Calling it the “Fairness Doctrine” is exactly as horrible and backwards as calling Fox News “Fair and Balanced.” Pelosi and company have, indeed, been talking about bringing it back. The fundamental and primary purpose behind the First Amendment is that OUR GOVERNMENT MAY NOT TELL PEOPLE WHAT TO SAY.
I can go on at length about this, but it might bore you into unfollowing me.
I think there are legitimate arguments to be made against the fairness doctrine, but I don’t think that casting it as the governmnent telling people what to say is among them. The government only gets to say what you say when you’re using the broadcast spectrum, a public trust which belongs to us all.
In the 80s, the supreme court said that this was no longer necessary because of the “diversity” of programming options.
I see reinstitution of the fairness doctrine as quite debatable. I don’t think it would do what it is supposed to do. I don’t think, however, it is nefarious or unconstitutional or unamerican. Just dumb, and less important than other things that might make for a better mediascape.
