Posted: Tuesday, November 25, 2008 12:00 am
Some conservatives are worried that the Obama administration will try to muzzle them by trying to reinstate the so-called "Fairness Doctrine," a federal policy requiring broadcasters to air opposing points of view.
The worry seems groundless. For starters, President-elect Obama himself doesn't want the doctrine reinstated, according to a recent piece in The New Republic magazine.
But even assuming that the Fairness Doctrine is part of some secret Obama agenda, our guess is that he's got other matters to attend to first. He'd be nuts to spend one nickel of political capital on this matter.
And he shouldn't. There's no reason for the Fairness Doctrine to return.
The doctrine was adopted by the Federal Communications Commission in 1949, under the theory that the airwaves were a finite public resource. The holders of broadcasting licenses issued by the federal government were considered public trustees, and part of their responsibility was to present opposing viewpoints on controversial issues.
The doctrine always was a pain to enforce. It was repealed in 1987.
It's no coincidence that the rise of conservative talk radio came in the years after the doctrine was repealed. Today, more than 90 percent of weekday talk radio is conservative, according to a study cited by The New Republic. Liberal talk radio (think Air America) has struggled to find listeners.
There's a reason for that: Conservatives, rightly or wrongly, feel that they've been shut out of the so-called "mainstream media." Radio gave them an avenue they could use. If there was a sizable underserved market for liberal radio talk, you can bet that someone would have figured out a way to cash in.
With so many additional avenues of communication open today - hundreds of cable TV and radio channels, not to mention the growth of the Internet - the basic reasoning behind the Fairness Doctrine seems antiquated, at best.
And, truth be told, the return of the Fairness Doctrine wouldn't encourage stations to air wide-ranging political or topical commentary: Most stations likely would return to airing noncontroversial material. It would not open the doors to a golden age of news and conversation, but it could help trigger the resurgence of Top 40 radio.
That's a risk we as a nation cannot afford to take. Fortunately, considering that no one in Washington seems particularly inclined to push this matter, it's a risk that we shouldn't be worried about.