WooHoo!! FAIRNESS DOCTRINE DOT COM -- Check this out

[Eloriel]

Actually, I haven't even checked it out yet. This just in (mymailbox) from Media Matters:

Fairnessdoctrine.com launches petition calling for return of the Fairness Doctrine

Tired of imbalanced political discourse on our airwaves? Media Matters for America has joined with Democracy Radio and the Media Access Project in calling on Congress to restore the Fairness Doctrine:

By restoring a diversity of fact and opinion to programming, Fairness Doctrine legislation restores a concept that has been lost since the 1980s -- that because the public owns the airwaves, the public is entitled to be adequately informed by the broadcasters of news and opinion. Slaughter's bill puts this fundamental issue as well as the responsibility of broadcasters back on the agenda: "A broadcast license confers the right to use a valuable public resource and a broadcaster is therefore required to utilize that resource as a trustee for the American people."

Learn more, and sign a petition in support of the Fairness Doctrine, at http://www.fairnessdoctrine.com.

[madmax]

1. One of the top 3 things on my wish list.

Signed and forwarded to 6 friends. :bounce:

Thanks, Eloriel :hi:

[Lefty48197]

2. David Brock supports this petition drive

kick

[Eric J in MN]

3. Would it apply to radio?

Would Air America Radio have to stop its current format?

[StrongbadTehAwesome]

4. if it/they did...

Rush and Hannity and others would too. I think we'd come out ahead in the end.

[LiberalAndProud]

8. No. I believe it will increase AAR circulation

If it works, stations will pick up shows. For instance, Rush/Franken rather than Rush/Hannity.

[Cleita]

5. Done. n/t

[StrongbadTehAwesome]

6. a little history of the Fairness Doctrine

from the same site:

"In 1986, a federal court of appeals ruled that the Fairness Doctrine was not law and could be overturned without Congressional approval. Congress responded by passing a bill in 1987 to establish the doctrine as law. It received 3-1 support in the House and 2-1 support in the Senate. The support was broadly bipartisan, with even Republicans like Newt Gingrich and Jesse Helms voting in favor of it. But Reagan vetoed it, and Congress did not override the veto.

Reagan's FCC -- which was staffed by former corporate media personnel hostile to the Fairness Doctrine -- wasted no time abolishing it.

Congress attempted again in 1993 to resurrect the law. But the bill was killed when Rush Limbaugh orchestrated a massive public relations campaign against it, complaining that Congress was about to muzzle him with the "Hush Rush Law." (Rush would not have been censored; the stations would simply have had to give equal time to liberals.)"

http://www.fairnessdoctrine.com/history/

[Hello_Kitty]

20. Gee Rush didn't like it? All the more reason to reinstate it. n/t

[Ima]

21. my translation

" It received 3-1 support in the House and 2-1 support in the Senate. The support was broadly bipartisan, with even Republicans like Newt Gingrich and Jesse Helms voting in favor of it. But Reagan vetoed it, and Congress did not override the veto"

Bush 1 vetoed it. Reagan wasn't calling any shots, after the shooting his mind deteriorated rapidly.

[The River]

7. No. 1 on my "To Do" List

Without a balanced media democracy is in grave danger.
If Rush gets 3 hours to preach hatred and division
then Ed Schultz should get 3 hours immediately following
to expose him as the drug addled fascist shill he is.
We are a divided nation because of all the hatred and
division that we have been exposed to for the past dozen
years.

[leftchick]

9. woo hoo is right!

thanks! :)

[DustMolecule]

10. Kick....Kick....Kick......YES! Return the Fairness Doctrine!!!

Doesn't the rightful return of this idea just make your heart sing!!!:

"...that because the public owns the airwaves,...a broadcaster is therefore required to utilize that resource as a trustee for the American people."

:kick:

[JanMichael]

11. No! There are hundreds of channels now, the FD was for 3 channels!!!!

</idioticlibertarianrant>

[Anarcho-Socialist]

12. kick!

:kick:

[LiberalAndProud]

13. Signed and delivered...

Equal time for bias:

Rush/Franken
Savage/Mike Malloy:)

Won't it be refreshing to listen to dialogue rather than dogmatism?

[DustMolecule]

14. The 'Real Deal'.....if you want REAL "fair and balanced" reporting

....not the faux (french for 'fake' type...i.e., FOX (faux) news)...the FAIRNESS DOCTRINE....will make the media deliver! It gives honest journalists the 'tools' to deliver, because the media outlets they work for MUST, by law, give equal time! (This USED to be required, but since the Reagon-era this isn't true anymore....it's NOT REQUIRED BY LAW. So, all these years later....look at the dishonest/whoring/leading/Pravda-esque media we have now!!!

The Fairness Doctrine REQUIRES that media outlets must give equal time for varying viewpoints.

If you want HONEST NEWS, heck, if you want NEWS and not info-tainment! ....you want the Fairness Doctrine Reinstated!!!

[MsConduct]

15. Thanks! It sure couldn't hurt to have some fairness somewhere. n/t

[gardenista]

16. This is just the beginning of the work we will need to do over

the next 8 years to clean up the mess.

It will be an exciting time to be alive, to see this country regain its standing in the world, to be part of rebuilding our national unity, to begin teaching our children again what it means to be a fully vested citizen of this country and the world.

It's gonna be hard work doin the hard work, but oh, so satisfying.

I used to have jealousy over the fancy thinktanks that the Republicans used to plot the debacle they unleashed on us with Bush, but now I see that with the internets, we've got an even bigger one, and I love how it's totally OPEN!

[DustMolecule]

18. Yep - there's much work to be done....

to un-do the mess. And I agree that 'think-tanks' will never rival 'do-tanks' (or DU-tanks, if you will) ;-)

Kerry, assuming he wins, won't get any free-pass with me (or many other Americans, I believe)...we've become somewhat 'wiser'....8 years is not 'assumed'.

Peace

[HEyHEY]

17. I'm like...so opposed to this shit

Really.
Okay yes I'm jokin

[4MoreYearsOfHell]

19. done...

thanks...