Presswatch / Fairness Most Foul
Cony, John
Fairness Most Foul by John Corry / t may indeed be the "Hush Rush" bill, just as the Wall Street Journal said, or it may be only the reflex action of liberal politicians still frozen in time, but...
...More significantly, though, they also disassociate themselves from his listeners...
...Over the years, however, the FCC changed its mind, at least in part, and in 1949 it invented the Fairness Doctrine...
...Limbaugh reaches some 20 million Americans each week and the Fairness Doctrine, artfully applied, might make him shut up...
...This was what broadcasters meant when they said the Fairness Doctrine had a "chilling effect...
...Which brings us to the present...
...12.95 + shipping and handling...
...Members of Congress," it noted, "just don't like the wide interest in public policy matters that talk radio generates...
...To order call 1-800-253-67139 and use your VISA or MC z send sour check for $12.95 to Lame Duck, Inc...
...When he responded to the charge that the Democrats were out to get Limbaugh, a spokesman for John Dingell, the most powerful supporter of the Fairness Doctrine in the House, was quoted in Time...
...The viewpoint was instructive...
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...Station licenses were hard to come by then, and the John Corry is a former New York Times media critic and the author of My Times: Adventures in the News Trade, forthcoming from Putnam in January...
...it surreptitiously pushed the FCC to penalize stations that broadcast left-wing critics...
...Consequently, Rush Limbaugh gets 20 million listeners, any number of whom just want to say, "Ditto...
...Fairness Most Foul by John Corry / t may indeed be the "Hush Rush" bill, just as the Wall Street Journal said, or it may be only the reflex action of liberal politicians still frozen in time, but whatever it is, it has censorship written all over it...
...At first it was unclear what the doctrine meant, but its requirements were eventually defined as follows: "(1) The broadcaster must devote a reasonable percentage of time to public issues...
...Generally, it was liberals who opposed him, but some prominent conservatives objected, too...
...E mancipation came in the 1980s...
...They would complain that a radio or television station was being unfair to whatever the cause was they favored...
...Box 59712, Dallas, TX 75229-1712 (01993 Lame Duck, Inc...
...Fowler, howev50 The American Spectator November 1993 er, held firm and was supported by a president who understood the First Amendment...
...The fear was that broadcasters might take ideological advantage of their monopoly positions...
...If Dingell and his colleagues were serious and not merely mischievous, they would explain what dreadful thing has happened that now requires that it be reinstated...
...The hell with it, the stations decided, and avoided covering subjects that might make the interest groups complain...
...The Fairness Doctrine, not long ago pronounced dead and buried, has been disinterred...
...it will be because they will realize they retain their jobs only at the pleasure of the voters, and that a great many of them are likely to be ditto-heads...
...The world does not revolve around Limbaugh," the spokesman said, "although he's large enough...
...The whimsical Sen...
...Limbaugh is an irritant in polite media circles and an annoyance to congressional liberals...
...Loaded with interesting historical information as well as upcoming events and Clinton quotes...
...The real problem for Dingell, Hollings, and their like-minded colleagues, of course, is not that there is not enough speech...
...Meanwhile, various interest groups also found in the Fairness Doctrine a useful tool...
...Most of the columnists and editorial writers who have criticized the attempt to revive the Fairness Doctrine have taken pains to disassociate themselves from Limbaugh and his pernicious conservative views...
...Designed to help you and your friends count down the next four years of the Clinton presidency...
...A bill to write it into law has sneaked through the Senate, and is making its way through the House...
...The House bill disingenuously states that "because the Fairness Doctrine only requires more speech it has no chilling effect on broadcasters...
...Indeed, the Kennedy administration was successful at this, although it is no good now saying only Democrats could be so unscrupulous...
...Page's column suggested they were all untutored buffoons...
...and (2) his coverage of these issues must be fair in the sense that it provides an opportunity...
...Lame Puck, Inc., P.O...
...Obviously, the liberal politicians will not admit this...
...Indeed, if the effort to revive the Fairness Doctrine should be quietly buried, it will not be because congressional liberals have suddenly become enlightened, or suffered a seizure of good sense...
...The thought police once again are up to no good, and the Rush in "Hush Rush" is Rush Limbaugh...
...The thought police may succeed...
...This saves a lot of time...
...Mark Fowler, libertarian chairman of the FCC, said the commission would no longer enforce the Fairness Doctrine...
...the problem is that they do not like the new speech they hear...
...Determining whether coverage is fair or balanced should not be left up to bureaucrats or politicians...
...and we will pay shipping and handling...
...The dittoheads are Limbaugh's constant listeners, and when they speak to him on his call-in show, they often begin by saying, "Hi, Rush, and ditto...
...Then he went on tohave great fun parodying Limbaugh...
...Indeed they don't...
...The dominant media culture leans one way, and most Americans lean the other, and they want someone who speaks for them...
...The Wall Street Journal editorial that suggested the move to revive the Fairness Doctrine was an attempt to silence Rush Limbaugh also put forth a reason...
...You must understand the doctrine's tortuous background in these matters...
...E ver since the Fairness Doctrine expired, there has been more speech, not less...
...T he mainstream media do not like it much, either...
...for contrasting points of view...
...When Congress voted to enshrine the Fairness Doctrine as law, Ronald Reagan vetoed the legislation...
...Stations no longer worry because Moms Against Nukes or, say, Friends of the Snail Darter are threatening legal action...
...Even Mario Cuomo has noted that there are now some 10,000 radio stations, and more cable channels than there are programs for the channels to show...
...The American Spectator November 1993 51...
...Thus the Washington Post began an editorial with, "Rush Limbaugh probably wouldn't list us among his dittoheads," and the syndicated columnist Clarence Page began his attack on the Fairness Doctrine with the snide, "My friends, this is a ditto alert...
...Ho, ho, ho, and two cheers for liberal wit, but it did fall short of a denial...
...This is simply not true, and in stating such a whopper, the congressmen give their whole game away...
...Ditto means they agree with what Limbaugh says, and that they approve of the way he says it...
...The devil was in number (2), and the First Amendment was turned on its head...
...Clearly the Fairness Doctrine had a chilling effect when it was in existence...
...It embarrasses and annoys them, and they want to legislate it away...
...Phyllis Schlafly, for example, had used the doctrine in her successful battle against the Equal Rights Amendment, and wanted it retained...
...Their beliefs are nor the same...
...The Federal Communications Commission, created in 1934 when radio was the only electronic medium, said broadcasters could not deal in controversy or express their opinions...
...The Nixon administration also abused the Fairness Doctrine...
...All concerned say they venerate free speech, but as always, they venerate some kinds of speech more than others...
...Given the chance they will promote their own agenda...
...so did Reed Irvine...
...Limbaugh and a handful of others have rescued AM radio from near death, mostly by discussing conservative ideas not heard before over the airwaves...
...If the station did not meet their demands, they would turn to the FCC...
...As a former assistant secretary of commerce in the Kennedy administration once candidly confessed, "Ourmassive strategy was to use the Fairness Doctrine to challenge and harass the right-wing broadcasters, and hope that the challenges would be so costly to them that they would be inhibited and decide it was too costly to continue...
...Polls show a schism between the people and the press...
...Under those circumstances, the Fairness Doctrine would be the way to do him in...
...broadcast spectrum was limited...
...The press is not paying much attention—the New York Times neglected even to report the passage of the Senate bill—and the White House is supine...
...Then the station would face the possibility of being fined, or even losing its license...
...Ernest Hollings, who once forced Rupert Murdoch to surrender ownership of the New York Post in the name of free speech, has trotted out the ancient argument about"spectrum scarcity," but no serious person believes it...
...and nobody really likes him except his millions of listeners...
Vol. 26 • November 1993 • No. 11
