On December 23, the granddaddy of fast foul right-wing lies, Rush Limbaugh, ended his show. There was a time when he wouldn’t have been able to exist.
At one point, the First Amendment’s interpretation was about how people express information AND how people received information, and owing to that; we had the Fairness Doctrine.
Those with broadcast licenses were required to notify those personally attacked on TV or radio and provide a tape, transcript, or accurate summary of what was stated and allow efficient time to respond.
Of course, the Fairness Doctrine was fought by the racists, bigots, antisemites, and other US brands of filth.
There were several challenges. The most notable was the 1969 Red Lion Broadcasting Co., Inc. v. Federal Communications Commission, which reached the Supreme Court. Red Line Broadcasting Co., Inc challenged the doctrine on First Amendment grounds.
In November 1964, Red Lion Broadcasting Co. Inc broadcast a fifteen-minute program by Christian evangelist anti-communist, segregationist Reverend Billy James Hargis hosted a radio show called “The Christian Crusade.” This particular show included a discussion on the 1964 presidential election between liberal Democrat Lyndon B Johnson and conservative Republican Barry Goldwater. Hargis brought up a book he thought was offensive about the Republican candidate by Fred J. Cook, “Goldwater— Extremist on the Right.”
During the broadcast, Hargis made the following statements (lies) regarding Cook:
“Now, who is Cook? Cook was fired from the New York World-Telegram after he made a false charge publicly on television against an unnamed official of the New York City government. New York publishers and News-week magazine for December 7, 1959, showed that Fred Cook and his pal Eugene Gleason had made up the whole story and this confession was made to the District Attorney, Frank Hogan. After losing his job, Cook went to work for the left-wing publication, The Nation.”
The Supreme Court reaffirmed that broadcasting companies were leasing the airways. However, after Red Lion, First Amendment jurisprudence started to allow more speech rights to broadcasters and began to allow room for the constitutionality Fairness Doctrine to be questioned.
On April 18, 1987, Dennis Roy Patrick was appointed FCC chairperson by President Regan. Patrick was the son of an LAPD officer and former Young Republican. Under Patrick, telecommunications, television, radio, and cable industries underwent significant structural and regulatory reform. Broadcast and cable deregulation, stricter enforcement of decency rules, relaxation of regulations governing television program ownership and syndication rights, the introduction of Direct Broadcast Satellite competition, and broad telecommunications deregulation. In 1987, under Patrick’s watch and a brief period of study, the FCC repealed the Fairness Doctrine. The FCC stated that the doctrine likely violated broadcasters’ free speech rights, led to less speech about issues of public importance over broadcast airwaves, and was no longer required because of the increase in competition among mass media. He resigned in 1989 to become the CEO of Time Warner Telecommunications.
A year later, in 1988, toxic Rush Limbaugh debuted his national radio show, and in less than a decade, Fox News would air and begin spreading lies masquerading as facts.
We need the Fairness Doctrine back, and while the doctrine didn’t apply to print, it should apply to media that used to be exclusively print, but now has a substantial Internet presence. The Internet is under the FCC. It is time that we bring back the Fairness Doctrine and be very clear that the internet, like the radio and television, has an obligation for the public good to be reasonable in presentation.
This is no longer just about civility. It is about sanity.
Teex Lo