Friday, February 06, 2009

The return of the fairness doctrine?

I recommend reading the title linked post, and I recommend listening to the audio:



Here in Toledo, the airwaves are now dominated by one view, we've never had a "liberal" station and the few radio hosts who have tried to present a different view point are gone for one reason or another. Is this however because there is not a market or because Clear Channel and Cumulus won't provide alternatives unless forced?

Considering how popular my local blog is, it's hard to imagine that a radio show with a similar format of really trying to be fair and as unbiased as possible would not work. It's hard to imagine why the current system of bash, attack and name call does work, but apparently, it does...

2 comments:

mobileer said...

For one thing the Fairness doctrine would in the long run not put liberal shows on the air. It would kill talk radio all together.

The owner's of the radio stations will not want to deal with the hassle of trying to be balanced and will just go back to pre 1988 radio formats where talk shows existed but did not really have the audience they have now.

Unknown said...

That's a valid argument that has been raised and is one of the reasons why this did not work before, many believed rather than to create "fairness" what it did was just create the scenario where anything controversial was not discussed.

I understand the desire to have more "balance" yet I also wonder if part of the problem is those who want a more liberal voice on the air don't do all they can to support those who have tried it.