By Joanne Ostrow
Denver Post TV Critic
Article Last Updated: 06/29/2007 10:33:50 AM MDT
Everybody's mad at talk radio.
...
Michael Harrison of Talkers magazine says the Fairness Doctrine is "not workable. It probably won't happen. If it does happen it would be a disgrace. The Fairness Doctrine is based on the assumption that points of view can be quantified. There are nuances."
As someone who tracks talk radio for a living, he knows "you can't find that magic line that separates points of view. What the Fairness Doctrine institutionalizes is that the only available schools of thoughts are the extremes." That's a dangerous path.
Imagine, at a time of endless digital bandwidth, selling the idea that megabroadcasters like Clear Channel and Infinity are "public trustees" of a scarce resource. That high-minded belief went out with the Reagan administration when free enterprise trumped social conscience and the marketplace was elevated beyond the town hall. The doctrine was struck down by Reagan appointee Mark Fowler, the FCC chairman who famously claimed TV is just another appliance, "a toaster with pictures."
The fact is, liberal thoughts abound on Internet radio; they're scarce on corporate commercial entities. There, the loud dominance of conservatives is obvious to anyone with ears.
http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_6253841
Denver Post TV Critic
Article Last Updated: 06/29/2007 10:33:50 AM MDT
Everybody's mad at talk radio.
...
Michael Harrison of Talkers magazine says the Fairness Doctrine is "not workable. It probably won't happen. If it does happen it would be a disgrace. The Fairness Doctrine is based on the assumption that points of view can be quantified. There are nuances."
As someone who tracks talk radio for a living, he knows "you can't find that magic line that separates points of view. What the Fairness Doctrine institutionalizes is that the only available schools of thoughts are the extremes." That's a dangerous path.
Imagine, at a time of endless digital bandwidth, selling the idea that megabroadcasters like Clear Channel and Infinity are "public trustees" of a scarce resource. That high-minded belief went out with the Reagan administration when free enterprise trumped social conscience and the marketplace was elevated beyond the town hall. The doctrine was struck down by Reagan appointee Mark Fowler, the FCC chairman who famously claimed TV is just another appliance, "a toaster with pictures."
The fact is, liberal thoughts abound on Internet radio; they're scarce on corporate commercial entities. There, the loud dominance of conservatives is obvious to anyone with ears.
http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_6253841