Here's how Ronald Reagan repealed the fairness doctrine and gave us Fox News

[rsexaminer]

Fox News has apparently taken control of the Republican primary election, but have you ever wondered how they became so popular?

http://www.examiner.com/article/repeal-of-fairness-how-ronald-reagan-gave-us-fox-news-and-other-bias-sources

[valerief]

1. Just another tear in the shredding of democracy. nt

[hollysmom]

2. ohhh this so burns me up, I bring it up in all kinds of conversations,.

[w0nderer]

3. doesn't

fox news still have a disclaimer that says it's a 'entertainment' or some such at beginning or end of show in rully rully small letters



it used to
(been a while since i tormented my eyeballs with fox)

[SusanaMontana41]

4. Really? Time to put on my Coke-bottle glasses.

Paddy Chayefsky knew about Fox News before Fox News existed. He told us what was coming in "Network."

We're all "mad as hell."

[w0nderer]

9. wasn't defending ...rather the opposite

they (fox) if i remember right did a whole

'we aren't news....we are entertainment and therefore don't hafta do balanced...or unbiased or stuff like that'

if you was using irony/sarcasm (susanamontana41)
IXNAY answer



(ooh on edit....500th post)

[SusanaMontana41]

10. Boy, did I misread your post!

I'd erase it if I could. Thanks for pointing out why I shouldn't post to DU until I'm fully awake.

[w0nderer]

11. SusanaMontana41

???
the reply me or in general?

oh and here...have a cup of coffee *drops some serious caffeine on SusanaMontana41*

[SusanaMontana41]

13. And a cup o' Joe to you! n/t

[Warren Stupidity]

5. The fairness doctrine never applied to cable.

It would have had to have been expanded to have applied to fox.

[melm00se]

6. The Fairness Doctrine

only applied to OTA (over the air) broadcasts and was never applied to cable/satellite stations so the FD would not have applied to Fox News (or any cable only outlet).

Additionally, the FD was getting really long in the tooth as regulations went back in the 1980s as the number of media outlets providing news really started to ramp up.

[Octafish]

7. President Obama sided with GOP to reject reinstitution of Fairness Doctrine

Obama FCC Kills 'Fairness Doctrine' Dead, As Requested by Congressional Republicans

By BRAD FRIEDMAN on 8/22/2011, 3:35pm PT

In apparent response to GOP leaders of the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee who requested in June that Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chair Julius Genachowski "strike the Fairness Doctrine from the agency's rulebook," the former corporate media executive has announced exactly that today, striking the rule, and 82 others, from the official FCC rulebook...

SNIP...

Ending enforcement of the Fairness Doctrine, which had served the nation well since the early days of radio in 1949, paved the way for Rush Limbaugh and other hard right commentators to use the public airwaves as little more than a one-sided propaganda tool. The situation was exacerbated by the Telecommunications Act of 1996, as signed by President Bill Clinton, under the pretense that it would allow for greater competition in the broadcast media market. The act allowed for virtually unrestricted corporate ownership of local radio and television stations and ultimately gave a handful of corporate outlets unfettered control of almost all of the nation's limited broadcast bandwidth.

CONTINUED...

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=8689

[snot]

8. Good summary. However, I would not characterize CNN as particularly liberal.

The fact that they say they are doesn't make it so, but rather helps shift the spectrum of discussion further to the right.

[w0nderer]

14. spending a month or 2 in europe per year

ya'll don't got no librul media in da US

with my ex-wife's mississippi accent added!

[snot]

16. SO SORRY; I meant to say, NOT particulary liberal.

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

12. talk radio, not FOX News

FD only applied to broadcast.

But Reagan did major damage to radio, deregulating and allowing rightwing conglomerates like Clear Channel to scoop up all the stations in a region and program them as 24/7 GOP ad outlets, while tossing the idea of equal time aside.

[reddread]

15. a lot to it

but if you connect the regulatory/FCC stances on 60's and 70's ownership changes, by 86 William Casey/CapitolCities ABC acquisition, cable migration of news content, deregulatory fever.
Bush and his COmpanions had a field day.
Reagan was an actor and scapegoat who quickly had his fill of authority and bullets.
so many questionable events surround some folks, yet go unpunished, if not uninvestigated,
once upon a time, anyway.