought it was inherently fair to give multiple perspectives, but then I find that it's not the way of the world any longer.

So in this world of Fox News vs. MSNBC vs. every blog known to man, who would enforce such a doctrine? I don't like Fox News, but then I don't watch it. I don't listen to Rush Limbaugh ... but I do sometimes watch The Daily Show.

It's all for show anyway (I heard that Ann Coulter and Bill Maher are actually friends).

Such a doctrine seems like a moot point in this day and age, but, as Fletcher points out, it keeps rearing its head.