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‘We’re clearly heading towards collapse’: why the Murdoch empire is about to go bang
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 22 Feb 2025
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Reagan removing the fairness doctrine and Murdoch setting up Fox News rank among the biggest blows in democracy and prosperity IMO.
I acknowledge that many left and center-left news organizations will also push agendas, tell partial truths, etc. (Fairness doctrine would help reign them in as well).
edit: Fairness doctrine didn't cover cable only radio. That'd still help cut down some misinformation but in an ideal world IMO it'd apply to most forms of media.
Most of MSM is now mostly right wing, and younger cons have been looking for further right wing sources and listening to grifters. There really isn't al left wing media at all, on top of my head the closest is one that is more like interviews, that isn't on any of the main channels. It's a lady that owns that channel? Or segment late night
I write about the Fairness Doctrine all the time.
Someone commented that they thought it was a terrible idea, because a Flat Earther would be given time.
People today are so used to propaganda that they can't even imagine what a level playing field looks like.
If it is interpreted in malicious intent, that is indeed how a fairness doctrine can be abused.
For instance during Covid in German public broadcasters, far right politicians and conspiracy theorists were given disproportionately much screen time and often not followed by fact checking. So if you have 70% science based and 30% lies and deceptions, at the end the lies will make up 70% of what the audience receives.
The original laws were written in broadcast days. Even if we had it today, so many people get their news from privately produced videos that there'd always be a huge number of deliberately uninformed people.
This is one of the most level headed comments on Lemmy I’ve seen.
https://youtu.be/IjJ5ISwVXz8
Never before, have I been so offended by something I agree with 100%
Fairness Doctrine (wikipedia)
The fairness doctrine of the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC), introduced in 1949, was a policy that required the holders of broadcast licenses both to present controversial issues of public importance and to do so in a manner that fairly reflected differing viewpoints.https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairness_doctrine
ok, i get it now.
You might want to look up a movie called "Network.'
It went from cutting edge satire to staid docudrama in real time.
Reading the plot of the film on Wikipedia reminds me i might have seen it once. This film ends on : "This was the story of Howard Beale: the first known instance of a man who was killed because he had lousy ratings."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_(1976_film)
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While removal of the fairness Doctrine was a horrible thing. It would not have impacted Fox News in the slightest. It may have had some impact on am talk radio, or Sinclair propaganda. Which would have been a good thing. But zero impact on OANN or similar ilk. Not even CNN or MSNBC or any of the others would have been affected either. It was strictly broadcast only.
I think if it’d stayed, we’d have been talking about applying it to cable, rather than just forgetting it existed in the first place.
There’s certainly no direct link, but I think it indirectly changed the conversation around what society deemed acceptable in news media.
Interesting. Well I stand corrected. I've seen people, including in the media and the like, apply it to cable. Can't help but wonder if some of the misinformation was deliberate and meant to manipulate.
In this case, A I think fairness doctrine should be reinstated and B should apply to more forms of media.
I think a lot of people assume that had it stuck around it would have eventually been applied to cable. But cable was a big new thing at the end of the 1970s early 1980s. Specifically because it didn't have a lot of the regulation and restrictions that broadcast did.
I think a lot of people would have also assumed that the ERA would have been ratified by now. Or that a woman's right to abortion would have been enshrined in law by now. But that didn't happen either. So it's never good to assume.
And then the real rub, what actually constitutes a Viewpoint worthy of being heard. Yes the fairness Doctrine was supposed to give other viewpoints air time. And it did. But not all of them. Fox News in fact was really good with this formula. Early Fox News often tried to provide the appearance of that sort of balance. Toe-headed Sean Hannity did not have his own show for a long long time. Granted the show was his in all but name. But for a long time he was saddled with a limp wet noodle Democrat. Who was little more than a foil for Sean to stomp over. But Alan Combs did provide some token Democrat views and pushback.
The equal representation was only as good as the honesty and the sincerity of the people behind allowing it. Which was often quite dubious itself.
Great write up. The Fairness Doctrine on its own definitely wouldn't solve everything. It'd be a step in the right direction, but the journey would be far from over. edit: and there's probably no "perfect" solution.
I think we would have been better off had it stuck around as well. But I also think that we've somewhat arrived at the best of all situations. Where access to Media is much more democratized. You don't have to rely on a big wealthy owner Etc allowing your Viewpoint to be heard. The modern problem is AI generated fire hoses of disinformation. They can output so much more misinformation through seemingly so many more Outlets than an actual person can. So it's going to rely on a lot more word of mouth and Trust. People finding good journalists and presenters like coffee Zilla for instance and sharing them with others to help build up trusted networks of Representatives.