In 1949, the FCC put into act a ruling they called the Fairness Doctrine, requiring radio stations to partake in disputable broadcasting with equal exposure to each sides of a story. But activists took advantage of the law meant for equality and stations were soon met with loss of advertisers and viewers as they attempted to please all with Fairness over the airwaves. Anti-smoking supporters twisted the FCC’s doctrine around their own objectives, forcing smoking advertisements off radio with a flood of reverse publicity. Through many other commercial conflicts, the Fairness Doctrine was soon lighted as more of a weight on radio than an aid, and the FCC lifted the law in 1987. Yet, is there a revival on the horizon for this mid-19th century enactment? As democrats suit up for the battle to equalize the radio waves, are we faced with the recovery of a “hush-Rush” promotional flood?
Democrats such as Senator Debbie Stabenow claim that the reinstatement of the Fairness Doctrine would, “be bringing accountability to the airwaves.” In a country were the majority of the radio is dominated by Conservative talk shows, liberals are fighting for equality. Is the fight for Fairness necessary? No. Why plead the government to step in where the public has already clearly chosen. Radio stations, funded solely on advertisers, are completely focused on the listeners’ wants and opinions. Liberal shows haven’t been banned from the air, simply put aside due to a lack of desire for them. If the liberals want their views heard, they should take a lesson from Rush Limbaugh and Glen Beck in their approach of providing content, and stop trying to federally force their shows on the radio.
The consequences of restoring the Fairness Doctrine lead to the cavernous demise of conservative talk shows. Even greater, putting this law back into action in radio would strip the American voice of what we hold most dear – our freedom. If a station is unable to express their opinions and convictions without blanketing them with the viewpoints of every other possible opinion, have they not lost the right to freely state their own beliefs? Furthermore, is radio not a form of the press that our nation claims to protect the freedoms of? The chairman of the FCC during the time of its law’s dismissal, Mark S. Fowler, told radio viewers that the Fairness Doctrine was removed as “a matter of principle not partisanship,” claiming that the law had begun to violate the freedom of speech and a free press.
Radio is just as much a part of the press of our nation as the newspapers that sit on the stands in every city; therefore, let the voices of the radio ring with clarity and not be muffled with the comeback of a uniformed captivity. Let radio’s voice be the pen that writes the story to our nation, not fairly, but free.