The World According To Carl

Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) was on Fox News Sunday discussing, among other things, the “Fairness Doctrine” (i.e. - legislation requiring equal points of view in broadcasts on public airwaves). The “Fairness Doctrine” isn’t fair at all but instead forces liberal points of view to be aired regardless of what the marketplace may dictate. In regards to talk radio, conservative shows dominate the airwaves. Liberal networks such as Air American and Greenstone Media have tried but failed to be successful on the national front and in over 90% of American markets, conservative talk shows outperform their liberal counterparts in the Arbitron ratings. In short, the free marketplace proves that as it stands now, liberal shows do not deliver what the American public is willing to hear. It is up to the listeners, not the government, to ultimately decide what programs succeed or fail on the public airwaves.

So liberal politicians like Dianne Feinstein decide that the free marketplace isn’t fair so they want to revive the Fairness Doctrine. In regards to talk radio, the legislation would force stations to air an equal amount of liberal content for conservative content. In other words, for every hour of Rush Limbaugh and/or Sean Hannity, the station would have to air an hour of some liberal talk show. This would be financially devastating for many stations because it’s very hard, if not impossible, to sell ad time on shows to which very few people listen. Furthermore, such legislation takes away many programming decisions that should be left up to the management of these stations, not the federal government.

Furthermore, it’s ironic yet hypocritical at the same time that Feinstein and other pro-Fairness Doctrine liberals shout loudly for equal time for liberal programming in regards to talk radio yet remain silent when the tables are turned. For example, on television which are also considered public airwaves, network news is exceedingly and unabashedly liberal yet I don’t hear Dianne Feinstein nor any other liberal politician demanding the Fairness Doctrine be applied in that regards.

And while we are on the subject, just who will enforce this legislation and how? I mean, cmon folks, the feds can’t even enforce existing immigration laws on the books nor can they figure out how to catch up with the immense backlog of background checks they were supposed to have completed long ago. Are we to believe that the federal government will be able to effectively and fairly enforce the Fairness Doctrine if it is revived or recreated? This is yet another federal boondoggle waiting to happen. A Frankenstein’s monster waiting to be unleashed.

The bottom line is this: the capitalistic system of allowing the public to dictate what programs succeed on the public airwaves should remain in place rather than the socialistic notion of the Fairness Doctrine forcing content the public tunes out onto stations’ schedules. The Fairness Doctrine is not fair now nor was it fair when it was in effect. It should remain deceased.

A big tip o’ the cap to Big Dogs Weblog and Webloggin’ for the heads up on this.

A talk radio welcome to readers from Outside The Beltway, Perri Nelson’s Website, Right Truth, Big Dog’s Weblog, The Pet Haven Blog, DragonLady’s World, Stuck On Stupid, Leaning Straight Up, The Amboy Times, Pursuing Holiness, third world county, Stageleft, stikNstein, The Uncooperative Blogger, 4 Time Father?, The Right Nation, Pirate’s Cove, The Pink Flamingo, Right Voices, Church And State, CatSynth.com, Right Pundits, MoreWhat, No Apology, Committees Of Correspondence, The Random Yak, DeMediacratic Nation, 123beta, Adam’s Blog, Maggie’s Notebook, Jeanette’s Celebrity Corner, On The Horizon, Webloggin’, Phastidio, The Bullwinkle Blog, Cao’s Blog, Colloquium, The Florida Masochist, MacBros’ Place, Conservative Cat, Diary Of The Mad Pigeon, The Crazy Rants Of Samantha Burns, Walls Of The City, Blue Star Chronicles, Azamatteroprinciple, Corsari D’Italia, High Desert Wanderer, Gone Hollywood, The Yankee Sailor. And thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 25th, 2007 at 1:14 pm and is filed under LinkFests, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.