Based on the various diaries hitting the rec list over the last week, I think we are rapidly developing a consensus the time has come to smash the echo chamber. High profile guerilla actions like Spocko's get noticed and generate buzz, but they will not slay the beast. For that we have to take a mundane approach, an institutional approach that prevents the beast from returning.
I'm talking about the reintroducing the Fairness Doctrine - with teeth. If you think the Fairness Doctrine is a crutch for weaklings who can't compete in the marketplace of information without gum'mint support, you drank the kool-aid. If you want to see what happens when the kool-aid starts getting distributed...check out this stunning YouTube clip: FOX News Whistle Blowers Fess Up
"The media is the nervous system of a democracy.
If it can't function well, the democracy can't function."
-- Jeff Cohen, former Fox News contributor
Now some may worry that pushing this issue means we run the risk of killing all sorts of programming like The Colbert Report evisceration of Dinesh D'Sousa... but you would be wrong. The truth is we don't have to worry the Fairness Doctrine will reduce everything to some politically correct mush. Quite the contrary.
Consider the TV career of Bill Buckley. There is no doubt where he stands on the political spectrum. Yet, from the 60s to the 90s he hosted, "Firing Line," a very popular TV show. Bill Moyers had a similarly popular TV show, "Bill Moyers Journal," which ran for about a decade, entirely under the constraints of the Fairness Doctrine.
The good news is we don't have to reinvent the wheel here. There are already two bills introduced in the 109th congress that would address this pressing problem.
H.R. 3302: A bill to amend the Communications Act of 1934 to prevent excessive concentration of ownership of the nation's media outlets, to restore fairness in broadcasting, and to foster and promote localism, diversity, and competition in the media; to the Committee on Energy and Commerce.
H.R. 501: A bill to enforce the public interest obligations of broadcast station licensees to their local communities; to the Committee on Energy and Commerce.
The first was introduced by Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) and had sixteen co-sponsors. The second was introduced by Louise Slaughter (D-NY) and had twenty-three co-sponsors. Neither got out of committee. But that was when Republicans controlled the congress. I have covered this before so I won't rehash all the details. Suffice to say, this is a nuts and bolts issue. I realize it may not appear sexy, but consider this:
What happens to the sexy whip you are driving at 80 MPH when the lug nuts come off the wheel? It quickly turns into a smoking pile of twisted metal. Now look at what passes for journalism in this country and ask yourself what does it most closely resemble, a sexy ride or a pile of junk?