Reagan got rid of the Fairness Doctrine

[maggrwaggr]

Reagan got rid of the Fairness Doctrine, which let people like Rush Limbaugh become millionaires by spreading RW hatred and propaganda throughout the land.

Anybody remember that?

Anybody going to mention that on television?

[Ripley]

1. Hahahaha!

Anybody going to mention that on television?

You made me laugh!

[PROGRESSIVE1]

2. I'm not crying....

over this "loss".

[Mikimouse]

3. I thought that it was Bush I that got rid of it?

n/t

[maggrwaggr]

4. pretty sure it left us in 1984

an appropriate year, no?

[Mikimouse]

12. Prophetic! One wonders if Mr. Blair (G. Orwell) is able to stop...

laughing, wherever he is. It is true, though, that I was mostly a political zombie through the Reagan years. The constant shock of mortgage interest rates and 'trickle down' economics blew my mind, but good.

[JanMichael]

5. The Fairness Doctrine was outdated what with 100 cable channels....

...and a plethera of internet news sources. Archaic crapola.

Yadda, yadda, yadda.

[Liberal Classic]

6. Likewise what's the purpose of PBS

In the era of 500 channels and the internet? Wasn't PBS a response to the days when most cities only had one or two television broadcast stations?

[JanMichael]

9. Exactly! They should be privatised postehaste.

To the highest bidder.

[bluestateguy]

7. Well that's certainly a good reason to celebrate his death

Gee whiz.

FDR interned the Japanese.
JFK and LBJ ran COINTELPRO and escalated the Vietnam War.
Does this make their deatjs worth celebrating?

By all means I hope to bring back the Fairness Doctrine, but that was just a cheap shot.

[maggrwaggr]

10. so you like the corporate propaganda that passes as "news" these days?

Cheap shot my ass.

It's the truth.

I want the truth told about Reagan. That is all.

[kaitykaity]

8. Bork actually did the deed, though.

Maybe they'll mention the confirmation battle
that resulted.

[Senior citizen]

11. Since there's no Fairness Doctrine

There's no reason for us to be any more respectful of a puke prez, dead or alive, than the pukes are of Clinton. It's only fair.


:kick:

(Edited typo: "of" for "or")

[Q]

13. Limbaugh on the Fairness Doctrine

November/December 1994

The "Hush Rush" Hoax:

Limbaugh on the Fairness Doctrine
By Jeff Cohen

"I, Rush Limbaugh, the poster boy of free speech, am being gang muzzled."

The broadcaster was crying censorship (Limbaugh Letter, 10/93) over congressional efforts in 1993 to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine -- which he labeled "The Hush Rush Bill," "The Get Limbaugh Act" and "The Rush Elimination Act of 1993." Limbaugh's daily on-air crusade generated thousands of calls to Washington, and helped derail congressional action. As usual, Limbaugh's followers were mobilized through misinformation and deception.

The Fairness Doctrine -- in operation from 1949 until abolished in 1987 by Ronald Reagan's deregulation-oriented Federal Communications Commission -- calls on broadcasters, as a condition of getting their licenses from the FCC, to cover some controversial issues in their community, and to do so by offering some balancing views.

Reinstating the Fairness Doctrine can hardly be a "Hush Rush" plan aimed at silencing him, since it was broadly and actively supported on Capitol Hill well before anyone in Washington had ever heard of Limbaugh. In 1987 (when he was still the host of a local show in Sacramento), a bill to inscribe the Fairness Doctrine in federal law passed the House by 3 to 1, and the Senate by nearly 2 to 1, but it was vetoed by President Ronald Reagan. Voting for the bill were such "commie-libs" as Rep. Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) and Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.).

In 1989 (when Limbaugh was just emerging as a national host), the Fairness Doctrine easily passed the House again, but didn't proceed further as President George Bush threatened to veto it. In 1991, hearings were again held on the doctrine, but interest waned due to Bush's ongoing veto threat. Yet when the same Fairness Doctrine emerged in 1993, with a new president who might sign it, Limbaugh egotistically portrayed it as nothing but a "Hush Rush Law." And his followers believed him.

[Moderator]

14. Locking.

We are trying to consolidate some of the Reagan
threads. Please continue the discussion here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&a...

Thank you for understanding.


DU Moderator