Why the Fairness Doctrine Isn't Fair

Political Diary has a good explanation of what the Fairness Doctrine was all about before Reagan abolished it:

In Fairness, Shut Up

It really does appear that liberal Democrats are planning an attempt to revive the Fairness Doctrine as a way of curbing conservative talk radio. They may even have some quiet Republican allies in their effort.

Twenty years ago, the Reagan Administration scrapped the Federal Communications Commission rule that mandated broadcast licensees "afford reasonable opportunity for discussion of conflicting views on matters of public importance." Last week, Oklahoma GOP Senator Jim Inhofe reported that both Senators Hillary Clinton and Barbara Boxer had talked of the need for a "legislative fix" to rein in talk radio hosts, although he acknowledged the conversation he had overheard was three years old. But when Senator Dianne Feinstein, Ms. Boxer's Senate colleague, was asked by Fox News yesterday if she wanted the Fairness Doctrine restored, she acknowledged she was "looking at it" and asserted that in the halcyon days when the Doctrine was in force there was "much more careful and correct reporting to people."

In reality, the Fairness Doctrine stifled discussion of controversial issues and was used as a political billy club by both parties against critics. Bill Ruder, an assistant secretary of commerce under John F. Kennedy, admitted to CBS News producer Fred Friendly that "our massive strategy was to use the Fairness Doctrine to challenge and harass right-wing broadcasters and hope the challenges would be so costly to them that they would be inhibited and decide it was too expensive to continue."

Richard Nixon didn't require much incentive to follow in those footsteps. Jesse Walker of Reason magazine reports that the Republican National Committee routinely filed challenges against stations whose reporting upset the White House. During the antiwar demonstrations of October 1969, a paranoid Mr. Nixon issued orders 21 times to aides to take "specific action relating to what he considered unfair network news coverage." Luckily, most of his rantings were ignored by aides who believed he was just blowing off steam. But other efforts at intimidation of journalists -- including the famous "enemies list" -- proceeded.

Even without overt government hostility, the Fairness Doctrine proved a nightmare of compliance. Liberal journalist Nat Hentoff recalls that when he worked at a Boston radio station, "the front office panicked" whenever a complaint was filed. "The brass summoned all of us and commanded that from then on, we ourselves would engage in no controversy at the station."

Given that the Democratic Congress now boasts approval ratings even below those of President Bush, I can understand the interest of some of its leaders to quell controversy. But for the rest of us, a return to the Fairness Doctrine would lead to a more homogenous and timid media culture. In other words, exactly the kind of climate that incumbents of both parties find congenial and easy to live with.


-- John Fund

The Fairness Doctrine means we'll be able to hear less truth, not more.