Michigan Votes Forum

 Now there's one I support.

More waste of time. But what else do republicans have to do now? Out of power and out of ideas, their relegated to urging Congress to oppose.

 From what I see, I don't think the Republicans have the market cornered on time wasting.  Do you really think a law to abolish free speech is a good idea?

No. And this law wouldn't.

 A law that dictates the content of broadcast radio and television most certainly has the effect of restricting free speech.  That's what the "fairness" doctrine does.  It's funny how you can often tell what a law or government agency is really designed to do by considering the opposite of what its name implies.

 the 'fairness doctrine' was a GREAT idea when democrats proposed it and got it passed during the clinton administration. but now that it's being used AGAINST democrats, it's terrible.

the same law that was meant to STIFLE free speech in the form of talk radio is now helping to RESTORE free speech in the form of talk radio, and the government did it to itself.

instead of leaving it alone and waiting for it to go away, the democrats did what they always do, and wrote another law. now that law has come around to bite them on the hind end, and they wish they had never done it.

laws that interfere with freedoms interfere with everyone's freedoms. but at least now the left is being paid back in kind for the kinds of useless, wastful shenanigans they pulled for decades.

Unfortunately, the way we measure “fairness” in media is in terms of “equal time” or “equal space” given to opposing viewpoints.

This leaves little or no time or space for genuinely reflective exposition of issues and proposed approaches to resolving them.  It gives rise to the meaningless “sound bite,” and meaningless coverage of political issues as horse races (“so-and-so is ahead at the clubhouse turn”) and "now I gotcha" coverage rather than coverage of substance.

Unfortunately, the most valuable viewpoints in dealing with complex issues tend to be those that are themselves somewhat complex to one degree and another.  That doesn’t make them “fussy” or “pretentious,” or necessarily impossible to understand.  It does make many of them realistic ways of looking at real problems. 

Unfortunately, real analytical work that helps sort the wheat from the chaff as a prelude to presenting a genuinely fair picture in public affairs reporting takes time, study, experience, and intellectual vigor.  With reporting staffs being constantly cut, newsroom wages stagnated, and advertising time and space sales people under incredible duress these days, media managers quietly embrace simplistic approaches to fairness and call it good.

We all would be better served if the “fairness doctrine” just faded away. 

 it's funny that the fairness doctrine was the greatest thing since sliced bread in the eyes of the left just a few short months ago.

now they wish it would just fade away.