No New Fairness Doctrine by whatever name
We read:
"I believe, as former New York Governor Mario Cuomo said many years ago, that the Fairness Doctrine is basically antithetical to First Amendment principles. Once government attempts to control content over the airwaves, today it may be my side (liberal) that is helped - but tomorrow it may be the other side who complains about too many liberal talk show hosts. And then what is the position of those who want to restore the Fairness Doctrine? To rescind it all over again?
As much as the overwhelming dominance of conservative talk shows frustrates me (and the decision by all-too-many program managers' and owners' decisions to exclude or minimize talented liberal talk show hosts angers me), I still don't trust government to be involved in content decisions - whether over the air, on cable or the Internet."
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6 comments:
"...and the decision by all-too-many program managers' and owners' decisions to exclude or minimize talented liberal talk show hosts angers me."
In a free market, that's the risk you take. Fact is that most liberal talk show hosts don't draw the same numbers of listeners that conservative talk show hosts draw. It has nothing to do with political ideology. It's all about the bottom line. And the truth remains that conservative talk radio makes more money for the stations than liberal talk radio.
If liberal talk radio shows were to draw larger audiences and bring in more ad revenue, you know full well that liberal hosts would be "prioritized" higher than their conservative counterparts.
It's nice to see a liberal with common sense.
But as I've written before and what others have said, the fact is, more people want to listen to conservative talk radio shows.
Let's put it this way: If radio stations honestly thought they could make millions by playing non-stop screams of cats in heat, we would never hear Rush or Sean H. again.
I go back to the free speech issue and say the government has no business regulating speech, period. That said, why do some want it only on the radio? Because that's the only medium liberalism can't take over. They already have television media, colleges, high schools, newspapers, and hollywood. Talk radio is all that's left for them to dominate.
Another factor in why Leftist talk radio hasn't done well - why would anyone tune in to hear what it nothing more than a regurgitation of what one already gets from TV, the newspapers, Hollywood, teacher unions, the universities, the "intellectuals", and all the various power groups (a.k.a. "victim" groups)? Talk radio is where millions around the country can get the rest of the story and know the WHOLE truth. Few things are more offensive than to find out one has been acting on a lie.
You are all 100% on target, especially Anon-1! It's money that determines what we see and hear. That's why most of what we see and hear are commercials.
Ditto...talk radio is the only surviving example of partially- free enterprise (it is free of government intrusion but not free of governement regulation vis-a-vis the FCC) in the US. Listenership drives the train.
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