Just Be Aware

In my heart of hearts I don't really believe (or don't want to believe) the Fairness Doctrine will be inflicted on media in this country again. I am firmly against it. There is no shortage of places to express ones opinions and viewpoint. It is my belief we do not need the government sticking their partisan noses into a stations programming.

Take a listen to the clip from an interview with New Mexico Democratic Senator Jeff Bingaman and his support for the Fairness Doctrine.

Link:

***UPDATE***

This posted on Radio and Records

By Mike Stern

Talking with morning host Dave Durian on Hearst talk WBAL/Baltimore, FCC commissioner Michael Copps (pictured) said he does not foresee the return of the Fairness Doctrine, at least not in the same format.

"What we do need is to make sure our airwaves are open and covering a lot of local events, covering local political races, making sure viewers and listeners both can benefit from a clash of antagonistic ideas and issues being covered," said Copps. He added, "Even though the fairness doctrine is gone that's still in the telecommunications act."

The challenge, Copps says, is how to address that issue, "Do you go back to a controversial doctrine that was really the product of a previous age when media was different or do you try to go forward and say how do we do that now with modern communications and a different media environment?"

While reinstating the old doctrine isn't the answer, "we need to have debate about how you keep these airwaves serving the public interest and nourishing the public dialog our democracy depends on," Copps said. "We still want to be sure we have that kind of free flowing debate and cover the issues people need covered to make intelligent decisions."