is it time to threaten media outlets with new regulatory legislation...

[RepublicanElephant]

...to make them put some degree of fairness and accuracy in reporting?

dubya dangled the media with favorable rules and regulations if they distorted the news for repubs.

maybe obama could "dangle" them with a little "tough love" regulation to do an honest job in covering the stimulus.

[slackmaster]

1. That pesky little First Amendment tends to get in the way of legislating them into conforming

To your personal wishes.

If they slander or libel someone, they can be sued. Other than that, there is not nor should there be any legislative mandate for "truthfulness" (which I put in quotes because truth is often subjective).

[RepublicanElephant]

3. well, if they keep lying about a president trying to save this country...

...i say it's time for a grocery list of new regulations, especially when it comes to mergers and acquisitions.

these guys care more about profits than first amendment rights.

[slackmaster]

7. I take it you'd make the President immune from criticism to some extent

Which will be just great until another Republican gets elected.

[AndyTiedye]

2. BRING BACK THE FAIRNESS DOCTRINE!

[RepublicanElephant]

4. ...and the equal time rule! nt

:thumbsup:

[onenote]

13. the equal time rule has never gone away

The equal time rule (actually "equal opportunities") relates to the sale of political advertising and it statutory and still on the books, unlike the FD, which was created by the FCC, not Congress.

[FailureToCommunicate]

9. Agreed! Senator Bingaman (D-NM) has been moving that cause forward...

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

5. Why not just have the government control all news outlets? Cut out the middle man.

[RepublicanElephant]

6. consider what goes for "news" these days...

...don't get me started.
:banghead:

[alexandria]

10. Good idea.

That worked out well for Hitler and Stalin.
B-)

[ShadowLiberal]

11. Great idea, imagine how popular Bush would have been having all networks feeding us his propaganda

Vladimir Putin is a perfect example of why this is a bad idea. The media just feeds the Russian people his party's propaganda, to the point that his party has effectively wiped out all opposition and controls just about every elected office in the country.

I work with someone with family in Russia, who goes there at times, who's lived in the US for a long while, and he hates Putin, as does a lot of the world outside of the propaganda network of theirs.

Imagine if Bush had kind of propaganda machine feeding us all lies and covering up all of Bush's screw ups?

[lib2DaBone]

8. That Interview with Cheney today was VERY weird? What are the trying to say?

[kwenu]

12. No.

[onenote]

14. yeah. let's go all nixonian on them

Nothing like having the government threaten the media. Justice Douglas would be so proud.

Not.

[FreakinDJ]

15. Only if you want Democracy in America

We are losing more and more of our rights every day - Not being subjected to Propaganda needs to be a Right

[Occam Bandage]

18. Yes, true democracy depends on the White House controlling the media. nt

[foxer]

16. Should be handled under media ownership regulations in the FCC

Along with "Net Neutrality"

[WeDidIt]

17. All you ahve to do is break up media ownership

competition will force fairness and accuracy from there.

[backscatter712]

19. Fairness Doctine won't make it through Congress. Ownership caps and network neutrality can be done.

In order to get the Fairness Doctrine reimplemented, it would take an act of Congress, and the Rethugs will block it.

There are other ways.

Six mega-corporations own 90+% of the TV, radio and newspaper outlets in the United States. It's time for the FCC to tighten down media ownership caps. Force those conglomerates to sell their outlets, and not to each other. There should be dozens, no hundreds of media companies out there. While we're at it, force the cable companies and telcos to break up their monopolies, open up their networks, and let new players compete.

Also, we need network neutrality legislation. They own the TV, radio and newspapers. They do not own the Internet - it's still free for everyone who wants to participate. It needs to stay that way. If we let Comcast and other big media players have their way, all of the sudden, DU would be asked to pay thousands of dollars a month so Comcast would allow their packets to be routed to their subscribers. They are looking for ways to bowdlerize the Internet. Don't let it happen!

[onenote]

20. six mega corprorations do not own 90 percent of the tv, radio, and newspaper outlets

Not even close. And repeating an easily debunked myth is not the best way to make the case for more diversity in media.

More at:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=8170629&mesg_id=8170751